Colts on the run
Home Ranch
photo by Pat O'Toole
Although we still have plenty of snow on the ground, especially in the mountains, we have about worn out the winter. Our relatively “slow time” for the winter, and indeed the year, is now behind us, and we are into the early lambing and calving heifers. From here on out, we will roll on through trailing, calving cows, branding calves, shearing the main bunches, lambing the main bunches, docking, trailing to the forest, haying, trailing from the forest, and on until we put the bucks in around December 15th and things generally slow down. Lucky for us!
Shearing on a cold day
Powder Flat
photo by Sharon O'Toole
Friday, we sheared the early lambers. We wait for days, and talk to the shearers daily, as they sneak up on us. On our first tentative date, they had a storm where they were shearing in central Wyoming and had to hold up a day. Then we had a storm and they had another job they could go to, so they did. This process repeated itself—storm, other job. Finally, we had clear weather and they were close so they came in to Powder Flat.
Before and after going through the portable shearing shed
Powder Flat
photo by Sharon O'Toole
Oscar bundled up
Powder Flat
photo by Sharon O'Toole
It is ideal to shear before lambing. This eliminates the “tags” or little bits of wool which hang down and sometimes fool the lambs who are looking for nipples to nurse from. It also encourages the ewes to seek shelter in cold weather. They do not realize that if they are warm, their lambs might be chilled. If they are shorn, counter-intuitively, everyone stays warmer.
We were not able to shear them before lambing started for two reasons. 1.) We had some “virgin births” that came early; 2.) The delays caused by bad weather. This time of year, that is not such a problem because the numbers to be shorn are relatively small—about 350—and we are set up to separate lambs and move the “wet” (nursing) ewes through. In May, it is critical that the ewes be shorn before lambing starts. Delays create a very difficult management problem at that timeof year if we must shear ewes who have already dropped their lambs.
The shearers are largely natives of New Zealand who come into the U.S. on H2A visas just for this job. They typically shear their way around the world, from New Zealand to the U.S. to Uruguay, Argentina, and the Falklands to South Africa or Great Britain, then on to Australia and back to New Zealand. They are generally young men who can shear about 200 head a day. They live cheaply, with beer (lots of beer!) their only extravagance. After several years on the shearing circuit, they can often save enough to buy a farm. Often the shearers are accompanied by young women who are skilled sorters, and who work equally hard carrying the fleeces, grading them and bagging them with mechanical packers.
When I was a kid, the wool was packed into “territory” bags (named for the western states which had been territories) hung from frames. The packers jumped up and down on the fleeces as they were thrown into the bags, stuffing a maximum amount into each bag. I can remember my Mom carefully inspecting me for sheep ticks and keds after such adventures, which were perfect for a kid! Today, mechanical packers stuff the wool into rectangular packs which hold about 40 fleeces.
When we finally got to it, it was a bitter cold and windy day, but clear. I imagine the ewes were not happy about giving up their cozy woolen coats, even though they had sheds to go to, and plenty of feed. But—just as one must strike when the iron is hot, one must also shear when the shearers are there. As soon as they finished with us, they were on to the next job.
Back in the shed with her baby
Powder Flat
photo by Sharon O'Toole
Border Collie Dreams
photo by Sharon O'Toole
