We’ve been having unusually warm weather here in Ontario, so I decided to take advantage of it and shear my Shetland ram, Franklin:

I think he’s such a sweetheart… but only when I’m not in the pen with him. If I’m in there, he tends to want to show me who he thinks is boss. Luckily there’s been no people ramming yet. Once I learn more about his behaviour I’ll be posting an entry about rams in detail.

But for now, the shearing!

I used a set of metal blades, also known as the old fashioned method. With only four sheep I figured it wouldn’t be so bad, plus they’re at least one tenth the price of electric shears. Tom was there to help distract Franklin with grain and hay, and then hold onto him when Franklin showed no more interest in food.

I don’t know how long we took to do it, but it was probably closer to an hour and a half. Considering it was my first time shearing, plus we had to stop every fifteen minutes to stretch, I wouldn’t say it went so bad. Since his fleece is easily the worst quality of them all, it was good to practice on him before I do the ladies. Also, we sheared him while he was standing up, I was not going to manipulate a ram like you see the New Zealand shearers do ewes, not with those bad horns of his!

Enough words, here’s a picture of my marvelous first time shearing result.

Oh poor Franklin, yeah you don’t look so suave, but it’ll grow out in a few weeks! Everyone gets a bad haircut sometimes… On the plus side there were no injuries had by sheep or human. I’m sure he appreciates that over looking fancy and pretty. But it sure is different from this before shot:

Now when I enter the barn and Franklin comes running up, I can’t help but laugh. He looks so silly and naked! Frankie, we see your shame!

Here he is with his girls. You can see I stopped at his butt, he was getting really tired of the shearing so we decided to finish up a later day. Same with his lower trimming.

As for the result, here are the very dirty raw fleece bits. I was aiming for the full one piece fleece, but since he dragged it around when we took breaks I chose to break it off. I’ll try to weigh it after I’ve sheared his butt and removed the tags. I’m very glad to be making progress on my goal of raising sheep and using their fiber, even if technically this fiber was “created” by the previous shepherd. Once I get it washed, combing it down by the wood fire will make for a great end of day activity.

I’ve done a good amount of reading and learning about sheep in general, but I was interested in learning more about Shetlands in specific. Interestingly, the fleece which I’ve spun with this past year has been Shetland fleece, so I’m very excited that I’ll be able to keep using it in the future. Apparently their fiber can come so fine that Shetland shawls can pass through the opening of a ring, anywhere from 20-30 microns. Their fleece can be either one of 11 colors or combinations of colors in 30 distinct marking patterns (such as the third one pictured above).

As for the sheep themselves, they are considered an unimproved or heritage breed. They were brought over some time ago from the Shetland Isles – the same place where Shetland sheepdogs and Shetland ponies developed over time. They are natural mothers, they become fertile as the day shorten in October, and give birth to one or two to three lambs in the Spring or Summer. They are on the small side, adults weigh between 75 lbs (little ewes) to 125 lbs (big rams). In addition to producing a gorgeous fleece, their meat is yummy and lean, and since they’re smaller their carcasses are a bit easier to manipulate and store.

From what I’ve been reading, Shetlands are ideal sheep for farm newbies like myself for a few reasons. One, lambing is relatively effortless and requires little if any human intervention. Two, they have naturally short tails so docking (removing part of the tail to help fight against flystrike, which is a quick and deadly infection) is not necessary. Three, being a heritage breed, they are very hardy and can stand up to some seriously rough weather on their own.

I’m very confident that I’ve made the right selection for my first farm animals, and I’m looking forward to being their caretaker in March!

Blog (ended): http://grannymillerblog.blogspot.com/

wolfcrik, a Youtube user, has a variety of videos uploaded regarding life on a farm. Some of the more valuable ones include one about tail docking and ear tagging sheep and a narrated video of a normal lamb delivery.

She also has videos about how to do canning, as well as much other self reliance tips on her blog. Sadly it seems she has chosen to stop blogging but hopefully she will continue to post videos on Youtube.

This website is a comprehensive guide about Shetland sheep. It has a great section about fleece as well as links to other information sources.