Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2008 | Page 68

life

COUNTRYSIDE, WILDLIFE & FARMING

Pulling the
wool over
your eyes…
By Tony Ridd

Shortly after the Second World War, the sale of sheep’s
fleeces was a major part of a farmers income. I read
recently, that the proceeds, from one farmers flock in
the 1950’s would pay the rent of the farm for a whole
year. Nowadays it rarely, if ever, pays for the cost
of the shearing!

Photo: John Brownrigg

So, why shear? To answer this
and discover more I visited
John Brownrigg with his team,
shearing sheep on one local
island farm.
John explains that, today
sheep are shorn primarily
for welfare reasons. ‘You
wouldn’t want to wear a woolly
jumper on a hot sunny day’,
and it’s the same for animals,
especially sheep that have been
bred over many generations
for improved meat and fleece
production. It also virtually
eliminates any chance of
‘fly-strike’ – This is when a
fly’s eggs are laid in the fleece
and hatch out causing the
sheep discomfort and distress.
John started shearing at the
age of 15 after helping the
shepherd on the family farm.
He followed this up with
a short course at Sparshot
College, before improving his
technique and speed, spending
time in New Zealand and the

canvas sack.
The fleeces must be dry, so
that means keeping the sheep
undercover, if the weather
forecast overnight or the next
day looks bad. After packing,
the sacks of fleeces are then
collected from the farms before
being sent to either Devon
or Hereford for pr ocessing,
probably into carpets.
John set up his business three
years ago, investing several
thousand pounds in specialist
shearing equipment. He
and his team turn up with a
purpose built shearing trailer.
They remove the wheels so that
it sits flat on the ground. This
then acts as the picking pen
with spring loaded gates and
supports for the motors that
run the shearing hand piece.
The hand piece blades, will
cut about 35 fleeces before
they need sharpening. To save
time they have plenty of spares
which are changed in minutes

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West Country as part of a
shearing team.
Depending on the breed of
sheep and if the lanolin has
started to rise, determines how
long it takes to shear a sheep.
A good shearer will remove a
fleece in about 45- 90 seconds,
shearing 30-40 sheep an hour.
It’s a pretty hectic and noisy
event that has to be well
organised to minimise stress to
the sheep. They are kept in a
large holding pen, before being
sent down a ‘race’, (a hurdled
run) to a smaller pen, where
the shearers will pick them out
one at a time, before turning
over, trimming away the dirty
bits, and then cutting off the
fleeces so that they stay in one
piece.
This is then gathered by
Beth, the packer who after
opening up the fleece, cleaning
off any missed dirty ends,
professionally rolls it and
packs them into a large white

and then sharpened back at the
farm one evening or on a wet
day.
Although most people think
of shearing sheep in the
summer, John is involved in
shearing over the whole of the
year.
‘Dagging out’ is a term used
to describe the trimming of
sheep around their rear. This
helps to keep them clean when
they start to eat the rich,
fresh grass in spring. Also
more farmers are shearing
their lambs, this saves them
‘dagging’ in spring, helps them
fatten more quickly, meaning a
reduction in cost and a faster
return on their investment.
Of the 15,000 registered
sheep on the island, John and
his team will be shearing over
11,000 of them. The flocks
range in number from 1 to over
2000. To book John’s services
call him on 840978 – evenings
are best.

www.wightfrog.com/islandlife