Day Two of Shearing

Sunday, OMG, just came too quick. I went to bed early the night before (Passed out since I was so tired) I was sure that someone snuck in and moved the clock ahead….

 

Tess, Rainey, Scott and Nan leaped off the bed since they knew something fun was going on. I gave Tess a treat and then took Nan, Scott and Rainey. Tim arrived and we chatted for a bit, then I set off to get Nayab’s sheep. I snuck Scott into the car in case Nan would need help. Rainey got tied to the fence since she was going to do stall work. She gave me the ‘wounded dove look’ as I walked off. Luckily for me, I was immune to it since her mother, Tess was also very good at the ‘wounded dove look’. Scott and Nan gather the sheep and then I sued Nan to push them down to the house. She was on the muscle and the sheep were not too keen but she convinced them that was a good idea. A few turned to stand her off and she walked into them and had to grip a few times. Her mind was on her work and soon she had the 40 plus sheep in the stall. I put her and Scott away and grabbed Rainey.

Nan pushing the sheep through our gate.

She danced with excitement and her eyes glowed with the prospect of work. Tim snagged a ewe and quickly sheared her. I had Rainey hold the sheep in the corner and she soon quickly figured out that they couldn’t cross an invisible line. Nayab was the wool tosser and was quite good at it. We wormed the ewes as soon as they got sheared. We couldn’t load all the sheep into the stall so Rainey and to unload and reload the sheep. She thought she was in heaven, having to do good old chores. She had to do between the stall and sheep and do low heel grips as well as lie down under or next to sheep. She did quite well and didn’t freak out the sheep but moved them with some authority.

She also took a nap when we took a break. I called her over to release the sheep and then she passed out. As soon as I made a movement to get up, she bolted upright…sly gal, wasn’t really sleeping but had me fooled.

Holding the sheep. Look how intense her eyes are!

Got a worried look now. One ewe shifted and thought about running past her.

 Tim shearing a ewe. He was very quick.

 

 Pretending to be asleep.

the mountain of wool



Once the first set was done, I used Nan to bring them back and then get the second set. The second set was new sheep that Nayab got and are half North Country and half Coop. Nayab just got a North Country ram and he is huge. He was not too used to being worked by dogs so Nan and the ram had a few discussions along the way.

Rainey stuffed the stall with the second set and did her duties religiously. The ram decided he wanted to smash her but she looked at hi with fire in her eyes. I stood next to her and told her to get him. Her tiny muzzle reached up and nabbed his huge snout. Word of warning…make sure you are not next to a large ram when he leaps up in the air. A few more of the ewes made a fuss at her and she turned them also. She really enjoyed working in the stall and by the end of the day, she was wiped out. She did big dog work and I could see shades of Tess during the day.

The night was capped off by Nan moving the second flock back to Nayab’s field and as Nan, Scott, Rainey and I all walked up to the house, we all looked at each other as if to say “It was a fine day for shearing and this is what we are all about”