Kerfluffle

Post-pandemic shearing is still a little crazy around here as in, we need to do our own. The Farmer had to shear alone last year, and his goal was to get the animals cool. I started a loftier goal of trying to cut the different grades of fiber off, but, alas…

Peggy-O, for starters, has really dense fluff. I decided to use actual hair cutting scissors to get closer to the skin. It didn’t help much because every cutting implement got dull in a flash. I finished her shear with clippers walking around the barn following her. She is the most docile!

A new tactic was much needed for sanity to be preserved on day two! We decided to ask our sharpening guy (we have a guy!) to hang out and sharpen the extra shears and all of our knives while I frantically sheared animals as quickly as I could, returning dull blades for resharpening as soon as they no longer cut. Little Cherise did not really fit into the chute so I played Ring Around the Rosie with her on a leash. So much for getting different grades of fiber sorted! 

Dark Star, despite being jumpy due to bumps all over his skin, was the easiest one in the chute this year and was finished in record time with freshly sharpened shears. 

The end result is still ridiculously amateur, but we DO have cooler animals this summer. Having the sharpener on premises during shearing was a game changer. He sharpened for at least two hours while I sheared and kept running the blades back to his truck. I think we sharpened both sets of clippers four times each. 

Stay cool and hydrated, everyone! Happy Summer!