CLEAR-CUT FAVORITE

Shearing Weekend at Lake Metroparks Farmpark succeeds in attracting wide variety of visitors, event manager says

Anyone who’s ever wondered about wool had the chance to explore the subject during a two-day event at Lake Metroparks Farmpark.

Shearing Weekend took place on May 8 and 9 at Farmpark, which is located at 8800 Euclid Chardon Road in Kirtland.

The program offered an opportunity for visitors to watch sheep getting sheared; see how the animal’s fleece is eventually transformed into yarn and fabric through spinning and weaving; and check out a sheep breeds and fiber display. A border collie also displayed its talent for herding sheep from a field.

“This event attracts all degrees of people,” said Andy McGovern, events manager at Lake Metroparks Farmark. “You get the little kids, you’ve got the parents, the grandparents ... it’s a lot of fun,” he said.

In addition, McGovern said Shearing Weekend is a popular program for “homesteaders” — people who are committed to a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. Some of the choices made by modern-day homesteaders include growing their own food; providing their own electricity with solar, wind or water; and making their own fabrics and clothing.

McGovern described Shearing Weekend as “a really cool experience.”

“Because you get to see the actual animal, you get to see (how its wool is removed), and then you get to see wool spinning and weaving demonstrations.”

On May 9, the first of four scheduled shearings in Farmpark’s arena featured a female Finn sheep, which was about 7 years old. Kelly Mader, a livestock specialist at Lake Metroparks Farmpark, served as chief shearer for the session.

Mader began shearing the sheep’s wool with electric clippers. But at several junctures, she needed to switch to manual blades — which resembled a large, heavy-duty pair of scissors — to cut parts of the coat that were matted tightly to the animal’s skin. It took Mader about 45 minutes to complete the shearing and give the Finn sheep a lighter coat for the upcoming warmweather months.

Most breeds of sheep at Lake Metroparks Farmpark only need to be sheared once a year — during the spring — since they grow only between 3 and 5 inches of wool annually, said Wendy Vacik, a Farmpark animal care specialist.

“But if you want to actually use the fiber (wool), you want to keep the length below about 5 inches,” she said. “If it gets longer than that, it’s really hard to process.”

However, a couple of sheep breeds at Farmpark, such as the Lincoln and border Leicester, need to be sheared twice a year.

“Because they’ll grow between 8 to 10 inches of wool a year,” Vacik said. “So they’ll be shorn again in the fall.”

BILL DEBUS - THE NEWS-HERALD Kelly Mader, a livestock specialist at Lake Metroparks Farmpark, shears a Finnsheep on May 9during Farmpark’s Shearing Weekend.

BILL DEBUS - THE NEWS-HERALD Kelly Mader, a livestock specialist at Lake Metroparks Farmpark, leads a Finnsheep back to its pen after shearing the animal on May 9during Shearing Weekend at Farmpark.

BILL DEBUS - THE NEWS-HERALD Donnie Malinas, left, an interpreter at Lake Metroparks Farmpark, watches as visitors touch the fleece of a Finnsheep which had just been shorn on May 9during Shearing Weekend at Farmpark. The two-day event began May 8 at Lake Metroparks Farmpark, which is located in Kirtland.