Sally Coulthard
The idea of shearing has always filled me with dread. I’ve seen it done enough times to know that there’s an art to it. Sheep can be heavy: the North County flock we used to have weighed about 70kg each – that’s the same as flipping a grown man on his back. Add to that the fact you have to keep them still while they’re thrashing about and you’ll understand my trepidation.
I often used to wonder what would happen if you didn’t bother with shearing – it turns out modern sheep fleeces will just keep on growing. A few years back, a plucky
Merino sheep called Chris escaped from a farm in Australia and managed to survive in the wild for six years before being recaptured. When he was finally found, he could barely be seen under all his wool. Under sedation, he was finally relieved of a coat weighing a knee-buckling 41kg, the heaviest fleece ever recorded.
Poor old Chris must have been really uncomfortable wearing all that extra wool under the Antipodean sun. Temperatures might not rise so high in this country but shearing is still an important part of keeping sheep healthy and comfortable. Not only does all that excess fleece stop them from being able to regulate their temperature, but it also makes them