Until this year I've done my own shearing. It takes me several hours to do one sheep -that's not necessarily a bad thing, just time consuming. This year due to problems with my shoulder and wrist joints, I had Constance Wiseman shear my sheep. To contact her (click here). Here she is trimming Kia's hooves before starting to shear. Constance trained at the Washington State Shearing School and though a petite woman, she handles my ewes and lambs quite competently. She sheared Paris the ram beast this spring with the aid of hobbles and I was absolutely delighted to see him subdued without anything but his pride being hurt. Yesterday, Constance spoke gently to the lambs and Kia while shearing and handling them, and you can see Kia didn't mind at all.
After shearing Kia, Constance also sheared three lambs. Shearing is hard work and I am delighted to have the job done in just a few hours. Afterwards, Kia, all shorn and lovely, relaxes in the barn with the two confused shorn lamb rams. They didn't recognize each other after being sheared and felt compelled to pummel the daylights out of each other for quite awhile -silly sheep. Constance took Kia's fleece with her and will process it into roving. Shearing and processing all at once is great service. Now, if only she would clean the barn too!
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