Wild and Woolly

As an avid sheep lover, I’ve began to rely on various books, websites and feed-store workers for all my Sheep 101 needs. My newest favorite, information-filled publication for all things sheep is: “Wild And Woolly”. It’s a sheep and goat newsletter, published by Susan Schoenian who happens to be a Sheep and Goat Specialist, with The University of Maryland Extension. I’m not completely sure, but anytime you see the word Extension after a college or university, does it mean it's the rural version? Maybe it's because whenever I see the term Extension after the name of something, it seems to be out in the sticks, somewhere. Not sure about that whole Extension thing.
Anywhose, Wild and Wolly is a publication I receive in my email each quarter which I read cover to cover. It focuses on sheep and goat education, which includes things like deworming, the importance of quality rams, pasture management, and so much more. Sheep and goats are very similar, yet not at all alike. I always learn from this newsletter, and often wished I lived close to West Friendship, Maryland, so that I may go to their Kidding and Lambing School or How to Shear a Sheep weekend conference. It all sounds so fun and friendly. What's fascinating to me are the recipes they include in each issue. African Goat Meat and Jasmine Rice, Lamb Sliders, Red Pepper Goat Cheese and Lamb Tacos, all locally sourced. They are serious about eating their lamb and goats.
One of the recent issues had outlined sheep shearing education opportunities. I had even suggested to David that we could fly to Maryland to take a weekend course on this. It would be a hands on seminar to help people like us figure out how to shear their own sheep. I even bought sheep shearers, from Sears of all places, in preparation. David asked why would we go all the way to Maryland to do that? Long story short, we did not go.
I may have mentioned in a previous blog that I did attempt to shear my own sheep, after consulting a feed store worker and YouTube. And Belle in particular, would be my first attempt. I have three Dorper sheep that are self-shedding sheep. It's great! But something went wrong this spring. As spring turned into summer, the sheep weren't shedding. And now it's 108 degrees and I have sheep walking around with a thick, wool coat on. What the heck. It gets worse. Actual sheep shearers are hard to find! I knew I should have gone to Maryland.
I may or may not have put a collar on Belle, tied her to the fence/gate and turned my Sears brand sheep shears on - to do it myself. No one was hurt. No one got sheared.
Needless to say, the sheep are still walking around with their wool coats on. So after much googling and calling random people, I have found Jerry who is a sheep shearer. I don't know anything about him except that he does not live close, but comes to the area periodically to shear people's sheep around here. And now, after being on his "Wait List" for 2 long hot months, my name has hit the top  - and it's MY turn.
Fast forward to Today's The Day. It's my day. My turn for the sheep shearer to come to our barn. Jerry is to arrive at 1pm, and he does not disappoint.  As I awaited his arrival, I was texting and catching up with my daughter, Lauren, when all of a sudden I saw Jerry's truck. I texted Lauren: He's here! Gotta Go. I'm nervous. My babies. It was all my feelings wrapped up in 2 word texts. Each arriving separately. And off I go, to head outside to actually experience what sheep shearing is all about. I felt like a helicopter sheep mom.
Down the gravel road, driving slowly, is a red dually truck with many things in the bed of the truck. I go out front to meet Jerry, and he's a tall, thin man who is extremely nice. As I spend the next hour of my time with him, I notice he picks his words carefully, and knows everything there is to know about sheep. As he glances to the pasture, where the sheep are, he can't help but ask if I can get them in a smaller space. Sure, I can! And off I go to bring them into their barn space, better known as the Sheep Pen. I do this by going to get a touch of their grain and pour it into their bowls. They know the sound of this, and come running, through their little sheep-door into their barn area. I quickly go back outside the barn and shut the little door to their sheep entrance into the barn. Their sheep-door is just like a doggie door, except it's sheep size, and allows the sheep into the barn without opening a gate. And the best part is, David made a little door for it (about 2 1/2 ft by 2 ft?), and I'm going to shut it to keep the sheep inside for awhile. While the sheep are nibbling on their treats, Jerry is setting up shop to shear. We are talking, and I'm learning. I had no idea what's going to happen. Do I need to help? Is this where the sheep need to be? Many unknowns are dancing in my head.
Jerry says he will handle things. He really wants me to put the sheep in a smaller space. I do have a smaller pen, but after he sees how tame they are, he changes his mind. He had no idea it was like a petting zoo situation. And that you can go into the sheep pen and pet them. 'Ohhhh, it's like that,'  I can hear him thinking. He's busy looking around. Analyzing. Thinking. Getting his things ready. He already said it will take longer to set up, than to actually shear the sheep. Wow, this will be fast. Because now he's ready.
First up, would be Sam The Ram. Why? Because he's the first to walk up to Jerry to be petted. He's a very friendly ram who, for some reason, esp loves males. As Jerry realizes that he won't have to chase any sheep at our place, he has me open the gate, so he can "guide" Sam to his shearing area, inside the barn (where the sheep don't normally have access to because it's where the chickens are, and the sheep will eat all the chicken food). Jerry is a master at controlling the sheep, one by one, by holding one hand under the sheep's chin, and the other hand at the tail. Doing this, he is able to guide them, almost like driving them, in the direction he wants them to go. Once at his make-shift shearing station, he wrestles Sam to the ground very quickly, and once a sheep is off balance sitting on their butts, they are helpless. He has Sam between his legs, balancing on his butt, legs in the air like he just doesn't care, and Sam is still. This is how you control a sheep. Jerry turns his clippers on, and moves Sam side-to-side all while shearing him and taking his wool coat off in one magical piece. He started up the legs, down his sides, down the neck, and finally down the back to finish it off, all while taking the wool off in such a way that I could wrap it around me, or put it down like a rug. And just like that, Sam is naked. Jerry quickly maneuvers Sam to his feet in the blink of an eye, does his usual hand guiding under his chin and by his tail, and boom, back in the Sheep Pen. Whhhhhaaaattttt? I've watched the YouTube video of the 20 Easy Steps to Shear a Sheep. I knew then and there, after watching Jerry do that, that I would never attempt it. Nope. I'll be calling Jerry.
Now, it's Belle's turn. My sweet Belle was going to be wrestled to her bottom, just like Sam was. My heart hurt a little bit. I watched - and video'd this time. I stayed back while Jerry "guided" her to the shearing spot, in 2 seconds she was on her bottom, legs in the air stiff as a board, and in another 1 1/2 minutes, her wool coat was now my wool coat. And she too, was nakey - and stunned. Back to the Sheep Pen she goes. Now, Eve has watch all this action. She knows she's next. And she refuses to be caught. She's frantically running around their Sheep Pen, while Sam and Belle are just standing there, still stunned by what has just happened. Jerry finally gets ahold of Eve and she fights the whole time. She's putting up a fight while being "guided", and then gives Jerry a run for his money to get her on her bottom. It's like watching WWF Wrestling. Except it's in my barn. Who will win? Eve's a big girl. But Jerry's experienced, and after a couple of tries, he has Eve off balance. But wait, she's still fighting it all, legs are kicking in the air, and she loses her mind when Jerry turns the shears on. Finally, she begins to calm just in time that she's now nakey, too. And back to the Sheep Pen she goes. Done. There's wool everywhere, and three sheep who are stunned. Quite frankly, I'm stunned.
It's at this time that Jerry calmly begins packing up his things. He proceeds to tell me in a subtle way, that my sheep are very tame, very spoiled and very well fed. I'm not quite sure how to take this. Then, Jerry begins talking about pasture management, lambing, and why they did not shed themselves.
First, he knows we will have lambs because we have a ram. He encourages me to have more sheep because I have pasture room for them. And explains about movement of sheep in the pasture(s) to assist with the natural living things out there. He explains that lambing will happen, and I will be okay, and the sheep will be okay. Just let them have their babies, and they'll be fine. Encouraging me to not intervene as my book says might happen. No, he says. They'll be fine. Then the finale. Your sheep are not self-shedding because they are no longer wild, although they are woolly. They are completely tame and well taken care of, therefore, their body's natural instinct to shed will probably not occur. And oh, one more thing, he says. He suggest I not give them grain except for 3 times a month. Not 3 times a day. As much as I wanted to discard his information, I know he's right. He knows everything about sheep.  Everything. And he gave me more advise and information than I have room to write. But it's in my head.
I appreciated him coming so very much. My sheep are sheared, and they look fabulous!! As he's leaving, I gift him my sheep shears I had bought from Sears. I won't be needing them, I tell him. He's happy to take them off my hands, and very grateful. I paid him his sheep shearing fee. And he heads to his truck. I walk along with him, telling him goodbye, and that I'd see him again next year. He's putting me on his regular schedule. We have mutual gratitude, and have both seen some new things we had not seen before. He saw a helicopter sheep maaaaaama, and I saw an experienced sheep shearer working his craft and making his living.
As he drove away, I thought, I now have someone I can text and ask my sheep questions to. He said I could, knowing full well, that there's no telling what questions are going to come his way.
My text will look something like this: Jerry, Help! Belle is moaning and about to give birth!!!! Now, what do I do!?!

Poor guy.

By the way, he reads Wild and Woolly, too.

Cyndi