Falstone Show 2010

For the third year running luck has been on the side of Falstone Show, heavy showers the day previous abated and the day dawned dry and relatively bright. Probably ideal conditions for the stock as it never got out too hot, just a truly pleasant day both weather wise and socially.

The Scotch blackfaced classes were well supported, probably due to the fact the show was honoured to have the president of the Blackfaced Sheep Breeders Association as the judge, no mean fete to travel all the way down from Argyll to do the honours.
Competition was strong through out the day whether it be in the sheep pens, dog and hound lines, industrial tent or children's sports.

Falstone Show celebrated it's 125th centenary in style. Red commemorative rosettes were presented to every first prize winner throughout all the classes, a treat to those competing in the industrial tent as prize tickets are the norm.

Once again a truly memorable day, enjoyed by all who attended.

Kale goes to the hill

Kale was 19 weeks old when these pictures were taken, he's growing. No longer a cute cuddly little chap he's beginning to look like a miniature dog. In his short life to date he has been introduced to quite a variety of experiences and has taken almost all of them in his stride. A very confident young fellow who is extremely keen on sheep. You may think it doesn't quite look that way in this shot as he isn't looking at the sheep which are moving away in front of him, that is because his eye has been caught by Moss who is out of shot bringing sheep in from the right. Time to get the little fella up on my lap on the bike or the sheep may well find themselves scattered all over the hill!

The heather is just beginning to come into bloom and I was expecting Kale to start sneezing as he found himself covered in pollen.

Although still young enough to head out on a hill gather I do like to introduce young dogs to rough ground, this is the sort of ground they will be working on in the future and they have to learn how to handle it, to bounce through the deep heather, cross drains and streams and generally get sure footed on unpredictable terrain.

Not only does he seem to possess a long tongue his tail also seems to be very long, I can't help but think that should he grow into his tail he will end up being a very big dog!

The gather took a couple of hours and for all young Kale thought life was great fun and he was more than prepared to bound around for miles out on the hill he did find himself getting a lift on the bike every now and again. His bones are still young and I really wouldn't want to run the legs off him, also it is a good learning curve to have to travel on the bike out on rough ground, something he didn't appreciate too much on such an exciting day as this, but one day, when he is feeling the pace, he'll hopefully be wiser and accept a lift graciously.

Common Lizard - A Shearing Accident

Over the years I have come across many obstacles in the wool whilst shearing. There may be wire tangled up in the wool for instance, not good for the machine I can tell you! Sometimes there are bumps on sheep where they shouldn't be, a boil or carbuncle can find itself sliced off as the clippers follow the body of the sheep. Ticks are often found on the sheep's body and great pleasure is taken in dissecting their little fat grotesque bodies. Maggots are on occasion uncovered whilst removing the wool, seeing daylight for the first time their little fat white bodies wriggle and squirm as another blow across the affected area with the hand piece sees them mashed up like mince meat. All the above are relatively common, not unheard off and little thought of.

The other day I came across something totally alien to myself. Not only alien to myself but also to all those it has been mentioned to to date. A mystery. Not only a mystery but one which for a fleeting second gave me a bit of a shock as I tried to work out in my little head what on earth was going on.

I was busy doing the long blows along the sheep's back whilst at the same time she was slowly finding herself in the lain down position. As the wool fell away from her body I noticed the above lying on the shorn fleece, my mind didn't really have time to register what I may have seen before the next long blow had been taken along the length of her back.

This second blow had me standing back slightly, wondering "what the hell"? Not only did I stand back slightly the machine also found itself turned of as I drew every one's attention to this phenomena which I was experiencing. My half shorn sheep found herself the centre of attention.

The final piece of this grotesque story was found on her clipped body, a head belonging the body parts and it slowly dawned on me that whatever I was dealing with it was not a baby adder (that had entered my mind originally).

After much oohing and aahing, poking and prodding of body parts we were able to ascertain that some sort of lizard had been lying in the wool. Not only had it been lying in the wool but due to the fact I hadn't seen hide nor hair of it until it's dismembered body rose to the surface it must have in actual fact been snuggled up right against the sheep's skin. I have clipped thousands of sheep over many years and never experienced anything like this before.

The lizard appeared to be turquoise. Very pretty and also very dead. Laid out on the palm of my hand it would measure 5 - 6 inches in length. The fact which amazed me the most was that these sheep had been gathered that morning off the hill, a two hour gather, followed by them being rattled through the sheep pens to have their lambs run off before being taken across the main road and housed in the clipping shed, the ewe had been in the shed for a good hour before it was her turn to be shorn and this creature had somehow managed to remain hidden until it was chopped up by my comb and cutter - fascinating.

Not quite so fascinating when I find it is probably a Common Lizard which are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. IT IS AN OFFENCE TO KILL, HARM OR INJURE THEM.

"In my defence m'Lord I broke the law unintentionally, I did not knowingly set off with the intention of chopping a lizard up into four pieces."

Actually I mebbes only chopped it into three pieces coz seemingly they are able to shed their tails to confuse predators. It definitely confused me whether it shed it's tail or it didn't!

Is there anyone out there with a knowledge of lizards which like to live on sheep? My take is that it had been a cool night the night previous and the little critter crept into the wool to keep warm but I would be interested to hear of any other logical explanation.

Drawing to a close

Shep is still busy shearing. Have to say I am getting well through, in actual fact my usual shearing was finished last week and since then a few days have been given to other shearers to get them caught up on the job before another season draws upon us.

As is oft the case the weather can worsen causing lost days on the shearing boards, when it picks up farmers get busy with their hay and silage crops and more days are lost to the shearer, finally when the season ought to be over there are still woolly sheep running around out there and there is a desperation to get them all clipped out before the night frosts return.

 

This 'summer' turned out to be poor. We did have a heatwave in early/mid June but from then onwards the weather deteriorated, I blame good old St Swithen and am looking forward to the 24th August when I am convinced the weather will look up, the sun will shine and all will be well.

Rain was badly needed, grassland has freshened up nicely and stock have been doing better. However the inclement weather has made shearing, hay and silage work difficult for many. The rain came a tad late. If only the tables could have been turned and the rain had come after lambing time to get the grass growing with the heatwave following to make gathering the fodder easier and shearing sheep a doddle - it was not to be with the result that every farmer I have spoken to has less fodder than usual. Less bales of hay and silage to see them through the winter, quite a problem when there was nothing left over from last winter - nothing held in reserve to supplement a poor crop this year.

It sounds like the trend is pretty similar through out the country which is slightly disconcerting as anyone requiring extra hay or silage will find it is at a premium; difficult to source and probably dear to buy. Many around here have spread fertiliser on their cleared hay fields in the hope of being able to snatch a second crop in September, a few more bales to boost their much needed winter supply, fortunately the damp weather has enabled this fertiliser to get a hold in the soil and is therefore encouraging the grass to grow, hopefully there may be a dry spell in a few weeks which will enable the crop to be lifted easily.

As for Shep? Well a couple more days in the clipping sheds and that should see the season draw to a close. For a day or two I thought I wouldn't be able to round my clipping count up to 3,000, I now find myself now chasing 3,500 but know this is highly improbable as there are only a handful of sheep left to be shorn. Not to worry, the tally is above last years and for all I like nice round figures I'll just have to content myself with some peculiar final total

Shearing outdoors

The Tarset climate is not exactly favourable for out door shearing. Sheds do have their uses in that once the sheep are housed for the day it is highly unlikely they'll get wet. It is preferable if the wool is dry when taken off their backs and packed, saves it from moulding. Shearers are also more comfortable when shearing dry sheep as wet wool soon soaks through the clipping jeans. It can be a huge gamble trying to get sheep shorn without a roof over their heads. As was the case just the other day when assisting a local farmer gather his sheep for the shearers to come and clip them.

There had been a heavy rainfall the previous night and the forecast wasn't spectacular for this particular day but a 'phone call at 6am gave the go ahead - lets gather.

The sheep appeared sodden but the wind got up and they soon dried off.

The shearers set up their trailer and pens were filled with sheep.

All was in place for a days shearing although it was a mid morning start for the two fellas doing the clipping, due in main to us not being out quick enough to gather which was in fact caused by the inclement weather the night previous, but not to worry, they got underway and everything was crossed in the hope that the threatened showers may keep away.

Electricity was provided via a generator allowing the lads to not only clip but run their radio too (an essential if one wishes to save their sanity!), the genny also came in handy for boiling the kettle at bait time. Wonder what the old fellas would say to all of this when they used to clip away with hand shears out on these hills with a good crack and banter going and I do believe very often a barrel of beer for bait times - what a good idea!!

The electric shears tend to be noisy and the radio does indeed help drown out the racket of electric machines and blaaring sheep, although there are times when that would be preferable to the sing - along which occasionally occurs when a favourite track is played over the radio.

The weather held off - well almost! There was a shower at dinner time but that didn't cause too much trouble, just enough to wet everyone (sheep included) then it blew off. The shearers were relieved, recounting the day they turned up, sheep penned and waiting, when the heavens opened and refused to close, all they could do was turn around and head for home as the pen gates were flung open and sheep let back to the hill.

A fortunate day, one which went along smoothly, regardless of the not so promising weather forecast. Well over 400 sheep were let out of the pens with their lambs at foot and their winter coats missing - everyone concerned was happy.

A shearer I know was telling me recently that he was busy shearing outside near the road when a car pulled over and a New Zealander got out. He was transfixed at sheep being shorn outdoors. A shearer himself he was over in this country for the Golden Shears competition which was held in Wales. Being from New Zealand he had never seen a clipping trailer set up out side as all the farms in his home country have purposefully built shearing sheds. Here in this country we have to make do with whatever we can, whether it be under cover our outdoors. When I talk about shearing in a shed it is usually a cattle or hay shed which is used, most definitely not a purpose built shearing shed!

Going back to the Golden Shears competition (the worlds best shearers competing against one another for the coveted golden shears) apparently the first sheep went off the boards in 30 seconds, that means it was clipped in thirty seconds........ apparently that particular shearer had to be content with fifth place due to the fact he 'drew blood' on one of the sheep he was clipping, a large gash due to the speed he was going led to him losing points and dropping down the placings. As said once before there is more to shearing than meets the eye.