sheep shearers at Herriard

Today the shearers arrived to clip the fleeces from the flock of sheep which graze the estate where our office is based.


Most days I marvel at what a fabulous job I have. I travel to work on the train and bus with my backpack while other commuters head to their office in their suits. Five years ago the Wildlife Trust office was based in Eastleigh in the middle of an industrial estate, what a relief it is to be out in the working countryside at Herriard Park.


This morning I walked up the drive to find the shearers had arrived. They have sheared 19,000 sheep over the past seven weeks, and have two more weeks of work to go. They are a team of four, three shearers and one roller, who rolls and bags up the fleeces. They are fast, one of the two Swedes took one and a half minutes to shed the sheep of its fleece. You can work your way round the world, with New Zealand apparently holding appeal: snowboard the mountains in the morning, shearing for work, and down to the coast for a dip when you're done!


So why do sheep need shearing? Well at one time, wool was a key commodity, used for clothing, shoes, blankets, carpets and coats. Sheep were bred to grow good fleeces (their coat) which could be cut away and then sold. With the advent of cheaper artificial fibres wool's value has decreased to the extent that some farmers will burn their sheeps fleeces because they get so little on the market for them. The wool quality differs from breed to bred, and also by species, with Cashmere, taken from goats fetching high prices due to its lightweight, smooth and warm properties. Even if you can't get a decent price for your sheeps fleeces you still need to shear them. The wool keeps them warm in winter and they begin to shed it at this time of year. Primitive sheep would have had a dense layer of wool close to their skin, with the sparser outer layers falling off by itself. By shearing, the sheep are relieved of the bulk of their coat and are less susceptible to heat stress and flystrike in the hot summer months. Search the web under 'why shear sheep' for more info.


If you would like to support sheep farmers to get a better price for their sheeps wool you can buy woollen clothing, which has the advantage of keeping you warm when it's cool and cooling you down when you get hot, I find merino wool great for this. You can even get sheeps wool loft insulation to keep your whole house warm!


Ollie took some photos of the shearers in action. I bet they're looking forward to standing up straight at the end of the day!