Shearing Sheep

There was a sheep shearing demonstration at the festival. Something we were all excited to see. The person doing the demonstration took us through a bit of history, explaining how sheep were first sheared with razor sharp clippers, and still are in many places. The one year old sheep was brought out to have her coat trimmed first with a 100 year old crank operated pair of clippers. I was amazed at how still the sheep was, despite the large crowd. The clippers worked incredibly well, if it wasn't brought to my attention I would have guessed they were electric. The audience member who was turning the crank got tired quite quickly, it required that he keep a steady constant pace.

After using this older model the rest of the sheep was sheered with a pair of modern day clippers. In less then 10 minutes the sheep was sheared. And look quite handsome. The fleece was offered to people, and we were one of the few to take some home. We have plans to wash, card and use it.
The farmer gave a great talk afterwards about food security, the importance of buying local, the impact on the price of lamb and wool because of the world market and multinationals. Unfortunately before long we were the only ones listening to him speak, slowly everyone else left. We chatted for a little while about everything from the drastic drop in the price of raw wool in the last ten years, to agricultural awareness in education, to the local market for local food. I left a little more aware and thankful for crossing paths with someone who is passionate and inspiring. Since this demo there has been lots of chatting going on about sheep.....