Shearing time

Hats off to the shearers yesterday on one of the hottest days of the year. We left the sheep in the shade until the last minute to avoid stressing them but when we went to put them in the fold they split into 3 flocks.

We got the first lot in OK but the other two groups played hard to get. We were totally drained by the time we managed to round them up - the sheep were fine however. The shearers arrived in time to see one of the ewes jump the hurdles and, despite our best efforts to catch her, she cleared an electric fence and disappeared into the long grass at the far end of the field. We eventually caught her and she was the first one sheared.

We always dread shearing time as we need fine weather, dry well-behaved sheep and sheep shearers available, but yesterday was ridiculously hot. Today though, the sheep look much happier and cooler. Proper Job!