September is the month in which the sheep are getting rid of their extra warm winter coats.
What is Shearing?
When the wool is cut off of a sheep is called shearing. Shearing doesn’t usually hurt a sheep. It’s just like getting a hair cut. However, shearing requires skill so that the sheep is shorn efficiently and quickly without causing cuts or injury to the sheep or shearer.
Sheep shearing is a practice for the health and hygiene of each animal. Unlike other animals, most sheep are unable to shed. If a sheep goes too long without being shorn, some problems occur. The excess wool impedes the ability of sheep to regulate their body temperature and if sheep are not shorn in the early spring flies hatch in the long winter coats.
Wool continues to grow if not shorn, making the sheep uncomfortable. The heavy wool begins to pull on the skin and can lead to skin sores. Those sores can attract flies, leading to possible flystrike.
Unshorn sheep become itchy in the heat and begin rubbing on hay racks, fences and each other. This can lead to the fleece to felt on the sheep’s body.
The dirty unshorn wool invites flies. Shearing the wool before the flies hatch, gets rid of the dirty soiled fleece. Any cuts or abrasions that occur during shearing will heal quickly before the fly season
Till next time
Sandra and Hennie
