{"id":7044,"date":"2021-10-23T08:02:13","date_gmt":"2021-10-23T06:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/?p=7044"},"modified":"2021-10-23T08:02:16","modified_gmt":"2021-10-23T06:02:16","slug":"shearing-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/shearing-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Shearing day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last week I presented the wool from the Swedish conservation breed Gestrike sheep<\/a>. All the Gestrike fleeces I have come from Claudia Dillmann’s flock. I was invited to Claudia a couple of weeks ago on shearing day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is still time to register for today’s breed study webinar on Gestrike wool<\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rules and practice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before I take you to the shearing day I want to give you a very basic overview of shearing in Sweden. This is my understanding and I may be wrong and off on several points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The animal welfare law in Sweden states that sheep should be shorn when needed but with no more than one year in between shearings. However, most sheep in Sweden are shorn twice every year, usually in the early spring and in the fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many ewes are pregnant during the winter, with estimated lambing in the spring. Much of the nutrition goes to the fetus and the wool isn’t in it’s best shape (for those of you who have ever been pregnant, you may know what I’m talking about). There is no access to fresh greens and the cold weather increases the lanolin production. A lot of sheep are stabled during the winter. Depending on the design of feeding tables among other things the fleece can have quite a bit of straw in their fleeces. The spring shearing is therefore usually of lesser quality, with more vegetable matter, more dirt and a higher lanolin content than the fall shearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the late spring the sheep get access to fresh grass in the pastures. Some energy goes to milk, but only for a limited time. The fleece grows healthily over the summer and has a more balanced lanolin production. For spinners the fall shearing is more attractive than the spring shearing. This is of course generally speaking \u2013 I have spun a couple of spring shorn fleeces that have been of excellent quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meet the flock<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Claudia has 12 sheep in her flock at the moment \u2013 nine Gestrike ewes, one Gestrike wether and two V\u00e4rmland ewes. A ram serves the sheep every second year and this year there were no lambs. The youngest sheep are around 18 months old. The wether Sylverster’s task is to keep order among any young rams. Claudia hoped he would also be a good lookout for predators, but he isn’t a very good guard dog. He is very nice, though, and goes with the ewes in the pastures. When there are young rams he does a very good job keeping them out of trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The sheep are in the pen, reluctantly ready for shearing day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Shearing day chain of action<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When I got to Claudia’s place on shearing day the sheep were already in the pen, ready for shearing. Elin Esperi, professional shearer, had already arrived and was getting her equipment in order when I came. Claudia was there, of course, and her partner Roger. We all had important tasks to make the whole operation as smooth as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n