I FINALLY BROKE DOWN AND BOUGHT A REAL ELECTRIC SHEEP SHEARER

Eventually, I decided that it had to be done.

I figured that around here it would be a worthwhile investment. After shearing a few sheep with a small rechargeable set of clippers and trying some with scissors, I decided that it was time to invest in a "real" tool for the job. I wanted to experiment cheaply at first to make sure that I was up for the job and that it was something that I actually wouldn't mind doing. Since you can always hire out the less pleasant jobs, it's good to remember that option. In this case, though, I've got it!

THE REAL DEAL!

Okay, so half shaven sheep are not exactly "in" this year. Sometimes, you just do what you can until you run out of daylight and pick up another day. Or, you realize that you need a better tool for the job and quit wasting your time with whatever you are trying to make work.

While it is true that you can just shear a whole sheep at once and have the wool stay pretty much intact, that's not exactly how I was doing it at first. To spin the wool into yarn you've got to separate it anyway, so I wasn't so concerned about that. Tracking down a pair or real sheep shearers was a little more difficult than I thought it was going to be.

The store I went to happened to be a specific location that did not stock the item I was looking for, so I had to head to another location the next day. These do work a lot better, but I've still got room for improvement. Do you see my glasses in the photo above. One side happens to be missing in that photo. That is because our ram "Hive account@jonny-clearwater" happened to kick me in the face when I flipped him over and broke my glasses in the process. Thankfully, it was just the glasses that got it, and not my beautiful face!

Anyway, we've got over half the flock of Jacob's Sheep sheared now and then I've still the three Shetland/Finn Sheep. I try to get one here and there between everything else I've got going on. By switching back and forth between tasks it break up the monotony and keeps things more varied. Soon we hope to learn how to spin wool and make our own yarn, so that will be exciting! We will keep you posted, but these clippers were a great investment in my opinion.