Our sheep were supposed to getshorntoday , but it rained last night so now they ca n’t . They ’re projected and upset at the same sentence . They do n’t like to be catch and roll into all those weird location , but they say it ’s nice to finger the coolheaded cinch on their skins subsequently .
I talked about shearing sheeplast year , but I did n’t advert why it must be done . Most sheep ’s wool — except for double - coated British and Scandinavian breeds likeShetland sheepandSoaythat roo , or by nature throw away their muddled undercoats — keep develop until you cut them off . If you do n’t , those sheep are in hassle .
creaky sheep , obese sheep in later maternity and sheep with additional farseeing fleeces sometimes get throw . That means they lie down in the common way but somehow lose their remainder and roll up onto their sides or even on their backs . Because they ’re so stiff or fat or their fleeces are so thick , they ca n’t get their legs back under them to set themselves up again , so they ’re stuck with their legs stuck up or straight out to the sides .
recollect when I talked aboutruminants ’ stomach ? Our rumens are Brobdingnagian and heavy , and when a sheep is cast , its first stomach press hard against its lungs . Unless someone comes along and helps the sheep up , pretty shortly it ca n’t breathe and it suffocates . This is not an unusual occurrent . Our granny sheep , Rebaa , conk out when she got cast lately at nighttime and no one found her until morning time .
Unshorn sheep can also fail fromheat stroking , a dangerous problem when it ’s extra red-hot and humid alfresco .
And , a farseeing , ragged fleece is miserably itchy . Ca n’t you just opine ? I can !
So , it ’s off with our sheep ’s fleece , except for Mopple . He gets to keep his sheepskin . That ’s because he ’s 75 percent Dorper and 25 percent Katahdin , two types of hair’s-breadth sheepcalled “ shedders , ” which develop little wool that naturally shake off in June or July .
Some variety ofhair sheepdon’t grow fleece at all ; they have hair’s-breadth all over their bodies . That ’s what all sheep look like until ancient human lead off selecting sheep for longer wool and a tendency not to shed . That way all of their wool could be harvest at one time instead of rooing it ( combing or picking it off by hand ) over a period of several weeks ’ clock time .
Our shearer , Paul Ahrens , reschedule our sheep ’s haircuts until next Saturday . The sheep heaved sigh of succour . But mammy will be catch extra nearly to check that no one gets roll . She ’ll be really , really glad when the shearing is done .
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