Sorry for the quality of these pictures- I didn't realize how low-light the area was. But I was able to snap a few shots during a sheep shearing demonstration at NCFF. The ewe was complacent throughout, only bleating once near the end (and that wasn't an anxious bleat, it was more of a "will you please hurry up" sort of noise). The clipper aparatus hung on the wall (electric clippers), and the whole thing took less than five minutes.
The shearer did not know the exact breed of this sheep (my guess- a mutt with some Dorset in there somewhere, that's the usual breed of meat sheep around here), and frankly, this fleece wasn't really long enough for great spinning. Don't get me wrong, it's spinnable (or would be after skirting, cleaning, washing, and a lot of hay-picking), but it's a couple of months too soon for optimum length. It would make a nice, sproingy yarn.
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