Work Every Bit as Wild as It Is Woolly

by Amy Judd | April 5, 2008 at 02:37 pm

1139 views | 0 Recommendations | 13 comments

As spring is upon us, many people feel the need to start fresh - a new relationship, a new wardrobe or a new job.
Well, if you're considering getting out of the office in time to get a tan, maybe this is something that would interest you.
Sheep shearers can make $70 to $80 an hour, but of course there are some hazards of the job.

To shear a sheep is to touch a fading chord of Western culture. In the 1990s alone, 40,000 sheep ranches blinked out of existence, a 38 percent decline. And the number of people who know how to shear is falling even faster.

Which brings us to a sheep-shearing class here: 10 men and 5 women — a few entrepreneurs, some back-to-the-land idealists, a psychiatrist from Butte who has made a bet with his wife, three high school buddies, a home builder looking for an economic sideline in tough times and a reporter trying to get inside the story.

And, of course, there are the sheep.

Sheep, you might think, should be among the mildest and easiest of animals to handle. In literature, they have been handy symbols since the days of Homer for innocence in the face of adversity, forever typecast as lost pals to Little Bo Peep or victims of the Big Bad Wolf.

But in this three-day class, a harder truth emerges: Sheepish innocence and stoicism are only a front for the jagged reef on which beginners can founder. Sheep endure. It is the shearer who must adapt, adjust and pivot.

“Learning to shear is a lesson in humility,” said one instructor, Jim Moore, a field agent at the Montana Sheep Institute, which focuses on all things woolly at Montana State University and runs training programs at the university’s experimental ranch here about 30 miles west of its Bozeman campus.

This is a fortunate year to become an American shearer. In a strange local backwash of global capitalism and the weak United States dollar, the Australian and New Zealand shearing companies on which Western ranchers have come to depend are staying home this spring, unable to justify the exchange-rate loss.

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yarnwyrkz

at 17:02 on April 5th, 2008

This is Marge, a pregnant Angora goat after an amature shearing job.

yarnwyrkz has contributed a photo to this story.

MarkVII

at 17:09 on April 5th, 2008

Taken on February 4, 2008, at the Estancia Fitz Roy near Punta Arenas, Chile.
This particular sheep was sheared, using old-fashioned manual shears, as a demonstration for a tour group.

MarkVII has contributed a photo to this story.

Abraxa88

at 17:16 on April 5th, 2008

Sheep shearing in Kaikoura, New Zealand

Abraxa88 has contributed a photo to this story.

lisa_irwin22

at 20:14 on April 5th, 2008

Sheep shearing at the Agrodome, outside of Rotorua New Zealand

lisa_irwin22 has contributed a photo to this story.

Dickgustafson

at 20:17 on April 5th, 2008

Farmer Bill shearing one of his domesticated sheep "Archie" on a small farm outside of Kaikoura, New Zealand.

Dickgustafson has contributed a photo to this story.

Sean McGinnis

at 02:01 on April 6th, 2008

This is a sheep being sheared with manual shears at Colonial Williamsburg, Va

Sean McGinnis has contributed a photo to this story.

crispyking

at 02:07 on April 6th, 2008

craig, the 'lifestyle guy' shearing sheep

crispyking has contributed a photo to this story.

Neacht

at 09:09 on April 6th, 2008

A picture of the almost lost art of sheep shearing from a "Farmers's Day" held in Marlay Park, Dublin, on a lovely sunny day in June 2006.

lindie_naughton has contributed a photo to this story.

lilv_123

at 09:22 on April 6th, 2008

This photo was taken just after the shearing. I kinda felt bad for them, since it was still pretty cold outside! Since then, all but one of these sheep have given birth!

lilv_123 has contributed a photo to this story.

arzegone

at 23:23 on April 6th, 2008

This photo was taken at Estancia Rolito in Tierra del Fuego, on Dec 1, 2007, during the first shearing of the season, the one dedicated to the young sheep, at their first shearing, and to the wethers

arzegone has contributed a photo to this story.

Hawaiian Wahine

at 05:53 on April 7th, 2008

I happened to be doing research at the Hopland Research Instistute in Hopland, CA, and I was able to witness and help participate in their annual sheep shearing. It is tough work and very physically demanding, but the experienced sheap shearers work very quickly and efficiently. Shearing a whole sheep in what seems like a matter of minutes.

Hawaiian Wahine has contributed a photo to this story.

kkennedy322

at 19:23 on April 7th, 2008

This photo was taken in October 2007 at the Music & Molasses Festival at the Ellington Agricultural Center in Nashville, TN.

kkennedy322 has contributed a photo to this story.

I Hug Lion

at 04:57 on April 14th, 2008

Sheep shearing demonstration in Craftsbury, VT market. This is virgin wool being cut. In a booth to the left of this, there are ladies who are weaving the freshly cut wool. It's not as lucrative of a business as people think it is. This farmer only cuts the wool on his own sheep which as quoted in the article can be $70-80/hr is not a lot overall, after raising, feeding, and sheltering for the sheep.

I Hug Lion has contributed a photo to this story.