Clipping 2019

At the end of May we got our sheep clipped. Last year I had some difficulty gathering in my pets for clipping - sheep aren't as stupid as many would lead you to believe, and they knew something was up. I did get them in eventually! But it lead me this year to come up with a different way of doing things. They day before clipping, I let the pets out of their field to wander around the yard. Clipping is done in the lambing shed so they didn't have far to travel to get clipped this time.

There was no stress or fuss - even jumpy Barnaby was relaxed.



Bridget isn't as nervous as Barnaby but she has her moments! She wasn't worried either.



In fact she was climbing on the flower beds!



Before I had quite so many pets, I often let them wander in the yard like this. It was quite nostalgic, really.



I left them so they could wander into the lambing shed at their leisure. Most of them were born in this building.





Rosie and her mini-me, Barnaby.



The following day it was pouring rain, but Pat and Barry arrived anyway, and Barry set to work clipping the pets.



Bob had been ready for clipping for weeks - he was very happy to be rid of his thick, dark fleece.





Over the following week, we got the rest of our sheep clipped. It was my job to keep the sheep coming.







My main helpers were Teddy and Fly. Teddy is an old hand at this job - he's been helping for seven years. This was Fly's first time helping and she did amazingly well. She's one of those dogs that can turn her paw to anything.













Clipping is always a job that's great to get done!