A pair of yearling ewes before shearing
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We generally shear at Thistledown Croft in Late April or
early May. Many people like to shear much earlier but our sheep use a run-
in so we need them to be able to stay warm with the extreme weather
we get as late as April here in Western New York State. It is not
unusual for us to have very changeable weather in March and April.
It can be warm and balmy one day only to cool off suddenly. Sometimes we
have a heavy snow fall or ice storm as late as mid April Scottish
Blackface Sheep do not do as well when closed up tightly in a barn.
I like my ewes to get exercise right up until they are ready to be separated
and put in the lambing jugs inside our sheep shed.
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Many people prefer to shear before lambing as it is much
easier to keep the ewes clean and dry and I think if we had a larger flock
that is what we would do. We keep a dozen sheep or less so we generally
do not have any problems with long wool at lambing time. We crutch
or wig our ewes which means clipping around the back end of the sheep to
keep the ewe from getting too dirty at delivery time but it also helps
the newborn lamb find the teats in all that wool.
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Veteran Sheep Shearer Vern Johnson
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We had the privilege of meeting veteran sheep shearer Vern Johnson
of Lakewood, NY in the early eighties and bought our first ewe from him.
We no longer breed colored crossbreds but Vern still does most of our shearing.
You can see him using electric clippers in the photos on this page.
Most shearing today is done using the modern Australian method as Vern
is doing here.. In the past in Scotland and other parts of Great
Britain sheep were washed prior to shearing and when the sheep were fully
dry, shearing began, usually in June. The sheep were put up on a
bench and shorn using a different technique with hand shears. There
are still a few shepherds who prefer to shear this way but most often this
type of hand shearing is used only by showman to block their sheep or to
crutch sheep as I mentioned before. To see a photo of sheep shearing
in 19th Century Scotland, scroll down.
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We sell fleeces at wool festivals and to individual hand
spinners at our farm but Blackface wool is truly a specialty wool. I have
friends who blend it with the wool of other breeds and use it for tapestry
or rug making but keep in mind this wool does not have any crimp.
If you would like to
try a fleece you can contact me at our e-mail address, corgijim@alltel.net
This wool is wonderful for anything you want to be hard wearing.
It takes dye very well and can be used for other craft projects where long
wool is needed. For more information on this hardy little Scottish breed
go to our Scottish Blackface Sheep Page.
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Newly shorn ewe with lamb
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WOOL PRODUCTION OF SCOTTISH BLACKFACE
Scottish Blackface wool is a specialty wool in a class
of its own. It does not compete with other wools at all and has no competition
in its own particular field. There are variations in type of fleece according
to the way the sheep were bred. In a general way, there're the south west
type (short wool) and the central Scotland type (long wool).The south west
type is the finer, with a Bradford count of forty or so, generally classed
as short or medium, ewes fleece of S to 4% lbs. greasy. The central type
is a stronger wool classed as long or deep strong; this type gives a ewe
fleece of 5 to 61/2 lbs, greasy. The main markets are the mattress and
upholstery trade, carpet and heavy cloth trade. Strong Blackface wool undoubtedly
makes the best mattress filling there is: the demand for this is
very good. The carpet trade all over the world (even New Zealand and Australia)
uses large quantities of the medium class of Scottish Blackface wool. The
finer wools are used for blending into many of the strong wearing clothes,
over-coating,working tweeds and heavy blankets, The finest Scottish Blackface
wool goes to the famous Harris tweed trade.
For the complete booklet
on Scottish Blackface write The Scottish Blackface Breeders Assn.
1699 HH Highway, Willow Springs, MO 65793
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If you are interested in purchasing breeding
stock contact us we have sheep for sale most of the time.
Right now we have a ewe lamb and a young ewe known as a Hogg and a Gimmer
respectively.. If you need a ram or Tup as they are called in Scotland
we can put you in touch with another breeder who lives nearby so you can
arrange transportation to one location. This breeder has bloodlines
that are different from our own which of course is to everyone's
benefit.
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ewe with lamb
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