Have You Any Wool?

On August 17, the task of sheering began.  It took them a little less than six days to complete the herd.  I was unable to help due to my allergies but Dylan got right in there and gave them a hand.  His job was to sweep up the extra wool between sheep and to 'dip' the ones that had already been shorn.  To 'dip' means that he covered them with a chemical to kill the lice.  Here are some pictures that were taken, courtesy of Heather!

These are the stalls that the sheep would come out of.  There were three shearers going at all times.  They would take them from the white stall doors and once the sheep had been shorn, they would put them back through the blue doors.  They had to count how many each shearer had done so they were kept separate until the pen was full, counted and then put out.  

Bags of Wool

This is Tiger.  One of the sheep dogs.  

Here is Sylv and Ben.  Sylv would make lunch, pack it up and take it down to the shed.  Ben is not old enough for school so he would hang out in the shed the with guys.

This was also part of Dylan's job.  

He would have to get up on top and pack the wool down.  

This is the actual wool press.  Before you closed the bag, you would have to machine press it down as well.  

Dylan sweeping!!  If only this would happen at home! 

This is the table where they did the sorting and trimming.  

A full shed!