Penned
The morning begins with penning the wooly critters and awaiting for the arrival of the shearing crew. Sheep
are taken off feed and water for about 12 hours prior to shearing.
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Inside View
This view shows the sheep on the ramp while shearers are hard at work
inside the plant.
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Sheep Chute
The sheep are moved through a series of chutes to a ramp that takes them into the portable shearing
plant.
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Inside Line
The plant includes a chute that runs in front of the shearing stands, so a shearer can press down on a sliding door to deposit a sheep at his feet.
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Through Exit
This is the view from the back side of the shearing plant, peeking through
one of the exit doors used for freshly shorn sheep.
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Exiting
A newly naked ewe comes out an exit door on the shearing plant.
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Herder Watches
Sheepman Jim Urbigkit waits to move more sheep up the chute, and watches as they exit the plant freshly shorn.
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Shorn Ewes
A group of newly naked ewes graze while waiting to be turned back out
to their grazing range.
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Wool Sorting
Two New Zealand wool girls work hard at sorting and baling the wool. Each ewe yields 8-12 pounds of fine wool in the annual shearing.
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Half Done
Cass Urbigkit pushes the remaining sheep up the chute.
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Big Boys
These rams weigh 250-300 pounds and have massive horns
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Ram Wait
Rams wait patiently in the chute for their turn at the shearing stand.
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Muscle
Sheep shearers have very well developed muscles from their daily activities.
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Ram View
A Rambouillet ram looks out from his place in the shearing plant chute.
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Ram Shear
Shearing a massive animal with horns to match is no minor task.
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Ram Exit
A shorn ram leaves the shearing plant out an exit door.
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Aftermath
At the end of the day, all the sheep are shorn and it's time to go back to the range. Birds often pick up the wool bits left on the ground for use in nests.
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