Howdy all. I am now feeling like the REAL goat girl... I sheared my first Angoras the other day! Three down, six to go. Had to do it, I've got babies due starting next week. I got all the stuff ready: wormer, vaccs, hoof trimmers, de-louse powder, sweatshirts. I was lucky enough to catch Buttercup (due next week to kid), and drag her 200# body over to my homemade milk stand where she actually DID get on the thing and put her head through the stock! Whew! Weighed her, wormed her... grabbed my "new" used Oster Shearmasters that I'm quite proud of (thank you very much), and started to clip. But, no. Wouldn't cut butter. Well, I didn't drag Her Highness all the way over there for nothing, so out came the Fisker scissors and I started to whack. Took me 2-1/2 hours, and no, it's not a pretty sight... sort of looks like a concentration camp haircut (I call them 'Schindler's Goats'). But, she was patient and her hair is beautiful and I never cut her skin. The next goat took me 1-1/2 hours, and by that time I had help from a friend. We did one more but had to hold her by the horns, a Pygora who is too small for the stanchion (she barely comes up to my knee). Talk about a feeling of accomplishment!

In the meantime, I talked to my shearer who gave me all kinds of good info on the clippers. Turns out, I've got the wrong blades after all, we need a 20-tooth mohair comb. Hoping to get that today. He also told me where I can get them sharpened locally, AND is going to drop by on Saturday to give me some pointers. Nice guy. If anyone gets The Woolly Times, that's my goat, Magnolia, and my shearer, Rich Lienemann, on the cover from last fall's shearing 'event' at my farm. Guess that's their 15 minutes of fame! You could take a looksee on the web at www.thewoollytimes.com. It's a nice magazine, by the way, only about a year old, with all kinds of info on fiber, weaving, spinning, dyeing, and raising fiber animals. Just a plug.

Oh, well, just had to share! Hope your spring is a great one. dh in nm

-- debra in nm (dhaden@nmtr.unm.edu), April 26, 2001

Answers

Great job Debra! My large oster/clipmasters came with a sheep head and comb sets, and of course in our goats you use the cattle head and blades :) You are very dedicated to your angora's to use your sizzors! Good for you! Don't feel bad I have seen lots of bad haircuts on goats even with the best of equipment! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 26, 2001.

Good for you. I felt the same sense of accomplishment after I'd shorn my sheep the first time. I decided after a shepherd who had meat breeds second cut my fleeces all to bits that I couldn't botch the job any worse than he had. This was after several conversations about what a spinner's fleece should be and while I was reminding him as he was doing the "butchering!" All I got was responses like how pretty the sheep would look and he'd be embarrassed to have any one see the sheep looking rough. Well, I got myself a set of blades (the non electric shears) and went at it myself the next year. As you said, it took forever but I got good spinning wool and my sheep were far less traumatized by my doing it than a stranger with that noisy hot machine.

Anyway, congratulations and more power to you!

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), April 26, 2001.

Shearing is hard enough work without doing each animal twice! NEVER do any second cuts, remember that the object is to harvest the fleece and that the sheep/goat will look fine again in a couple of weeks.

-- john hill (john@cnd.co.nz), April 26, 2001.

Thanks for the tip, John. I tried so hard not to make second cuts, and being my first attempt, it wasn't too bad. After the first one, I got a method going: be real careful on the good hair, get it bagged, then whack the other stuff off! Good to know they'll look ok in a few weeks. And, another good thing was, they weren't shaved to the skin, so I don't have to worry about sunburn or putting sweatshirts on them. Still pretty cool at night here, but none were shivering the next day. I agree that the hand-shearing is easier on them, maybe like a person getting their hair cut, it's really relaxing. I'll be sorry to switch to the electric clippers for that reason, but now I know that I can do the hand-shearing in a pinch. dh in nm

-- debra in nm (dhaden@nmtr.unm.edu), April 26, 2001.

Job well done!! *cracking* the whip to get on those other six, lol!!

The mag has a neat little site! I've always been curious...

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), April 26, 2001.

Hi Debra. I have no experience of shearing goats but with sheep the usual technique is to cut off all the lesser desirable bits first. Then sweep around the work space and take off the desired fleece in one big blanket.

-- john hill (john@cnd.co.nz), April 26, 2001.

Debra, congratulations on your accomplishment. I've been shearing my angoras for about 10 years now. I learned to set them on their rump, shear belly and all four legs and then hog tie them to do the rest of the body. Took some time to figure out how to hold them, spent a lot of time on the floor sitting on them, but can now shear a goat in about 20 minutes. I gave up doing them on the floor and built myself a table like in Sue Drummonds book and now I shear the younger goats on that. I can't lift the old does up there anymore so I have them sheared by a shearer from around this area. Unfortunately there are not a lot of folks who know how to shear an angora correctly. Since the hair does not come off in a blanket like wool and their skin is very loose and wrinkley its a little more difficult. I learned from a couple of American Indian guys who gave a workshop at a fiber festival and I think they were from New Mexico. Funny names, I'll have to look it up, it was a son and father team. As you shear you will find short cuts and ways to hold the animal that will make it easier, and watch for workshops in your area, if it's put on my a person who knows their stuff it's worth the money.

-- Betsy K (betsyk@pathwaynet.com), April 26, 2001.

forgot to add . . .just got a check for 1st (fall kid clip) and 2nd clip (yearlings hair) hair from 2000. Paid 8.25 and 4.25 respectively per #. The adult hair is not selling yet, but it's good to have some money finally coming in from the girls and kids.

-- Betsy K (betsyk@pathwaynet.com), April 26, 2001.

Yeah, Betsy... not a whole heckuva lot of money in mohair! I started with 2 white wethers for 'fun' and this all exploded into colored Angoras. Now I've got 9 along with 3 dairy breeds (pets); five of them are due to kid within the next 3 weeks. My luck.. I'm trying to coordinate sale of house & move 250 miles away... and every one of them will have twins and, voila! 10 more goats! However, I have several people interested in buying kids. I started this because I wanted to raise something I didn't have to kill, and even the boys grow hair.

As for shearing, yes, my goal is to learn that 'Australian Go-Down Method'.. I did see that done at the Taos Wool Festival last fall (and I have the Drummond book, too). A lady from Mora did it in a hand-shearing demonstration & it took her only about 20 minutes (she had to be in her 60's or 70's! You go girl!). My shearer does goats like sheep, just sets them on their rumps and does it all from there. I was afraid to do that because of the pregnant does. I didn't want to harm them with my inexperience, so I'm doing them in the milk stand (plus, they weigh more than me!). I've since talked to Rich and he's going to drop by Saturday and give me some pointers. I'm hoping I can sweet talk him into doing my buck. I sure wanted to enter his gorgeous brown hair in the State Fair this year, but if I clip him, it won't be pretty!

All the Navajos I know think I'm crazy for shearing twice a year as they just do their goats when they do the sheep in the spring. They think is cruel on the goat. But, theirs don't have shelter either, and if mine were in that harsh environment, I'd tend to let it go, too. I'm sure hoping I can get some of the Navajo weavers interested in colored mohair for their rugs after I'm all moved up to the Four Corners area.

Baby update: Buttercup was off to herself this morning, not interested in feed. Up & down about 5 times in 30 minutes... checking out places to be alone. She's due on the 2nd and hasn't made a bag yet, so I'm thinking the kid's starting to drop or repositioning. I wish I could call home and say, "Hey, Red, how's Buttercup?" This is making me crazy. dh in nm

-- debra in nm (dhaden@nmtr.unm.edu), April 27, 2001.