 | The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with Australia and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(March 2011) |
A sheep shearer is a worker who uses (hand-powered)-blade or machine shears to remove wool from domestic sheep during crutching or shearing.
During the early years of sheep breeding in Australia, shearing was carried out by shepherds, assigned servants, Ticket of Leave men, and free labourers using blade shears. As the sheep industry expanded, more shearers were required. Although the demand had increased, the conditions had not, and shearers had to contend with terrible working conditions, very long hours and low pay. In 1888, Australia became the first country in the world have a complete shearing, at Dunlop Station, finished using machines.
By 1915, most large Australian sheep station shearing sheds had machines that were powered by steam engines. Later, internal combustion engines powered machines until rural power supplies became available.
In most countries like Australia with large sheep flocks, the shearer is one of a contractor's team that go from property to property shearing sheep and preparing the wool for market. A workday starts at 7:30 am and the day is divided into four “runs” of two hours each. “Smoko” breaks of a half hour each are at 9:30 am and again at 3 pm. The lunch break is taken at 12 midday for one hour. Most shearers are paid on a piece rate, i.e., per sheep. The shearer collects a sheep from a catching pen, positions it on his “stand” on the shearing board and operates the shearing hand-piece. A shearer begins by removing the wool over the sheep's belly, which is separated from the main fleece by a rouseabout while the sheep is still being shorn. The remainder of the fleece is taken off in one piece by following an efficient set of movements.
In the case of powered shears, the movements used are those devised by Godfrey Bowen, in approximately 1950, [1] or the “Tally-Hi” method. In 1963, the Tally-Hi shearing system was developed by Kevin Sarre and the Australian Wool Corporation who promoted the technique using synchronised shearing demonstrations. Sheep struggle less using the Tally-Hi method, reducing strain on the shearer and there is a saving of about 30 seconds shearing each sheep. When finished, the shorn sheep is removed from the board via a chute in the floor, or wall, to a counting out pen, efficiently removing it from the shed.
The latest shearing patterns which are used by some of the most efficient shearers around the world, world record holders, world champions, etc. have fewer blows due to better sheep control and positioning. These patterns ensure that there is less strain placed on the sheep and the shearers due to the advanced techniques used. [2]
A professional or "gun" shearer typically removes a fleece, without badly marking or cutting the sheep, in two to three minutes depending on the size and condition of the sheep, or less than two in elite competitive shearing. Shearers who “tally” more than 400 sheep per day when shearing crossbreds, or around 200 for finer wool sheep such as merino, are known as “gun shearers”. Gun shearers using blade shears are usually shearers that have shorn at least 200 sheep in a day. A learner (shearer) is a shearer or intending shearer who has shorn less than a specified number of sheep. [3]
In 1983 the Australian shearing industry was torn apart by the wide comb dispute and the ensuing 10-week strike that followed. The offending combs had been introduced by New Zealanders who were weaker union supporters. In 1984, Australia became the last country in the world to permit the use of wide combs, due to previous Australian Workers' Union rulings. [4]
The Shear Outback, Australian Shearers' Hall of Fame and museum, was officially opened on 26 January 2001 at Hay, New South Wales in recognition the great wool industry and the great shearers of Australia, especially those of the Outback. The inaugural inductees into the Australian Shearers’ Hall of Fame are Jackie Howe (1861–1920), Julian Stuart (1866–1929), Henry Salter MBE (1907–1997), Kevin Sarre (1933–1995) and John Hutchinson OAM. These inductees were chosen because they had won world championships or had shorn high tallies. [5] [6] [7]
The shearers’ protective clothing and footwear usually includes:
or
On 10 October 1892, Jackie Howe set a record of 321 sheep shorn in 7 hours and 40 minutes, using blade shears. He had previously set a weekly aggregate record of 1,437 sheep over a total working week of 44 hours and 30 minutes. While Howe's weekly aggregate record remained until at least 2005, his daily record tally was broken using machine shears by Ted Reick in 1950.
Kevin Sarre (1933–1995) was one of the world's greatest 20th Century machine shearers. He won many shearing championships including five Australian Titles, was a Golden Shears Winner in 1963 and held World Shearing Record in 1965 of shearing 346 Merinos. In 1963, Kevin in association with the Australian Wool Board, was instrumental in the development of the revolutionary Tally-Hi shearing technique, and went on to supervise the training of this technique throughout Australia. The Tally-Hi shearing technique reduced the time taken to shear a sheep by approximately 30 seconds. Kevin's daughter Deanne holds the Australian women's shearing record, having shorn 392 sheep in a day. [8]
Henry Salter (1907–1997) MBE won the first organised shearing contest at Pyramid Hill in 1934 and in 1953 was a machine shearing champion. He continued to use blade shears until he was well into his 80s. In 1946 Salter organised the first Australian shearing school at Kerang, Victoria. During the next 26 years he taught 6,557 students the art of shearing. In 1968 Henry Salter was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his services to the wool industry.
John Hutchinson from South Australia is a former Australian Shearing Champion who won the first of six Australian championships and demonstrated shearing at the Osaka World Expo. In 1999 Hutchinson was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for his contribution as a shearer trainer and teacher.
Australian Dwayne Black holds six world records, mainly in shearing endurance or marathon events. On 6 October 2002 he shore 570 Merino lambs in 9 hours at Yeeramulla, Badgingarra, Western Australia. In April 2005, he spent 9 hours shearing 513 Merino ewes, six more than the previous world record. [9] In October of the same year he shore 519 crossbred lambs at the showground, Bendigo, Victoria. [10]
On 2 March 2007, Broomehill shearer Brendan Boyle set the world 24-hour sheep shearing record by shearing 841 full wool Merino sheep, and in the process raised over $20,000 for the fight against prostate cancer. It was the first time a record has been set in 24 hours sheep shearing. However, for the record to be officially recognized, it needs to be overseen by the World Sheep Shearing Records Committee. This committee has a set of rules, and official referees in three member countries for the specific purpose of ensuring records are set under the same rules and consistent referees in these countries. [10]
In competition sports shearers, using blades or machine driven hand-pieces, can usually achieve short-term rates that are greater than for day shearers.
Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool.
Wool classing is the production of uniform, predictable, low-risk lines of wool, carried out by examining the characteristics of the wool in its raw state and classing (grading) it accordingly. Wool classing is done by a wool classer.
Sheep farming or sheep husbandry is the raising and breeding of domestic sheep. It is a branch of animal husbandry. Sheep are raised principally for their meat, milk, and fiber (wool). They also yield sheepskin and parchment.
Mulesing is the removal of strips of wool-bearing skin from around the breech (buttocks) of a sheep to prevent the parasitic infection flystrike (myiasis). The wool around the buttocks can retain feces and urine, which attracts flies. The scar tissue that grows over the wound does not grow wool, so is less likely to attract the flies that cause flystrike. Mulesing is a common practice in Australia for this purpose, particularly on highly wrinkled Merino sheep. Mulesing is considered by some to be a skilled surgical task. Mulesing can only affect flystrike on the area cut out and has no effect on flystrike on any other part of the animal's body.
Sheep shearing is the process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off. The person who removes the sheep's wool is called a shearer. Typically each adult sheep is shorn once each year. The annual shearing most often occurs in a shearing shed, a facility especially designed to process often hundreds and sometimes more than 3,000 sheep per day.
Crutching refers to the removal of wool from around the tail and between the rear legs of a sheep for hygiene purposes. It can also refer to removing wool from the heads of sheep. It does not refer to the process of mulesing—a controversial procedure that involves removing of strips of wool-bearing skin from around the breech (buttocks) of a sheep.
A sheep station is a large property in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or south-west of the country. In New Zealand the Merinos are usually in the high country of the South Island. These properties may be thousands of square kilometres in size and run low stocking rates to be able to sustainably provide enough feed and water for the stock.
Shearing sheds are large sheds located on sheep stations to accommodate large scale sheep shearing activities.
John Robert "Jackie" Howe was a legendary Australian sheep shearer at the end of the 19th century. He shot to fame in pre-Federation Australia in 1892 when he broke the daily and weekly shearing records across the colonies.
The Romney, formerly called the Romney Marsh sheep but generally referred to by the local farmers as the Kent, is a breed of sheep originating in England. The Romney is a "long-wool" breed recognized in England by 1800. Exported to other continents, the Romney is an economically important sheep breed, especially to the sheep-meat and wool export trades of New Zealand.
A micron (micrometre) is the measurement used to express the diameter of wool fibre. Fine wool fibers have a low micron value. Fibre diameter is the most important characteristic of wool in determining its value.
Shrek was a Merino wether belonging to Bendigo Station, a sheep station near Tarras, New Zealand, who gained international fame in 2004, after he avoided being caught and shorn for six years. Merinos are normally shorn annually, but Shrek apparently hid in caves, avoiding muster. He was named after the fictional ogre in books and films of the same name.
The raising of domestic sheep has occurred in nearly every inhabited part of the globe, and the variations in cultures and languages which have kept sheep has produced a vast lexicon of unique terminology used to describe sheep husbandry.
Alpaca fleece is the natural fiber harvested from an alpaca. There are two different types of alpaca fleece. The most common fleece type comes from a Huacaya. Huacaya fiber grows and looks similar to sheep wool in that the animal looks "fluffy". The second type of alpaca is Suri and makes up less than 10% of the South American alpaca population. Suri fiber is more similar to natural silk and hangs off the body in locks that have a dreadlock appearance. While both fibers can be used in the worsted milling process using light weight yarn or thread, Huacaya fiber can also be used in a woolen process and spun into various weight yarns. It is a soft, durable, luxurious and silky natural fiber.
The Golden Shears International Shearing and Woolhandling Championships is the world's most prestigious sheep shearing event.
Textile manufacturing is one of the oldest human activities. The oldest known textiles date back to about 5000 B.C. In order to make textiles, the first requirement is a source of fibre from which a yarn can be made, primarily by spinning. The yarn is processed by knitting or weaving to create cloth. The machine used for weaving is the loom. Cloth is finished by what are described as wet process to become fabric. The fabric may be dyed, printed or decorated by embroidering with coloured yarns.
Shearing the Rams is an 1890 painting by Australian artist Tom Roberts. It depicts sheep shearers plying their trade in a timber shearing shed. Distinctly Australian in character, the painting is a celebration of pastoral life and work, especially "strong, masculine labour", and recognises the role that the wool industry played in the development of the country.
The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company Limited was a London-incorporated public listed company created to capitalize on a sheep-shearing machinery business established by Frederick Wolseley in Australia which was managed by Herbert Austin who went on to manufacture Wolseley and Austin cars.
Chris was a Merino ram who gained international fame in September 2015 after being shorn of a record amount of wool in Canberra, Australia. Chris was named after a sheep character in the sitcom Father Ted by local Bonner resident Sue Dowling, who spotted the sheep wandering in a paddock near the Bonner district in Canberra.
Blade shearing or hand shearing is the style of shearing sheep and other animals with fibrous coats with a set of specialized scissors. It is practiced in many parts of the world as both an occupation and a sport. Commercial blade shearers shear on average 140 sheep in an 8-hour working day, but some will shear over 200 sheep in a day.
