Wild Sheep Shearing 

6/12-2009

Kirsten and Ola planning the day. For the first time every, wild sheep on Sandsøy are being sheared. Wild sheep get a 'haircut' only once a year. Some farmers do it only every other year. If you leave the wool on, it will eventually fall off when the new wool grows in.

We set up a corral to gather the sheep. Wild sheep jump easily over the fences so we had to keep them packed in the corral, but first gathering them...

There they are! Looking delicious!

Kirsten thought it would be easy to gather the sheep since they come to her when she brings snacks....but we were wrong. When they saw the corral, they turned around on 'the heel' and took off. The 5 of us tried for a while, but decided that we needed help.

We called in the 'expert' with the sheep dog and everything went much better.

The sheep dog 'Zevs' working (small black spot closest to me) after commands from the owner, Arne Kåre.

We got them all gathered in the corral....including the wild sheep farmers, Tony and Kirsten.

Ola labeling the lambs. There were 16 boys and 16 girls altogether.

Many helpers is great. Kolbjørn (dairy farmer and Ola's brother) handing over wild sheep lambs to Marte and Rebecca.

The shearing has started. Ola has done this before! The sheep also got some worm medicine, bug medicine, new label and finally a bell on.

Tony practicing on shearing. Battling the sheep to get them in the right position for shearing was probably the hardest part. It went really smooth after a few tries.

Tone and Ola shearing away Veronica came to help, too. She gathered all the wool and bagged it.

A perfect day for farm work!

Almost all done. The last sheep. After a vaccination from the vet, the sheep will be let out to the backcountry.