RANT: sheep shearing weather NOT!

We always shear sheep first week in April. Shearer is here from Indiana to do the job. Got about ten done this morning in the rain, and got a couple inches of snow as well.. Cold, rain, and snow, and this afternoon, THUNDER-SNOW. Not real condusive to shearing, even if we drag the sheep into the pole barn to work on them. Got about a dozen trapped in the shelter, ready to be grabbed, and dragged to the shearer, but in this weather????? Wife isn't happy about the wet fleeces either. Didn't ask the sheep, but they're probably not happy either.

Ya,I've only got one new calf on the ground,but with my rotten luck they'll probably drop a bunch of'em tonight in this shutt!

We got 23 sheared today. Found one ewe that looks like she's gonna twin any time now. Once you get the fleece off, the whole view becomes much more apparent. Hope she doesn't do it tonite. What a MISERABLE day to be outside. Cold, snow, sleet, rain and THUNDER SNOW. Any one think to show the weather CEO a calendar?

Is there any money to be made with sheep? I had one neighbor that had some a few years ago & it cost him more to get them sheared than what he could sell the wool for. Another neighbor has sheep & goats and is as poor as a church mouse.

Have a look at the Australian markets, you may be in the wrong country. $200 for a lamb.The best Wool 1969 cents kilogram. Your $ is now $AUD 1.04.

Teddy......you ask......"Is there any money to be made with sheep?"......only iff'n you break into the specialty markets. Wool to hand spinners, LAMB to ethnic markets. And intensive graze on GRASS. Iff'n you start feeding EXPENSIVE grain, there goes yer profit.

Remember, sheep are fall seasonal breeders. (think deer and elk) Some shepherds breed for early (jan-feb) lambing to sell to the Easter Market $$$ Others breed late to have fresh pasture grass (cheap feed) and sell 100lb lambs in the fall. Some ethnic markets prefer their ramlambs (called whethers with no plumbing) with all the plumbing so they can celebrate the birth of a BOY.

A economic study was made on raising sheep. It took about 400-ewes to maximize the profits of 1-sheepherder with herding dogs and guard dogs who did his OWN sheering. The USDA thinks you can raise 5-sheep for 1-cow. How many acres does it take to raise a cow?? Now you know how many acres of pasture you need$$$

And you need about 25-ewes for a ram to pleasure once a year. And would it surprize you to learn rams will "argue" about whose turn it is??? And even more surprizing is some rams prefer other rams 'stedda' ewes. (really) .......Dell, head shepherd RockyRidge SheepStation