As a child I often marvelled at the process of shearing a sheep and although I witnessed it on numerous occasions, I just couldn’t believe how smooth and clean the shearers managed to defleece a sheep.
Now cast your minds back to 1960 and imagine a thirteen year old lad standing on the board of a deserted shearing shed, with a pair of blade shears in his hand, cogitating on whether he should try his hand. He’d seen it so many times before that he knew all the moves off by heart, there wasn’t anyone around and the groom had left the ration sheep in one of the catching pens, ready to dispatch them next day, so it’s now or never.
Now which one? It’d better not be the big wether in the corner, he might fight to hard and I wouldn’t want to lose him in a half shorn state. So, it had better be that nice second cross lamb, the one I knew was intended for the homestead’s kitchen, for Gran had visitors coming at the weekend and she didn’t want to serve up tough meat.
So here goes. I had sharpened the blades, just as I’d been taught, lent them against the post on the board and dived into the pen, too easy. The lamb didn’t put up much of a struggle and I turned him up and pulled him onto the board. Grabbing my shears, I commenced to take off the belly wool, then the rest of the fleece came off easily. After letting him back in the pen, I admired my handy work. Well, there were a few high spots and in places he looked lopsided, but shorn he was.
Then an awful thought came to mind. What if the groom tells Granddad Tom about the shorn lamb, my god he’ll skin me alive!! So, for the next few days I just waited for the “axe to fall”. Nothing happened and as I was going back to school in Geelong the following Monday, I just prayed that nothing would be mentioned. Come Monday morning, I was taken to the Deniliquin Railway Station, ready to catch the seven thirty train to Melbourne and beyond. Usually, my mother would drive me in, but not this day, it was to be my Grandfather, who had errands to run in town. Pretending that the shearing episode had not occurred, I just kept up my usual prattle on the drive in. At the station, he helped me with my suitcase and put a ten bob note in my hand. His parting words were, “that was a pretty good first time shearing job you did last week and I’ll see you in a couple of weeks when you play cricket against Geelong Grammar”. He usually came to see me play a couple of times a term.
The shearing story doesn’t end there. After finishing school in 1963, I was sent off to jackaroo for Sir Roy McCaughey at the Coonong Merino stud, near Jerilderie, and was fortunate to be given the job of looking after the Ram Sale rams, all 200 odd of them. Each year the Fitzsimmons brothers were contracted to blade shear the rams that were destined for the various ram sales that the stud attended each year. Yours truly got the job of helping Jack and Jim during their stay at the property. I was to roustabout and keep the wool away from them after they finished each ram and turn the sandstone sharpening wheel, while they sharpened their shears, this took place at Smokos and lunch time. They were very professional at their job and since they also shore for my Grandfather, I had met them before. Both men, especially Jim, took a keen interest in me. When I told him that I wanted to learn how to blade shear properly, he gave me plenty of pointers and would let me shear his last sheep at the end of each run.
Over the next few years, I regularly sheared the rams on the various stud properties that I worked on. When I finally went back to my family property in nineteen eighty four, I took up blade shearing as an adjunct to my farm work. By this time, I had formed my own Sheep and Wool Consultancy business and was classing up to a hundred thousand sheep a year. However, in the year that I went home, I was at the Ballarat Sheep Show, where Sunbeam Australia held the Australian Blade Shearing Competition, so I entered, I never went anywhere without my blade shearing kit, for you never knew when you might need it! Luck had it that I managed to win the Novice section. There were several Stud Masters watching on who I knew and I was swamped with people wanting me to shear for them. To cut a long story short, I then went off blade shearing professionally for the next twenty or so years, shearing all over Eastern Australia, shearing in about thirty studs’ sheds and at the peak, shearing three to four thousand rams and ewes a year. My best tally was at Boonoke when I shore off 124 rams in the day.
SHEARING SHEDS THAT I HAVE BLADE SHORN IN.
I only entered the Australian Blade Shearing Championship twice again, nineteen ninety four and five, winning in ninety four and running second in ninety five. My shearing days are long gone, arthritis and back problems have put an end to all that!!!!
David Lowing
June 2021
Now cast your minds back to 1960 and imagine a thirteen year old lad standing on the board of a deserted shearing shed, with a pair of blade shears in his hand, cogitating on whether he should try his hand. He’d seen it so many times before that he knew all the moves off by heart, there wasn’t anyone around and the groom had left the ration sheep in one of the catching pens, ready to dispatch them next day, so it’s now or never.
Now which one? It’d better not be the big wether in the corner, he might fight to hard and I wouldn’t want to lose him in a half shorn state. So, it had better be that nice second cross lamb, the one I knew was intended for the homestead’s kitchen, for Gran had visitors coming at the weekend and she didn’t want to serve up tough meat.
So here goes. I had sharpened the blades, just as I’d been taught, lent them against the post on the board and dived into the pen, too easy. The lamb didn’t put up much of a struggle and I turned him up and pulled him onto the board. Grabbing my shears, I commenced to take off the belly wool, then the rest of the fleece came off easily. After letting him back in the pen, I admired my handy work. Well, there were a few high spots and in places he looked lopsided, but shorn he was.
Then an awful thought came to mind. What if the groom tells Granddad Tom about the shorn lamb, my god he’ll skin me alive!! So, for the next few days I just waited for the “axe to fall”. Nothing happened and as I was going back to school in Geelong the following Monday, I just prayed that nothing would be mentioned. Come Monday morning, I was taken to the Deniliquin Railway Station, ready to catch the seven thirty train to Melbourne and beyond. Usually, my mother would drive me in, but not this day, it was to be my Grandfather, who had errands to run in town. Pretending that the shearing episode had not occurred, I just kept up my usual prattle on the drive in. At the station, he helped me with my suitcase and put a ten bob note in my hand. His parting words were, “that was a pretty good first time shearing job you did last week and I’ll see you in a couple of weeks when you play cricket against Geelong Grammar”. He usually came to see me play a couple of times a term.
The shearing story doesn’t end there. After finishing school in 1963, I was sent off to jackaroo for Sir Roy McCaughey at the Coonong Merino stud, near Jerilderie, and was fortunate to be given the job of looking after the Ram Sale rams, all 200 odd of them. Each year the Fitzsimmons brothers were contracted to blade shear the rams that were destined for the various ram sales that the stud attended each year. Yours truly got the job of helping Jack and Jim during their stay at the property. I was to roustabout and keep the wool away from them after they finished each ram and turn the sandstone sharpening wheel, while they sharpened their shears, this took place at Smokos and lunch time. They were very professional at their job and since they also shore for my Grandfather, I had met them before. Both men, especially Jim, took a keen interest in me. When I told him that I wanted to learn how to blade shear properly, he gave me plenty of pointers and would let me shear his last sheep at the end of each run.
Over the next few years, I regularly sheared the rams on the various stud properties that I worked on. When I finally went back to my family property in nineteen eighty four, I took up blade shearing as an adjunct to my farm work. By this time, I had formed my own Sheep and Wool Consultancy business and was classing up to a hundred thousand sheep a year. However, in the year that I went home, I was at the Ballarat Sheep Show, where Sunbeam Australia held the Australian Blade Shearing Competition, so I entered, I never went anywhere without my blade shearing kit, for you never knew when you might need it! Luck had it that I managed to win the Novice section. There were several Stud Masters watching on who I knew and I was swamped with people wanting me to shear for them. To cut a long story short, I then went off blade shearing professionally for the next twenty or so years, shearing all over Eastern Australia, shearing in about thirty studs’ sheds and at the peak, shearing three to four thousand rams and ewes a year. My best tally was at Boonoke when I shore off 124 rams in the day.
SHEARING SHEDS THAT I HAVE BLADE SHORN IN.
- BALLYDEAN & DANDBURY - URALLA
- BANAVIE - MARNOO
- BELBOURIE - MARNOO
- BOONOKE - CONARGO
- COONONG - JERILDERIE
- DENILIQUIN STUD PARK – DENILIQUIN
- EMMAVILLE - WEETHALLE
- GLENDEMAR - MARNOO
- GLENERA NORTH - HORSHAM
- GOWENDALE - MARNOO
- HINESVILLE - DENILIQUIN
- KARMALA – LAKE BOLAC
- KOORALONG – LAKE BOLAC
- LONE PINE/SILVER PINES - JERILDERIE
- LOWANA – COLEAMBALY
- MUNGADAL - HAY
- NINUENOOK – WYCHIPROOF
- OAKBANK - MARNOO
- OAKLEA - MARNOO
- OLD COBRAN - DENILIQUIN
- OLD DUNDEE - MARNOO
- POOGINOOK - JERIDERIE
- SHALIMAR PARK - WALCHA
- TUPPAL CREEK - DENILIQUIN
- UARDRY - HAY
- WALLALOO PARK - MARNOO
- WONGA - JERIDERIE
- WILLURAH - CONARGO
- WIRRENOURT - WILLAURA
- WANGANELLA – WANGANELLA
- ZARA – WANGANELLA
- PEPINELLA - CONARGO
I only entered the Australian Blade Shearing Championship twice again, nineteen ninety four and five, winning in ninety four and running second in ninety five. My shearing days are long gone, arthritis and back problems have put an end to all that!!!!
David Lowing
June 2021
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