So after I brought the goats home I had to figure out how I was going to shear them. A pair of shears, a good pair, were in the $400 range. Way out of our budget! I looked up shearing them with a pair of scissors but then laughed at myself. How the heck was I going to do that? Luckily, Mr. Speck said that we could bring them back to his farm and have them sheared by Keeno. Keeno shears all 1500 head of Mr. Speck's angora goats. So we loaded the goats back in the truck (this time I can say we!) and drove them all the way back to Kerrville to have them sheared.
I have a new respect for shearers. It is crazy hard work. Keeno needs to be on that Dirty Jobs show! He made it look so stinkin' easy. He has been shearing since he was 17. I couldn't imagine how many goats he has sheared over the years....10,000? 1 million? I don't know...
So, Keeno shears our goats in like 5 minutes...check out these pictures. This is Mo getting sheared...
Boom. Done. Right?
It was almost that fast! He was SUPER gentle with the animals, no nicks and crazy fast. I would let Keeno give me a haircut! :)
So they bagged all of our mohair up and we brought it home! Now I get to wash it, dye it and spin it! Alright, I think I am getting ahead of myself.
My goal is to save some money over the next six months and buy some shears to do it myself. Keeno let me have a try at shearing and it didn't go so good. With all the grease on the goat, the heat of the shear and a 100 lbs of squirmy goat, it was impossible! I better start lifting some weights now! Wish me luck. In six months, I will post some pictures of me shearing the goats! That might get some laughs!
