What is it?
Conservation grazing does exactly what it says on the tin. It is the conscientious use of grazing to aid the development of biodiversity and improve the management of a variety of habitats throughout the United Kingdom.
What does it do?
Johne’s disease (JD) is a relatively unknown disease which affects sheep, goats, cattle and even camelids throughout the world and is endemic in most European countries. It is widespread throughout the UK and becoming a key issue affecting the UK sheep industry today.
It is that time of year again, when our woolly friends are looking decidedly shaggy and a little bit warm. Many people have already sheared, especially if they are intending to show their animals, however those who don’t have shelter, or don’t intend to show are still planning ahead. We often get asked the best way to handle fleeces destined for the mill at shearing time, so we’ve put together our top tips which should help you out in the shearing shed.
1. Know what you want; if you are able to work out which fleeces you want to keep while they are on the animal, all the better. This will make sorting much easier, as you can have these sheep shorn first (or last) and keep the fleece separate for a more thorough going over later on.
I spent the day on Wednesday and again on Saturday in the Shearing Shed at the Bath & West Show, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.
We helped last year too. On these days there are demonstrations and talks all about wool and shearing, while the sheep shearing competitions happen on the Thursday and Friday. The demonstrations included hand blade shearing, which uses the same tools as used over 4,000 years ago and are still used extensively, mechanical wheel-driven shearing (by humans!), a wonderful 1952 Lister steam engine which drives 4 shearing sets and modern electrical shearing. You can gues which drew the largest crowds!
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