Mrs Downs Diary

"Just fill that bath with Radox" John instructed me as he crept into the house and slumped into a chair. "I'm going to need a very long soak" He has finished clipping the last of the sheep. John has taken it steady at about forty ewes a day, and it has taken just over three days to get all of them finished.

"I'm going to have send my combs and cutters away to be reground" he added. This is not for a new haircut for himself, or me, but to have them ready for those friends who will want their sheep clipping. Set up in the meal shed is a grinder with papers to keep the combs and cutters honed ready for clipping. But because of the wet weather we have had (I know other people haven't, but we have), the lambs have got into the habit of climbing up onto the backs of the ewes to keep dry and warm. As a result, the ewes' wool has become clogged with clay, and it is the grit and dirt in the clay that has been blunting the cutters.

"Won't the people who collect the wool reject it if it's dirty" I asked. I read all the dire directives we receive from them warning about rejection if straw or permanent spray markings are on or in the fleeces. "No, the clay will wash out" John said "They are not bothered about that, it is when matter is entwined into the wool and it won't wash out that they do not want the fleeces."

For full story read West Sussex Gazette June 14