Devonshire June July 16

The diary of lady farmer, Janet East
Janet sewing up the wool sheet full of fleeces
Shearing's really hard work - need a soak in a hot bath afterwards
Want, want, want, then don’t
want - are we ever happy?
We want the sunshine to help
the grass grow and make us
feel happy, we want the rain
to fall to help the grass grow
even more. We want the rain
to stop so we can make silage
and then make hay, but what
we shepherds really don’t
want is damp, warm, muggy
weather as this can mean
the arrival of those horrible
blowflies, (metallic green or
blue in colour), who adore
sheep fleeces in which they lay
white seed-like eggs and then
the eggs hatch into maggots
causing the dreaded flystrike.
The maggots, like lightening,
start to eat into the flesh and
skin of the sheep and that’s real
trouble.
Mild weather, lush spring grass
in abundance and hey presto,
before you know it, you can
have squitty sheep - these are
the ones at risk. Flies love a bit
of s**t! So clean sheep is what
“Peeling” sheep!
we work tirelessly to achieve.
Prior to shearing in June,
checking our sheep is an even
more frequent job, looking for
the signs of flystrike. It doesn’t
take long for the maggots, if
left undetected, to kill a sheep -
no joke. An infected sheep will
show unusual behaviour - it’ll
be on it’s own, not grazing,
rubbing up against a fence and
What do they say about black sheep?
the smell is gross. It honestly
makes you want to throw up.
The lovely month of June
has arrived. The season is
here. Royal Ascot, Wimbledon,
Henley Regatta, when ladies are
out spending loads of money
to dress up and look smart and
beautiful. Not for me (shame),
but it is time for me to spend
money on making my sheep
look smart and beautiful,
yes... it’s time to shear. Have
I beaten the pesky blowfly
before shearing? Yes, but we
only shear the adult sheep, not
the lambs, so the battle never
ends. My eldest son Miles is my
shearer and whilst he isn’t the
fastest in the world, because
he doesn’t do enough of it, the
job gets done, but with a fair
amount of swearing, a lot of
sweat, constant referral to the
fact that he charges double for
rams, and promises of “I’m not
doing this next year”. Cheeky
devil - he loves it really.
This year he was living away
and so I called him to ask if he
could come home to shear for
me to which he replied, as most
skint youngsters do:
“Of course mum if you send me
the petrol money”.
In the same breath he asked
me if he could bring a couple
friends with him who hadn’t
ever seen a sheep being shorn
before. I immediately said yes
of course, but to remind him
that there was no pay, only
board and lodging and a pint,
maybe two.
90
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