I've been shearing - that is, wool handling - today and yesterday. I arose at 5:30 this morning to be ready for the pickup just after 6:00. I took breakfast and lunch with me, plus smoko snacks, all made the evening before. Today the farmer 'shouted' us fish and chips for lunch, so I didn't need it all.
This was my second day, and I'm getting the hang of it now. I now know what a 'frib' is. It is shorn with the 'belly', and is the part that covers the ribs. The frib is separated from the belly and put in a fadge separate from everything else. It's very easy to see which part is the frib, 'cause it has no nice wool at all. It's all thin, dirty, and stringy. Rather like 2- or 3-inch lengths of a dirty, brown yarn compared to a new sheepskin. Not that the belly all looks like a new sheepskin, either! But the inside couple of inches would if you cut away the rest.
If I didn't have M'tech's SPORT, my thighs would be screaming. I do a lot of crouching, particularly when picking up fleeces from the floor. I was told today that I'm doing very well at picking up fleeces for someone who is only on her second day. That is, the lead shearer told me that one of the girls was astonished that I was only on my second day, because I was picking up the fleeces so well. That made me feel good. :c)
I particularly enjoy picking up bits of information that will be helpful down the track once I'm a shepherd, etc. I'm trying to find out the shearers' perspective of things, so that one day maybe my woolshed will be one that all the shearers remember as one in which they love to work, and my sheep ones they love to shear, and me a farmer with whom it is a pleasure to deal.