An unhappy Angora kid is pushed into the dip after he has been sheared. Dip is a brownish, evil-smelling chemical mixture which safeguards the shorn animals against ticks. All goats hate it.
Shearing crew gets busy on four of "King" Stieler's Angoras. Goats are shorn twice a year, spring and early fall, yield about 3 lb. of fleece per shearing. Shearers use truck with special body equipped with multiple power-driven sharing heads like barber's clippers. Good shearers get 7 - 1/2 cents per goat, can make up to $15. a day. After the shearing, crew gets a goat to eat.
Shorn goats crowd together for warmth and mutual sympathy. They are not pretty now and they know it. Angora goats make noise by snorting or blowing through noses but rarely bleat.
Life August 31, 1942
4 comments:
At our last shearing, our shearer donated her full days wages to Valour-IT - for voice activated laptop computers for our wounded.
I did my training in Sonora, Texas for fleece evaluation and judging. Those mohair warehouses look the same today as they do in those pictures!
When did you do your training? What brought about your interest in this as a livelyhood? Is is what you've always done?
It was a crazy decision I made about thirteen years ago... it has been a fun life. We have reduced our herds significantly, but I still judge around the country.
It has been some years since I was in Texas, but keep in close contact with people in the Sonora area.
What is remarkable about ranching is that much is still done just as it was in the photos - goats are still dipped the same and sheared the same. It is hands on and physical.
I know I'd love it too. I used to help Dad with his livestock. I've wormed the little guys more than once. I always enjoyed it and I was about 21 the last time I worked with them any.
Dad's sheep were sold to Oscar Mayer.
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