3BrNBBRz4UYdo+!~~60_7.JPG "chameleon54"){kind=avatar}
Thanks for thinking of me. The thing is I have only just seen the post as I have had a shearer, shearing my sheep for the last few days.....
On Friday he shore 188 ( which is a pretty good tally ) and shore 135 by 2.30 pm today. They are being shorn in preperation for sale due to the drought.
Old shearing tools are highly collectable and it is one of the areas I trade in. The rare stuff sells VERY quickly and can bring good money. I have been finding a lot of old shearing stuff lately including some very rare combs that I put to auction and a couple of vintage handpieces from the 1930,s. Its not for everyone, but there was so many variations of shearing gear made that it can be a fascinating hobby for those who are interested.
A couple of old timers I picked up at a clearing sale a few weeks ago..........
@martinw-48 wrote:
I wonder why he doesn't want to talk about the double shooting.
That's right he might implicate himself.
Pity you dont know anything about me before you start throwing those sorts of lines around. You couldnt be more wrong if you tried. The shearing team I contracted for was the first in our area to adopt wide combs. We where the ones who had to stand up to the local union thugs who tried to stir up trouble for us. Funny thing was within two years they where all using wide combs too......
The perpetrator/s are still walking around scot free.
He is also full of it about the sheds being free of sexism but it's not sexist to say the odd sexist thing that's just a bit of fun and besides the girls don't mind.
There where always a few idiots in any work place who made sexist remarks thirty years ago. Like every other work place it is no longer tolerated in shearing sheds. I suspect shearers probably had a bit more grudging respect for woman workers back then than some other work places, as the woman where usually faster and tougher than most of the men. ( they had to be to break the traditional stereotypes )
I've done a little work in the sheds.
Only A little ? Yes it shows.....
Not for me. Can't relate to the shearer mentality (bust a gut and earn three grand in a week, pay of your credit every where, drink yourself broke
More ill informed stereotypes. Of the shearers in the shearing team I ran, half where tea toteelers and the other half, moderate social drinkers. All of the shearers working for me now are tea totellers. I thought they might be some unusual religeon, but no all just non drinkers.
and start booking up every thing again) then there is the sexist and racist **bleep** that pours out of their mouths at every break
See response above
but mainly the work is too infrequent.
Bizzare comment. The industry is extremely physically demanding and many young ones are not prepared to work that hard. This means there is shortages of shearers and shed hands Australia wide. My shearers work all year around and the phone is ringing constantly with farmers requiring their services.
Only the shearer makes the good money.
Roustabout for one shearer or four and the pay is the same for four times the work
I,ve spent decades working in shearing sheds and NEVER seen one roustabout for four shearers. Maybe crutching when they only have to pick up a small handfull of wool, but never shearing. It would be crazy as the farmer is paid based on how well the wool is prepared. Poorly prepared cross bred wool is currently discounted by around 50%.
Shearing work is extremly physically demanding. The industry is full of hopefuls who come in attracted by the big wages, only to find they cant keep up with everyone else. When this occurs the lagard slows everyone else down resulting in friction in the shed. The slow workers find it hard to get work and only get called upon as a last resort when all of the good workers are taken. They rarely last very long in the industry.
