Loose Stragglers: Hunting For A Golden Fleece

When it comes to shearing, which usually takes place in the colder months of the year, there is a lot of pressure and time restraints to get the sheep into the shearing shed. The sheep cannot stay in the shed for more than one day and getting the sheep into a small yard for general healthcare and handling can seem like a daunting challenge. Properties in western Queensland are huge (generally 50,000-75,000 acres). That means property owners need to schedule a muster and decide which paddock of sheep gets shorn first. After all, different paddocks, different sheep demographics (age, sex, breed). You don't want to mix them all up and have a incest frenzy on your hands or a lack of newborn lambs. 

Logistics are key. Decide which paddock gets mustered first, gets shorn first and then gets returned to the original paddock first. It's a matter of juggling a routine with an animal that is known for its disagreeing, cunning nature. You have got to be on alert when mustering and handling sheep. That's why time restraints and pressure mount as the big shear nears. 

Once inside the shearing shed, a shearer will shave the golden fleece off the sheep's back as efficiently as possible. Like property-owners, shearers also have schedules they need to follow and often travel long distances from property to property clipping wool. Shearers have to know the number of sheep to be shorn, how long it will take and how many employees they need to take along to the shed to get the job done. Classers, pen-uppers, wool balers sum up the shearing squadron. These wool professionals handle the fleece, keep the sheep up to the shearer, and bale the wool for export to Italy or China. It's a huge logistical task for shearers too. 

Then there are the sheep you miss. 

Since it's such a busy time of the year, and properties are so big, it's no surprise that you are often left with stragglers roaming very large paddocks alone, or in small groups. A straggler is a lone sheep that is cunning - or wild enough - to evade the musterer and his motorbike. Often you don't realize just how many stragglers there are until the heat and blinding sun of Summer arrive. These specimens stick close to the water to keep cool and refreshed. That's when you pounce, chasing them down on motorbike and with dog, cornering them, tying them up, pushing and pulling them into the trailer. Once inside the trailer these woolly sheep - or double-fleeces as they are commonly known - are taken to a smaller paddock, often near the house. When the shearing contractor next comes around these sheep will then definitely have their fine, fatty fleece clipped off and sold - probably to China.