Crazy About Ewe

10/11/2025

November and December bookings, a bit of admin housekeeping and a few friendly reminders and boundaries 😊

It’s a very busy month, the busiest of the year on the shearing front!
I will be there when I can. Currently the Nov booking list is at 190 jobs, just to give some people a little perspective who expect me to be there yesterday after getting in touch also yesterday 😊

Hedging – I won’t tolerate this just as when I get messages asking me to beat their booked shearer to the work, as they have been held up. I am on the other shearer’s side.

On the friendly reminder front, please make sure the sheep are in the pen and have not been covered in pour ons like Zapp, Cyrex or Maggo (the list is long, please remember to read the labels).

Also please remember if you book your sheep in this is for your sheep only, not the neighbours up the road, another 10, 20, 30 which I didn’t know about. If I finish at dark most nights, I will not swap this work for other people that day who have waited patiently for me to get there and who have booked in previously.

I also can’t carry on with work that has a history of cancellations, specific date and time requests as this is just not reasonable or feasible for this type of work, asking to be paid multiple times, extensive messaging or non responsiveness, flakiness and rudeness, inadequate setups.

Most people that I regularly see are amazing! So, I bet if you have read this far you are, and I look forward to seeing you soon!

James

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27/10/2025

Something a bit different - Nigerian Dwarf goats! Very dramatic little guys and gals, sometimes the screams are enough to curdle your blood. Clostridial vaccine and a drench were on the cards for them.

Starting to pick up the pace on the bookings now. If you are waiting on a date and time, thanks heaps for your patience! I’ll start to send out a lot in the coming few days for the first 10 days of November.

Looking forward to catching up with you all as always!

James

08/10/2025

Wrinkly wriggly tight wooled Arapawa weathers!
Starting to crank through a few days now each week as lots of bookings are coming in!
Sheep in general are looking OK, some average shearing fleeces out there as we all wait for the warmer weather to come 😁
See you soon!
James

03/09/2025

Lamb marking!

Here’s a quick video of how I dock lambs when I’m by myself. If you have a second person to hold the lamb it can make it easier.

Testicles – if it’s a male lamb I always start with these as if it’s a smaller lamb the prick in the neck from vaccine, the tail ring or the ear clip can make them pull up. Put the ring over the sack with the plier points facing away from the animal. This means that when you pull the pliers off a sideways flick is all that is needed not a drag back over the nuts which can mean they or one can pop back through. The ring goes just above the teats. Once in position squeeze your forefinger and thumb into the crutch, don’t be too gentle – while the pliers are open of course. Once BOTH testicles are in the sack, release the pliers and twist them off to the side. If the lamb is kicking sometimes increased pressure between your legs can take enough wind out of its sails to stop it wriggling.

Tail – same again, make sure the pins are facing out. Leave enough length on the tail so that the caudal folds aren’t cut. Also remember a bit of the tail dies close to the ring on the animal side. I tend to leave a bit of extra length on the tail. Once in position twist the pliers off to the side.

Vaccine – this goes just under the skin behind the ear - subcutaneous. Best into loose skin. The needle should aim just into the skin not making a beeline for the spine. Sensitiser from 2 weeks for 5 in 1 (excepting lamb vaccine). Booster 4-6 weeks later.

Bookings are starting to come in quickly. Look forward to catching up in the coming weeks and months.
J.

23/08/2025

*Important announcement and a few changes for the upcoming season*

I was hesitant about doing this but read on. Please note that I realise the below doesn't apply to the majority!

Before the season starts, I need to draw a few lines in the sand, due to ongoing issues around payments, cancellations, inadequate setups, not being ready on the day and conversation heavy bookings.

Please note the following:

- I am closing my books to all NEW CLIENT enquiries of ALL flocks of 4 SHEEP or less as of today – I will still be there if you are currently booked in though!
- 5-20 flocks NEW CLIENT enquiries I can do still if there is healthcare included like drench, vaccines, flystrike prevention etc.
- Existing clients – if we have gone through cancellations or date changes and or not being able to yard the sheep on several occasions then you will need to find someone who can accommodate those things, I am unable to carry on with this.
- Late payments – if there is a history of being asked several times for payment then I will be unable to continue shearing your sheep.
- If there are large gaps in communication, sheep being left more than 12 months between shearing and consistent heavy dagging taking place due to no prewinter visit, then you will either need to increase the frequency of shearing or find someone else.
- Hyper kicky obese pet sheep where I have asked these to be emptied out – when you take the animal’s access to food up until minutes of my arrival as more important than the safety of myself and the sheep as more important. You will need to find another shearer.
- If the booking process becomes a multi-page negotiation around a day, time, pictures of what I think about this sheep and that sheep and ’so and so is bringing a sheep up from 5 streets over so it needs to be after xyz pm’, you definitely need to find someone else.

My attention is still 100% in this when it needs to be, but please realise I have a lot going on outside of Crazy About Ewe in between January thru early October which is ever increasing.

Tomorrow, I had 6 jobs booked, albeit it looks like rain however, 4 bookings have cancelled. This is an increasing issue with the worst being 9 jobs booked 7 cancelling last November.

Late payments. This is one that is black and white. If Cathy has contacted you once already due to no payment and you have not replied, and no payment has been received – you must stop doing this. Every time this happens, please realise there are indirect and direct costs to me. The only option now is to either – put the prices up again for everyone which I don’t want to do or start letting clients go and passing costs on vehemently.

If you’ve been with me for a while, and there are a few of you now! Please heed the above, this does apply to you also. I feel that with SOME people, familiarity is leading to a relaxed relationship where there may be a ‘doesn’t apply to me’ mentality.

And at the risk of sounding sanctimonious – all of our time is very important, it’s all we got 😊

Righto, that being said…

Look forward to seeing everyone in the coming months! And again – I’ve got the sheep’s interests at heart. I’m still enjoying this journey.

See you soon, James

19/07/2025

Hi everyone, I’ve been a bit quiet of late, but I’m still here!

Aside from a run of pre-lamb shearing in May and the usual work from January thru April, I’ve been extremely busy with my other business this year. I will still be aiming to do a pretty full season come spring and summer this year. I’m out and about a bit at the moment doing healthcare, docking, vaccinations and the odd bit of shearing still.

Normally I do a newsletter or two in-between summer and the spring shearing but I’m not going have time and I think I’ve written as much as is needed to be said in the past 😊

A few quick points pertinent to the moment that may be of use to some people below:

Dog attacks – unfortunately there have been a few lately with several clients’ sheep being affected. Unfortunately, there is not much you can do to prevent them, the only solution is found once the dogs have done the damage and are then euthanized by the council or by firearm on site. Many people are unaware of the frequency of these until it happens to their stock, but they are a fairly regular occurrence.

Lambing – make sure your ewes have enough grass, kikuyu root doesn’t count, it’s not got enough energy this time of year. Sleepy sickness and BP worm overburden can have similar symptoms, this time of year both these are a direct result of not enough feed. There are pockets of BP worm affecting the occasional group of young sheep, young rams and lambing ewes still. It’s getting late for BP worm, but I suspect it’s a direct result of stock being run too hard and a summer where the grass didn’t get enough time to recover fully, and it being fairly warm till late.

Docking – remember to leave their tails with enough length, the band goes below the caudal folds. Castrate all males unless you have a good way of keeping these separate from the other sheep come summer. If you vaccinate, the first gets done at marking time, then the booster 4-6 weeks later. If the ewes have been inoculated pre lamb correctly, the lambs still need both shots, the sensitiser and the booster to ensure they reach a good level of immunity.

I hope everyone’s sheep are doing well and lambing well! There are some good-looking lambs out there so far. Weather looks good for a wee while, so fingers crossed a few more arrive in this window!
Look forward to catching up with you all in the coming 5 months.

James

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