SCOTTISH Woolen Mills

This is the owner of the Scottish Woolen Mills.

It costs the farmer 1.5 pounds to shear the sheep and he sells the wool for 50-75 pence, so he loses money on the sheep for their wool.

Brian is the owner of 3,500 sheep in the highlands. He presents 3 lectures each day on sheep and sheep herding with dogs. It was MOST informative and interesting.

The black face sheep are Scottish and very hardy. They are born in the Highlands and live there and return there if taken somewhere else. There are no fences or corrals and no sheepherders. Scotland does NOT have bears or wolves as predators.

 The white face sheep are not as hardy and live on the lowlands. They are called the White Cheviot. 15% of these males have horns, the rest do not. Their wool is not good for anything except rugs.

This was so exciting. We watched the sheep dog herd Ducks. It takes one year to train a dog. I am not sure about the ducks.

The dog uses eye domination to get the lambs or in our case the ducks to do what the master wants.

The master uses different whistles and words: "That will do,Come, Lie down, Come by, Away."When the master is at 12 o'clock the dog is trained to be at 6 o'clock. When the master moves to 9 then the border collie moves to 3.

The average lamb weighs from 99-353 pounds. The record time for shearing is 28 seconds. Most shearers now are women. They must be VERY strong.

Sheep are kept until age 5 and then their teeth start to fall out and then they can't eat very well. They only have teeth on the bottom. They are grazers. Older sheep are breeders. Some breeds will have twins or triplets, others single births.

This sheep just drops his wool whenever and wherever, no shearing for him.

Mule Sheep are bred for meat. They are a cross between a low land ram and a hill ewe. The lambs are mature at 10-14 weeks so that allows for a quick return on investment.