Sheep shearing session.

My parents' friend Paul is a sheep farmer and a bloody nice bloke. He has around 8000 head of sheep, and this week the shearing team came to the farm to rinse out. Each of the shearers does around 40 sheep per hour. Not does as in 'does' does, although you might wonder to look at some of them. They start work at 7.30am and finish at 5.30pm with an hour for lunch and 2 half-hour 'smoko' breaks. They each earn about $1.70 per sheep sheared and each sheep produces about 1.5kg of wool twice a year. The finest, best wool (the stuff that the sheep haven't shit on or got matted) has to be sorted from the not-so-good stuff and fetches about $2.80 per kilo, sold in 200kg bales. The shearers are a friendly bunch despite putting me in mind of banjos and buggery and were happy for us to watch them work. It was impressive to see such control of the animals and efficiency of movement. They wear nifty moccasin shoes which help them use their feet to manoevre the sheep without hurting them. They sleep in bunks in a room within the shearing shed and move on to the next farm when they've finished. It seems as much a lifestyle choice as it does a job.