clamping sheep

Over the years there have been few innovations in sheep farming that have really made a difference to a shepherd’s life. Those that spring to mind are the move to housing sheep over the lambing period and the arrival of the quod-bike as a means of transport. Further back of course there have been the arrival of wire fences and the electric shearing machine, but with those and one or two other changes apart, shepherding remains the same highly manual job as it has done for generations, so when a new invention comes along we sheep farmers tend to be a sceptical bunch.

I was at a sheep event earlier in the year where a salesman was demonstrating the merits of a new sheep restraining device the ‘Combi-clamp’. Like all of those around me I shook my head and thought of all of the reasons that it wouldn’t work for me then turned and walked away.

The Autumn is a busy time for a shepherd, with all of the flock needing individual attention, including the ‘docking’ of the wool around their tails. The job is hard work as traditionally we turn each sheep over to ‘dock’ them, so when a friend of mine, Robert, rang to say that he had bought a ‘Combi clamp’, I was keen to hear his verdict. ‘It’s brilliant’ he said  ‘half the work and twice as quick’. As Robert shepherds over 2000 ewes, I consider that he knows his stuff, so in a fit of enthusiasm I bought one for myself…. It’s brilliant!

The sheep run into the clamp single file and by standing on a plate at the side, the shepherd is able to firmly clamp them whilst any treatment is administered and the wool ‘docked’ from around the tail. I completed all of the Autumn sheep work on the 700 Borough farm ewes in 4 days, and didn’t work nearly as hard as before. So to the list of Quad bikes and shearing machines I’m now adding the Combi-clamp to my list of must have’s for a shepherd.