Any type of sheep can be really gentle and easy to handle---especially if it has been raised as a bum. I run about 50 head of ewes and the ones that were bums are all very friendly, even the cheviots!! We do have a dog, but like Ross says it is usually much easier to move them by just calling and getting them to follow you. I don't even carry a grain bucket most of the time. I guess because a number of them were bums they got used to coming when I called and trained the rest.
As far as the shearing. It can be a problem to get a shearer in some areas. But if you have a very gentle sheep you can do it yourself with a good pair of scissors. We have professionals come and do our herd. But occasionally I have run out of the type or color of wool I need for hand spinning and then I take one of my really tame ewes, tie her to the fence, sit down on my stool and cut her fleece off with scissors. Sometimes I give her a handful of grain. It takes a while--a half hour or more compared to five minutes or less for the pros with the electric clippers. But if you have a tame ewe, who has been tied up periodically as a youngster it works just fine. In a few years when we sell most of the livestock I will keep three or four ewes to mow grass and just "shear" them myself with scissors.
As far as the shearing. It can be a problem to get a shearer in some areas. But if you have a very gentle sheep you can do it yourself with a good pair of scissors. We have professionals come and do our herd. But occasionally I have run out of the type or color of wool I need for hand spinning and then I take one of my really tame ewes, tie her to the fence, sit down on my stool and cut her fleece off with scissors. Sometimes I give her a handful of grain. It takes a while--a half hour or more compared to five minutes or less for the pros with the electric clippers. But if you have a tame ewe, who has been tied up periodically as a youngster it works just fine. In a few years when we sell most of the livestock I will keep three or four ewes to mow grass and just "shear" them myself with scissors.
