Woman To Take Part In Sheep Shearing Competition
CARRIE ANN KNAUER
Carroll County Times
WESTMINSTER, Md. (AP) -- A hundred years ago, most sheep shearers relied on scissor-like blades to cut the wool off of sheep, before motorized clippers took over as the primary method.
"Blade shearing is the old-fashioned way of shearing," said Emily Chamelin, a professional sheep shearer from Westminster. "Everybody has a pair that their grandfather or great-grandfather used rusting in their basement."
Twenty-seven-year-old Chamelin, however, has a pair of blade shears that is not rusting and was not handed down through her family. No, Chamelin's blade shears are the elite tools of an experienced blade shearer, and she'll be taking them to New Zealand for the Golden Shears, a renowned international competition for sheep shearing and wool handling.
"I'm all packed and ready to go, and I want to be shearing," she said with excitement.
Chamelin said she got involved with raising sheep through 4-H, even though her family owns a dairy farm with cows and goats, which is now supplemented by Chamelin's flock of about 20 sheep.
"My family always looked down their noses at sheep, but now they like them," she said with a laugh.
She started shearing her own sheep about 10 years ago, and enjoyed it so much that she decided to make it her career.
"I started out machine shearing, and then at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival they had a blade shearing course taught by Kevin Ford, who is like the best in America," she said. "I did pretty well and I kind of liked it, so then he and I became friends."
Over the past three years, Chamelin stayed in touch with Ford, who lives in Massachusetts, and asked if she could help work with him when he passed through the area each February for sheep shearing jobs. She wanted to keep practicing the blade shearing method, she said, and learn from his expertise and critique.
"He kept working with my technique until I got it right," she said. "I owe him everything. He's been my coach and my mentor through all of this."
Blade shearing isn't as fast as machine shearing -- it takes an extra two to three minutes per sheep -- but Chamelin said the quiet it affords definitely has its appeal.
"When you're blade shearing with other people and there's no machines running, you're definitely more in touch with the whole history of farming," she said. "You're in the barn and you're working and you can talk to people -- there's not this huge rattle in your ears and you can hear the sheep."
The quietness keeps the sheep calmer as well, she said, which makes the experience more pleasant for both of them.
Two years ago, the organizers of the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival decided to host a blade shearing competition rather than just a demonstration, and then the American Sheep Shearers Council decided that this Maryland contest would be the national contest to qualify blade shearers to attend the Golden Shears international competition.
Chamelin won that competition in May, and learned that she and Ford would join some machine shearers and wool handlers to make up the American team for the competition.
"I'm really excited. I'm thrilled," she said.
The contest will run from Feb. 28 to March 3, but Chamelin is leaving Wednesday to get to New Zealand early so that she can be certified there by the wool board to serve as a professional sheep shearer in New Zealand for six weeks or so before the contest.
"That will get me in shape and used to the type of sheep we'll be working on in the contest," she said. "It does give you a sort of an edge if you're already familiar with what their sheep look like."
Chamelin will be away for two months, but she said she is used to traveling for her job. She often goes out west to take part in the sheep shearing season there, and she went to Ireland in June to compete in the All Irish National Competition, where she placed seventh out of 18 competitors from around the world.
Chamelin said she is honored to be taking part in the Golden Shears and is hoping she can make her team, family and supporters proud.
"It's going to be a huge deal and everybody is pretty excited, but you never really know what to expect," she said.
Information from: Carroll County Times of Westminster, Md., http://www.carrollcounty.com/
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
