Stills

Akikana - the extension rod is to provide the drive from a motor hanging above the shearer and sheep: the former holds the red handle. We had our sheep shorn on Sunday!

The red handle is the most striking piece of the picture as the right hand portion looks like a piece of steel red-hot from the forge.

I'm sure that this is very faithful to the scene - I imagine that the tool is lying on the shearing platform. The detail and mechanical observation make for a view that is not normally available. But I would prefer to see more of the whole setup and find the diagonal too harsh visually.
 

John has it...red hot handle but awkward diagonal.

It is interesting to see the device, and as a detailed elment in a set it would work fine. But I want more than this one shot shows.
 

Quite an interesting looking tool, that has obviously seen some use. As Colin's bird is all softness and organic in feeling, this is quite the opposite -- I'm enjoying having them right together here.

As mentioned, the bright red is a key ingredient. I also agree that the diagonal is harsh.
 

I'm having a hard time getting beyond what the object is. It looks like some horrid device used to give haircuts to lice-infested kids.
 

This is a portable sheep-shearing platform. It belongs to a chap called Billy Kinghorn who used to earn his living chasing the sheep-shearing season around the world. His luggage was a special box filled with his shears and special clothing. I don't know why but he comes to our village fete and gives a demonstration and a talk about sheep shearing. So I learnt about his special trousers that are were made for him with his name in the pattern of the material and the fact that it is a special double skinned fine weave cotton to prevent the lanolin soaking through (if I recall correctly!). That the trousers are very hard wearing and last a season but a pair of jeans would wear out in one session. I learnt about the difference between shearers and crutchers and the fact that a crutcher can earn more money than a shearer, but works harder. I've forgotten the rate he earned but given he would fly from one country to the next I guess it was enough! Lots of other things I've forgotten but I hope he will be back next year.

I found getting a good photo hard, stepping back brought in the village hall, not really in keeping with the subject.
 

Unfortunately, I can't see the picture at the moment as there seems to be a problem with blogger.

I'm sure that the price round the country varies; here it is quite low at somewhere between 60 - 80p per sheep. On the basis that you can shear a standard fleece (Suffolk cross, say) in just over 30 seconds you can see that it is only stamina that stands between you and quite a lot of money! People like Billy are quite rare these days, particularly in the UK. The leaders are undoubtedly from the Antipodes.
 

Billy seemed to have a Dorset/Australian accent! He was also looking remarkably fit for a 'retired' man.