Shearing the Sheep

For most of the year, this platform sat empty and quiet, but for two or three weeks in the spring it bustled with bawling sheep, sweaty workmen, and grinding machinery. Each of the ten workstations was supplied with sheep from the corresponding stall, which held five or six sheep waiting their turn, while a worker kept the stalls filled with sheep routed through the chute along the back. The sheared wool, or fleece, was thrown onto the floor, where it was tied with paper twine and tossed into a tall bag on a stand. When all went well, each worker could shear upward of 200 sheep per day, amounting to nearly two bands of sheep for the entire crew.

Dayville, Oregon · United States