Chamelin Shearing

November 2011

Well this last weekend was a pretty amazing one. I was able to attend my final blade shearing competition here in the USA before heading out to New Zealand on January 4th. The contest was great and I really think it gave me some more perspective on what I need to continue to work on (namely...speed). The final placing’s were 1st-Kevin Ford, 2nd- Emily Chamelin, 3rd- Loren Opstedahl, 4th- Doug Rathke. Which means Kevin and I will be your USA reps in New Zealand in March. I could not be happier about this and I am just plugging away getting things lined up, shearing’s scheduled, paperwork organized and plans made to make sure everything is ready for me being gone for 2 months. It really won't be that long of a time in the grand scheme of things but I just want to emphasize again that I don't want to forget anyone in my scramble to get ready! Also I wanted to take this chance again to thank everyone who stepped up to support me on this trip. Your incredible donations have just blown my mind and I will never forget your generosity. In particular I would like to thank Juniper Moon Farm, Flying Goat Farm, the Frederick County Sheep Breeders Assn., the Maryland Sheep Breeders Assn., the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival and all the other private donors who have given generously. You all are amazing. It is an incredible feeling to be this appreciated and have your support through this.

Sept 2011
These last few weeks have been very exciting as I have been traveling all over the United States to compete in shearing competitions. On August 18 I found myself in Genesee County Michegan competing in both the Blade shearing and Machine shearing competitions there. I placed 3rd in the blades behind Doug Rathke (who got really lucky:) and Kevin Ford (who is really putting on the pressure). It was a great competition and I am working hard to prepare for the next one in Minnesota in November.
As for the Machine part I did pretty well placing near the back of the pack but walking away with the Best Pen award.  All in all a well run competition and I am looking forward to going back next year.  If you want to read up about this contest then check out this article...  http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2011/08/davison_area_woman_says_nation_1.html
The next day found us in Ogemaw County Michegan competing once again with the machines. I found this competition to be more of a challenge with the sheep being a bit harder going but again it was a great experience. I placed near the end again and almost got the best pen award but I needed to shear a bit cleaner. All in all a great trip and good practice for next year. Thank you to Jim Bristol for a great cook out and a fun competition.
After that weekend of fun we were back out on the road to compete in the Lester Iowa Speedshear on Aug 27th. This competition was awsome and I am already thinking about how we can do something like this here in Maryland. It was pass/fail with fastest time used to score. These were some of the cleanest sheep I have ever seen sheared! I placed 8th with a fast time of 50 seconds!! It was lots of fun and wanted to thank the town of Lester Iowa and Alex for putting on a great time. The food was great and the people were as friendly as they come.
In other news I was on the front page of Country Folks Magazine (Aug 15 2011) in a feature article on the Maryland Blade Shearing Contest.

July 2011

      Well this year so far has been beyond my wildest expectations. Since my last post I have competed and WON the 2011 Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival Blade Shearing Competition which has qualified me to go to New Zealand next March for the Golden Shears International Championships and represent the United States. I am completely honored to be able to go and compete against the best in the world and be a part of representing our country overseas.
       I was also apart of a group that set the American Record for most sheep Blade Shorn in a day. Kevin Ford, Doug Rathke, Sy Caryl, Derrick Spangler, Loren Opstedal and myself shore 400+ sheep with the blades to set the new record. It was a great time hanging out with these hardworking guys and this experienced really pushed me to be better. I was thrilled that I hit 10 an hour at one point which is what I usually do with my machine so I was cruising on these sheep. It was a great day of shearing and I want to thank everyone who helped make it happen.
      I have also been privaleged to travel to Ireland in June to compete in the All Irish National Competition. This was the experience of a lifetime and I got to see some of the legends of shearing go head to head on the board. I was very pleased with my showing over there in my first big time competition and managed to place 7th out of 18 competitors from all over the world. I definatly feel challenged now to go out and work hard and push myself and see how well I can do in New Zealand.
      Now for the important issues, I am scheduling fall shearings now so if you need a specific day let me know as soon as possible. Also I am starting to make plans for New Zealand which will be the first week of March next year (2012). I am hoping this does not interfere too much with my normal shearing routines and will keep you all posted as to how things work out and the exact dates I will be gone. Don't worry I will be back to shear for everyone and I am looking forward to telling everyone how it goes!

April, 2011

Well I have officially hit a milestone:) On Thursday March 24 I sheared 107 sheep at a New Jersey dairy sheep farm, making it my first foray into triple digits. I have been so close on other occations but I finally did it:)

On separate news the 2011 shearing season is going well. People are really cooperating and being patient and allowing me to schedule people in regions. I am saving myself tons of travel and ultimately my sanity. Thank you to everyone for working with me:) Things continue to progress and I am looking forward to geting to everyone else in the next month and a half.

Jan 24, 2011
So much has happened in the last month. I am so excited to share some wonderful news with you all. I was able to attend the Denver Stock Show in Colorado in the middle of January and was honored to bring home a 4th place finish in the Intermediate Division of the National shearing competition. I also won the award for Best Pen. For those of you who don't follow shearing competitions, your score is based off of three components. You get a score on how well you shear, a score for how well the sheep look when your done, and a score based on how fast you shear. If you take away the time component of the final score you are left with a quality score that determines who wins best pen. I was really excited to win this award because it means the most to me and I know it means a lot to all the people I shear for to know that the quality is there!

Another big happening is the Pennsylvania Farm Show Sheep to Shawl Event. I got another chance to participate in it again after taking a few years off and really had a blast being part of a team. This was the first year that I was on the actual shawl team and got to card wool during the competition which was eye opening. I am putting some links to articles about the contest on my links page if you want to check them out and there are a couple nice photos of me shearing there as well. Oh and if you were watching updates on the Farm Show on TV you may have seen me shearing there as well:)  

December 2010

Well this year is almost over. I can't believe how much has happened. I am still finnishing up my Fall shearing, doing mostly large production flocks at the moment BUT I will be getting in touch with many of my clients to outline this springs schedule very soon. I want to take time in January to get that done so we all are prepared and I can be more efficient. January also has some exciting things instore for me as I will be traveling to Denver CO once again to attend the shearing competition at the Denver Stock Show. This will be a fun time to see how I am improving as well as connect with shearers from all over. I am looking forward to it. Also coming up very soon is the PA Farm Show which I am hoping to attend this year. I have not been out for a few years but I might be shearing in the Sheep to Shawl so I am going to go see whats new. For anyone in the area you should definately think about attending, it is quite a site to see. The link to it is http://www.farmshow.state.pa.us/.

Also I am in the midst of planning for next years Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival that will be held May 7-8. We will once again be hosting the only Blade Shearing Competition in the USA and we hope to have quite a competition on our hands. We are still in need of sheep to shear though so if you have any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it:) But please plan on attending and cheering the shearers on again this year. Everyone had a great time last year.

Finnaly I am also working on helping put together a newsletter for the Maryland Sheep Breeders Association. I am hoping that I can add some valuable information on shearing and wool production which will assist all our members but if anyone has any questions or topics they would like addressed please send me a message and I would love to include it in my column.

Anyway, thanks to all of  you who have made this year such a good one! I love what I do and I love the people I get to work for. I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and I am looking forward to what this new year has in store!

Well another spring shearing season has passed. This year was busy as was expected but it was wonderful to get out and see all my old friends and check up on all the wonderful sheep and goats I have gotten to know over the years! This year saw many new faces added to my business.  For everyone out there who is a current client I want to thank all of you for your support and encouragement. After 3 straight months of nonstop work I was ready for a break come July. This shearing season was interesting with such cold weather at the beginning, then it got really dry and hot and really never let up but we got the job done and I am looking forward to what this fall and winter have in store for me. This fall I plan on traveling to New York to visit the second largest fiber festival in America and try to see what ideas I can bring home from there. I am also planning on going to Minnesota to participate in another blade shearing competition. After our success with our innogural blade shearing competition at the Maryland Festival we are excited to have another opportunity availible to practice.

Aug. 2010

Please check out the current addition of Wild Fibers Magazine which features a one page article about me shearing for Juniper Moon Farm outside Charlottesville VA. Juniper Moon Farm is run by an amazing women named Susan Gibbs. They have a fantastic fiber CSA program and she writes a pretty amazing blog about her farms happenings. There is an adorable picture of my daughter lydia included in the article so check it out! Also please look for me in the thanksgiving/halloween edition of Country Living magazine as you will see my picture in there as well. Thanks Susan! Check out her website at www.Fiberfarm.com

First weekend in May

For those of you who may have missed out on the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this year I would like to say that you missed a historic event! The first ever National Blade shearing competition was held at the festival on Sunday and it was a complete success. We had 8 talented shearers compete for a $1,000 first prize.  I would like to thank the wonderful breeders who generously donated the use of their sheep for the competiton as well as our judges and volenteers who all pitched in to make this event a success. As for the outcome of the contest Kevin Ford of Mass. was our first place shearer, easily taking the lead and demonstraiting mastery with the blades. Kevin is truely a legend and we were honored to have him be aprart of this. The big surprise of the day was that yours truely came in second! To take second out of this amazing crowd of competitiors was an honor and will always be a cherished memory. third place was held by Doug Rathke of Minnesota. If you want to see a complete write out about this contest please look up Sheep! Magazines July/August 2010 edition (Vol 31, Number 4) and see the well written article there.

February 16, 2010
Well Here we go again! Another shearing season is bearing down on us. I am really excited to get out there and shear for everyone again this year as well as meet some new faces (both fleecy and not!) Please as an extra nudge, if you want a specific date for me to come shear, even if it is in late May, call and reserve it now! Dates go fast and I do what I can to accomodate everyone but you gotta let me know what you need! Also I am hoping to do less frenzied driving around so if you get a call from me that means I am coming to your area and would like to schedule you in. We shall see how this system works:) Anyway, WOOL AWAY! See you all soon!

May 2009

Well I am officially able to blade shear! It has been a long time dream of mine to learn this skill and thanks to Kevin Ford and the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival I can now officially call myself a blade shearer. I took a two day short course with Kevin as an instructor and learned the minor position changes as well as basic blade care and maintanance. I finished out the week having blade shorn about 7 sheep but I am very eager to continue to practice so if anyone out there would like to have someone blade shear their sheep PLEASE feel free to call because I would love to keep practicing!

Other notes about the Festival, it overall was a good time. Saturday was overcast but CROWDED. Lots of new vendors had plenty of local woolen goods to see and I got to see a lot of my shearing clients and talk sheep for two days! Sunday was wet and cold but the lack of crowds really made it easier to see all the beautiful exhibits and I really had a great day.

Another side note...I was able to select a vendor to have my wool processed that has been collecting under the porch from everyone who would otherwise have thrown it out. I picked McClellan's Frankenmuth in Michigan and had 300 pounds of wool sent to be processed into batting!!! Thanks to everyone who donated and if anyone is interested in quilts made from their own wool let me know. I should be going to pick it up in New York in October at the fiber festival there.

November 5, 2005

Well 2009 has really been a fantastic year and I want to thank everyone that I worked for, for always being flexible and making each stop enjoyable. This year definitely pushed my limits and I have learned so much. I did my top tally this year of 87 sheep which I hope to beat next year. I have also updated my equipment with a new professional shearing plant that should improve the clip job on everyone’s animals as well as making me more efficient and faster.

 I have also had  the privilege of working with some great sheep breeders as a member of the Maryland Sheep Breeders Association and the Frederick County Sheep Breeders. Both organizations have welcomed me with open arms and I am looking forward to what the future brings for our area and the sheep industry in our region.

My last big change of the year is getting really involved with the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. If you have never come out then I highly recommend making that a mandatory stop on your calendar. (The first full weekend in May...every year). Next year is going to be amazing with a lot of new things happening including a blade shearing competition for the first time!! We are seeing a lot of interest in this competition and hope to see some of the best in the business turn out to show off their skill with the blades.

Anyway, thanks again for your support and interest in what I am doing and I want to encourage everyone to schedule there shearing as soon as possible because next year is shaping up to be full of new opportunities and very busy!