The delayed 2022 Sheep Shearing Day took place on the 21st January 2023.

Event News

Sheep Shearing Day January 2023

Report from Kelly Green with additional photos from Bob Urquhart, Sally Wonner & Emil Pirzenthal

Sheep Shearing day was held on Saturday 21st of January 2023, having been delayed from before Christmas. The day started off a bit cold and windy, but by mid morning the sun started to appear, and by the afternoon it was glorious!

Bakkies gathered at the sheep pens

Above & below: Activity at the sheep pens

The men were busy shearing the older sheep and the children were busy catching the lambs so they could be put in the correct person's pen, ready to be marked with spray paint and counted. The children absolutely love this day and are very excited. A lot of the women are tasked with picking out the wool so it can be washed, carded, spun and then knitted into lovely garments hopefully to sell at the 37° South Gift Shop.

Above & below: Catching sheep for shearing

Shearing with hand clippers (left) and machine clippers (right)

Bagging up fleeces. The best wool will be spun into yarn for Tristan's world famous knitwear.

After all the hard work was done people headed back to the settlement and attended individual braais (barbeques) with a few refreshments!