Former lawyer's mobile sheep boutique

[vc_row][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_custom_heading text="Former lawyer's mobile sheep boutique" font_container="tag:h2|font_size:40|text_align:left" google_fonts="font_family:Abril%20Fatface%3Aregular|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal"][vc_column_text]

MAY 2016 | Joanne Eisemann

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_separator color="black" align="align_center" style="dotted" border_width="2"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_column_text]

YOU DONT need to spend much time with Susan Gunter of Reedy Marsh, before her love for sheep becomes obvious.

They are treated with all the gentleness we normally reserve for our nearest and dearest.

When Meander Valley Gazette caught up with her, Susan was shearing six sheep for Jessica Marston on her small holding in Westbury.

A former lawyer, Susan has been shearing for sixteen years.

“I’d been shearing before I finished my law degree” explains Susan and adds “I’d look out the window and think, you know somewhere out there someone is shearing sheep.”

“That went on for 10 years and I thought, right I’ve had enough.”

As a young woman Susan’s first experience of sheep was with her parents flock in Gippsland Victoria, there she learnt to crutch and later on to shear.

While working in Hobart, a friend who knew of Susan’s shearing background asked if she would shear her small flock as the person who normally did it wasn’t available.

“I agreed to do it, she told her friends and it sort of just went from there really.

I became very busy on weekends, as at that point, I was still working as a lawyer. I used to fleece people during the week and fleece these guys on the weekend,” laughs Susan.

Working predominantly with small mobs, often pets, Susan offers a ‘one stop service not only shearing but feet trimming, drenching and delousing.

“I was most impressed when I rang Susan and she said she could do the drenching, trim their feet and delouse them” shares Jessica. “It’s expensive to buy all that stuff when you only have a few sheep.”

Susan adds “I started to do it when a wool buyer down near Hobart told me about small mobs often having lice, making life hard for the big fellas because these little guys were lice incubators so I bought some backline and went and did an Ag Dept course to learn how to apply it.”

“I’ve learnt a lot about sheep by doing the small lots. There are some very interesting animal health issues about sheep, I spend quite a bit of time researching that and trying to understand,” says Susan.

“I try to inform people or at least refer them to websites.”

Susan also shears goats and alpacas, she says the techniques she uses for each type of animal are different according to skin type, fleece/hair type and temperament.

As a fairly small person Susan has learned to work with animals rather than try to force them into position for shearing.

This has become easier for her since taking up Aikido, a Japanese martial art; “the more Aikido I do the easier the shearing gets because doing Aikido you don’t fight, you’re just working with whoever’s there, same with these guys you learn how to use your energy, you learn how to work with their energy.”

Contrary to popular opinion, Susan says sheep are smart “you know sheep can remember 40 faces,” she comments.

Pet sheep “usually have more of an attitude,” says Susan, “usually a bit more wriggly but not all the time.”

But Susan doesn’t mind a bit of attitude she just enjoys her work, commenting “every day is like a fresh joy really.”

You can contact Susan on 0429 705 146.

[udesign_icon_font name="fa fa-camera" color="#000000"] Mike Moores