NICK the sheep and his partner Pip are feeling the cold after being ‘fleeced’ at the Guyra Show on Saturday.
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Nick had never been shorn and proved elusive for owner Wayne Mills who named him Nick due to his propensity to ‘nick off’ when spotted.
The wayward Suffolk sheep had been on the run for a number of years before being caught last week and the Show was the perfect opportunity to reveal the real Nick without his impressive locks.
At first it was thought that the sheep had been shorn before, however a close examination revealed an intact tail meaning this was probably his first appearance on the board.
“He’s never escaped, just avoided shearing,” Mr Mills said. “It’s pretty steep, hilly country so he can run and hide. He used to hide behind the blackberry.”
Catching Nick wasn’t a huge job, but it still took the two blokes to lift him.
“We followed him down the hill with a couple of dogs and a motorbike. He’s that fat and his wool’s so heavy that he runs along like a mop.
“In the end he just gave up and we jumped on him, then it took two of us to lift him in a low trailer.”
Captured along with Nick was Pip, a first-cross Merino/Border Leicester ewe who had been on the run with him for the last few years. Both sheep faced the shears at the show.
Everyone assumed was Nick was a wether, until Glen Innes shearer Jeremy Newberry, found teats - making he a she.
Locals quickly added to the moniker to rename the black Suffolk ewe Nicky, and her fleece weighed in at 18kg.
Her mate Pip, carried a more impressive fleece of 23kg, and was shorn by Brett Mayled, from Guyra.
While only two shearers did the hard work, they needed an extra man on each sheep to hold up the wool while it was being cut.
It may have been a lot of work to get them in and shorn, but it ended up being a good feature for the show, with plenty of locals and visitors turning it to watch the ewes lose their wool.