On March 7, 2009 Sheri hosted a shearing party at her beautiful log cabin in Maine. Shearing parties are fun gatherings for members to shear animals and certify them for registration 91 days later. Part of the testing for registration is the amount of wool an animal produces in 90 days. At a shearing party, animals are certified that they were shorn to the skin witnessed by other IAGARB members.
Members use all sorts of methods to shear. Many use Aesculap electric clippers as Sheri is demonstrating here. Some use other brands and others use scissors. Michaele here is using a round table as a stand to shear. Sheri likes a table top. Others place rabbits on their laps.
Bags and other containers are nearby to place graded and sorted wool. Prime angora is separated out from seconds and thirds. While thirds (shorter than 1 inch) are usually tossed, prime and seconds have value and can be used. Much of the prime wool harvested by IAGARB members goes into the IAGARB Yarn pool to produce the Angora Blizzard and Angora Frost yarns.
