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Sheep shearing profitable hobby for principalBALLINGER, Texas (AP)--Some read. Others paint or go on walks for relaxation. Scott King shears sheep. When the 53-year-old Ballinger Elementary School principal needs a break from the confines of the hallways, zipping the fleece from a flock of sheep on a hot afternoon does the trick for him. "It takes your mind off everything else," King said. The Tarleton State University graduate was raised on a pig-and-cattle farm in nearby Hatchell and has had animals all his life. When he moved to Garden City to take a principal position, he said, he just "had to have something" to fill up his backyard. His great escape began 15 years ago with a flock of six fuzzy ewes that needed shearing. Because of the low payout per head for shearing, he said, he knew he would have a hard time finding anyone to shear the small flock. So he found an expert shearer from Big Spring to learn from, and a friend of a friend willing to provide the practice material. An experienced shearer clips a flock without drawing much blood. But with a vibrating, razor-sharp shearing drop and a squirming hundred-pound animal, nicking either yourself or the sheep is easy to do--especially when you've never done it before. "It's a pretty big deal when someone let's you get ahold of their sheep your first time," King said. King spent a recent weekend learning the trade--more than 20 hours wrestling a flock in the heat. "The only reason I showed up on that Sunday was because I knew they were taking bets that I wouldn't," King said, laughing. King pruned 50 sheep that weekend. A professional shearer can do 150 sheep in a day, and the most King has done in a day--to date--is 114. "Scott King is not a quitter," said Tom Thompson, the shearer who passed on the trade to King. "He's not afraid to go out there, roll up his sleeves and do manual labor all day long, either." For King's primary clientele--4-H sheep sellers or showers--aesthetics are important. "It's a one-man show," said Greg W. Schwertner, from Ballinger, a longtime friend and seven-year client who sells show lambs. "He does an excellent job and really takes his time, is conscientious and precise." Dressed in all-denim with a red bandanna tied around his forehead to catch the beads of sweat, King still looks like a principal. Down to his rimless glasses and broad mustache, he is Theodore Roosevelt reincarnate, only taller and trimmer. The former schoolteacher begins a shearing job by swiftly plucking a sheep out of the flock by a hind limb. He props the creature up in a sitting position with its back squeezed tightly between his legs. Its plump, pink-gray belly is exposed. "He knows how to maneuver them so he gets it done really fast," said Mylea Flanagan, a veterinarian in Ballinger and three-year client. "On the big ewes, it's amazing to watch." Like most people who are experienced and love what they're doing, King makes it look effortless. At 5 feet 11 inches, manipulating a 175-pound ewe is still a difficult feat. "If you learn how to move them to where the sheep is doing the work instead of you, it gets a lot easier," King said. His electric shearing drop with a 3 1/2-inch-wideccomb looks like a miniature version of a menacing, sharpened rake. He begins by buzzing away the fluff in straight lines down the sheep's underside and the back of the limbs. The animal is wide-eyed and appears paralyzed, letting out only an occasional bleat. Sweat runs down King's brow over a visible vein. His mustache is pursed. He maneuvers the animal by snout, leg and middle section to reach its head and top side. The coat falls off silently in one giant bundle. If the sheep are for sale, a poof of fur is left on the bottom of the leg, making the animal look as if it's sporting fashionable boots. When he is done, King eases his body weight from the naked animal's side as it scrambles away. Then he grabs another. In about an hour, a flock of 18 are free of their grimy carpeted coats, and they look as if they have been covered in creme-colored AstroTurf. "They're so white and clean," King said. "Right after the rain, they look like snowballs when you shear 'em." King shears year-round, traveling from one West-Central Texas county to the next to shear two to three days a week during the school year, between PTO and school board meetings. King serves roughly 15 to 20 clients. His price per head varies, but the minimum is $4 a head. With the limited number of skilled shearers and all the 4-H club lambs in the area, King expects to be fully booked for as long as physically possible. Until then, the satisfaction of shearing will keep him going, "as long as I feel good the next day," King said. "When I quit feeling good the next day, then I quit." Date: 10/11/07
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