Q. How much is the wool worth?
A. Probably not as much as you think.

- The wool prices you see in the papers is for sheep specifically farmed for their wool/meat.  The wool has been skirted by professionals, separated into the different grades, baled in bulk, (20x-1000x odd bales) and sent to auction.

We can refer you to the Wool Buyer we use if you would like more information.

 - The wool for small flocks is a very grey area because of the variation of quantity, quality, colour and types of wool that is being offered. 

- We sometimes do part payments of wool for jobs too.  The wool weight is estimated per sheep, quality and type taken into consideration then the value credited to your invoice.   
 
Q. Wool Buyers Contact details?.
We use West Auckland Wools, Bruce and Sue Fraser
Ph 09 834 5801
Bruce will come to your door (after an approx wait of 2 weeks) & pay you on the spot for your wool.

Q. How long will the shearing take? 
If the sheep have been mustered and are waiting in your yard.  It takes Jeff (on his own) approx 1 hour to shear 20-35, depending on the condition of the sheep. 

Q. Why can't we make an appointment for a specific day?
Because our business is subject to the weather.  We can only make appointments 1-2 days ahead of ourselves because of the weather.  Other wise we spend more time cancelling and then re booking when it is too wet to shear on the day requested.  We dare to make some appointments ahead of ourselves but it is a large risk, so we usually stick to 1-2 days ahead.

Q. Animal Health Questions?
We can help you with the basics but mostly, ask your local Vet.

Q. How long can sheep be penned for?
We recommend that you have your sheep penned at least 2 hours before our appointment.  Sheep in shearing shed situations are left for 24 hours and more!  So a couple of hours off the grass is not hard for the sheep at all.

P.S.  Please, please don't have hay, straw, sawdust or large rocks as your yard surface. It gets all through the wool or is difficult to work on! 
Plain old grass is fine!     

Q. Why do we have a maximum of 40-50 sheep per Client? 
We are a specialist lifestyle block/farm service provider. To be able to have a reasonable wait time, we must be able to turn over the jobs as carefully and quickly as possible.

Q. Skin Cuts
If your sheep are in poor condition they will inevitably be harder to shear and therefore will be cut more often. E.g. If a sheep is skinny, very old, cotty, lousy, over fat or wrinkly etc, even Jeff, with all his expertise, care and experience will cut the sheep. If you have nice rounded, healthy sheep they will not get cut so much, if at all.

Q. Why do we almost always get an answer phone when we call?
During the main season the phone rings on average 30 times a day.  Much as we would like to be in the office full time we cannot.  We have to do the wool work (drying, sorting and pressing), as well as sorting our shearing teams out.
Rest assured we do clear the messages regularly and will return your call quickly.

L i f e s t y l e  B l o c k  S e r v i c e s
www.landsquad.co.nz

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