Sheep Industry News February 2025

couldn’t keep up with the physical demand of an extremely overbooked schedule.” SCALING BACK The two-woman crew made the decision to take a signifi cant step back in recent years. They work only in the Lone Star State now, and limit flocks they shear to 30 head or less. Working with smaller flocks allowed the company to focus on producers who often have the hardest time finding shear ers. “In an average day now, we will get to eight farms, and some days as many as fourteen,” Katie says. “The demand for this skill is so high that truly there’s not much competi tion. That also means there’s not a lot of help. When shearers retire or become ill or injured, the responsibilities that were on their shoulders have to be carried by their peers who are still able to shear. Darian and I stepped up to carry that weight during Covid.” Of course, as a shearer, scaling back meant a loss in potential income. But the company’s growing social media presence helped pick up the slack. “As of now, both facets of my career offer equal support, but fiscal gain was never behind my intentions for creat ing any video,” Katie says. “That reward I would consider a happy accident, maybe even a little return from karma. I don’t look at my platform as a way to rise through financial ranks, but rather a means to spread knowledge in corners

that I otherwise could never have reached. "Now, my funny videos and examples of animals in severe conditions funds my habit for education. I spend an equal amount of time creating entertainment as well as education al content, which will hopefully give back to my shearing community.” FINAL THOUGHTS “Shearing is not the simplest way to make money. It demands high skill, mental fortitude and at least some pas sion,” Katie adds. “I don’t believe that anyone would go out day after day to sweat, bent over nervous sheep just to make a dollar. There are easier ways. At my first shearing school, there was an open discussion on the public’s perception, and what stuck out the most to me was that these large organiza tions had the funds to spread misinformation farther than any of the simple sheep farmers could spread the truth. “When people began watching my videos, they were sur prised to see the compassion with which it was done. I spent a lot of my time sharing facts and redirecting misconcep tions in the comment section. "The cool thing was the people I talked to and those that read the comments learned from my efforts. Before I knew what they were, ‘comment warriors’ would jump in and share the information I’d made available to newcomers with repetitive questions and concerns. Now my comment sec tion is mostly filled with love.”

14 • Sheep Industry News • sheepusa.org