Our First Shearing

February 24, 2008

Boy, did we not know what we were in for!

We thought that we were really smart... we researched the clippers, found the best ones, did our research and thought that it would easy sailing. We ordered them on-line and then waited two weeks wondering when they were going to come. Finally we found out that they were going to be on back order until mid-March. Mid-March would not work as they needed to be sheared- like yesterday!

Plan B: Found a new supplier and had them overnighted. They looked simple enough coming out of the box, pretty cool even, but loud. So we put them together and played with the knobs until they suddenly did not move back. We figured they were good then. I mean you want them to be screwed together tightly, right? Wrong. We (or rather Amy) was tightening the tension knob. Which is a no-no. Because you are only supposed to tighten them when the blades get dull and then you have to take them to a service center. Too bad we found this information in the instruction manual when we were troubleshooting to find out why it wouldn't work.


Long story short we tightened the tension knob so tight that we are now afraid we could have damaged the clippers as after approximately 4 seconds it overheats and turns off the motor. Great safety feature eh? Our new expensive, top 'o the line clippers barely touched a goat and were placed back into their storage box which we sat on while we sheared the goats with scissors!


Fiskars is a really good brand for goat scissors. Especially if you get the ones with the spring loaded handle. Four goats later they are still as sharp as when we started. We however, do not feel so sharp.