Lightening Online

I wrote most of this post before we went away for the funeral but didn’t quite get it finished. If you missed my first two posts in this series you can find them at Shearing and More on Shearing. Anyway, my apologies for the delay in getting this posted.

Once upon a time you didn’t only feed the shearers during the day but they stayed on your property overnight. Around here this is less common these days although in station country it still happens (shearing works a bit differently on stations to farms).

Nowadays, even feeding shearers is becoming less common. Some people are making use of contracting shearing teams which will often include a cook as well as shed-hands and a wool-classer. The farmer pays the contractor a flat rat per sheep shorn and the contractor then pays everyone else and deals with things like workcover, tax and superannuation.

We still pay each of our shearers and shed-hands individually and have to deal with the tax etc side of things ourselves. In some areas, even if you do employ your shearers individually they bring their own packed lunch.

Part of our issue here is a shortage of shearers. It’s in your best interests to keep your shearers happy so they’ll continue to come back to your property. When you need to leave home at around 6AM, not having to pack your own lunch is a definite bonus. And as I mentioned yesterday, if you don’t feed them you need to pay them a lunch allowance which is a reasonably substantial amount. So we still feed our shearers.

The Shearing Day

The shearing day is divided up into 4 “runs”. Each run goes for 2 hours. So the day has a set timetable that looks something like this:

7.30 - 9.30 Run 1

9.30 - 10.00am Morning smoko

10.00 - 12.00 Run 2

12.00 - 1.00pm Lunch

1.00 - 3.00pm Run 3

3.00 - 3.30pm Afternoon Tea

3.30 - 5.30pm Run 4

One of the things some Farmer’s Wives find hard is the stringent timetable. When you’re trying to feed babies and work a day around children, it’s not always easy to have food ready by a set time.

Actually, most shearers are pretty laid back. It’s the farmers that can get testy if things aren’t running to schedule. Fortunately for me, Farmboy isn’t like that. And I tend to leave myself plenty of leeway when preparing food to allow for interuptions and delays.

What Do The Shearers Get Fed?

I was thankful that my MIL gave me some kind of guide as to how much food she prepares for shearing. What shearers get fed will vary from shed to shed and how much they eat varies from shearer to shearer (actually it’s often the shed-hands that eat a lot as they don’t have to bend over like the shearers do).

There is some kind of standard when it comes to food. I think it’s 2 biscuits for morning and afternoon tea and a couple of sandwiches for lunch. Something like that anyway. But I don’t know anyone who only provides the “minimum”. I think you’d get grumpy shearers if you did.

The following is basically the guide my mother-in-law gave me. I tend to provide just a little bit more than this (just in case).

Morning Smoko

1 and a half sandwiches per person or equivalent in other savoury items (eg party pies, pizza etc)

2 slices of cake/bun or equivalent in biscuits (I usually double the quantity for biscuits) per person

Tea & Coffee

Morning Smoko is often the first food shearers eat for the day. It’s common for them to skip breakfast so by Morning Smoko they can be a tad hungry.

Lunch

Lunch varies a lot depending on the location of the shed (some are close to a house and some not) and the weather. Things like salad rolls, cold meat & salad, lasagne & salad, quiche & salad, pies & pasties, yumbos (ham, cheese & pineapple melted in a roll) etc.

Dessert is always provided. I mostly keep it light by making it fruit based. Fruit salad, jellied peaches, fruit crumble. Generally with cream as that’s easier to put on the table and allow them to serve themselves than ice cream is. Not all shearers will eat dessert but I always provide it anyway.
Cold cordial and tea & coffee for beverages

Afternoon Tea

3/4 of a sandwich per person or equivalent in other savoury items

1-2 serves cake/bun. I usually do 2 different items but they might be smaller slices or I’ll add something like biscuits as the second item.

My kids LOVE shearing time as I tend to over-cater “just in case” so they enjoy the leftovers. In fact, Leighton was so used to going to the shearing shed only during food times that I’m sure he thought the word “shearing” was synonymous with “eating”.

My biggest fear with catering is not having enough. Often I’ll also do a container of fairly plain biscuits that get used as “extras” for the duration of shearing, just to be sure there is enough food. It’s pretty unusual not to get something come back from the shed but it does sometimes happen, although Farmboy will sometimes confess to having finished off stuff toward the end of the day . He doesn’t eat very large serves of the evening meal during shearing.

Cut Out

During the warmer months we provide cans of soft drink for the end of each day. Many sheds provide beer but we don’t drink it so stick with soft drink. Some shearers will bring their own beer but this is rare.

Cut Out is more commonly referred to when the shed is finished. Some sheds will provide a bbq and “booze up” at the end of shearing for the shearers, shed hands and neighbours. This isn’t a tradition that Farmboys father ever kept so we’ve never really worried. Our shearers seem just as happy to get on home as they are to hang around for a free “booze up”.

Here’s an image of Lamingtons for Maggie:

* image courtesy of www.questacon.edu.au

Lamingtons are well known as “shearers fare”. I’m too lazy to make them myself but will sometimes buy them for shearing. Mostly our shearers get an assortment of cake and bun. Sometimes homemade and sometimes bought depending on how busy things are leading up to shearing.

Footwear for Shearers

Just for Kelley, here is a photo of what most shearers wear while shearing:

* image courtesy of www.austshear.com.au

I don’t think they’re going for “style”. More comfort, non slip and functionality. These are only worn INSIDE the shed. Generally they arrive wearing something else (like thongs with socks *giggle*).