Shearing the saloias

Saloia sheep from Casal da Freira, in Loures.

Shearing is carried out according to the Bowen shearing technique by Martin O'Connell.

During shearing, Susana removes the dirty and short parts so that they don't end up on the skirting table.

From the shearing platform, our fleeces go immediately to the skirting table, where they are skirted, sorted and rolled.

One of the Saloia velos, immediately after shearing, on our improvised clearing table with 2 pallets.

Saloia wool, fine and crimpy.

Fleeces rolled up, ready to travel to Porto.

A little lamb, with its characteristic red hair that will later be replaced by white wool.

At the end of the shearing, we weigh all the wool in order to pay the producer.

It was shearing day for the Saloias of Casal da Freira.

As you already know, we like to work in partnership with Marty and Susana O'Connel whenever possible. Perfectly shorn fleeces. Well skirted and sorted, this year with a little help from Guida Fonseca and Pedro.
We never get tired of seeing the satisfaction on the producers' faces when they see their animals' wool really valued. This is always a learning moment for both parties. For us, because we get to know another national breed even better, this time the Saloia. For the producer, because he gets to know the specificities of the wool he produces and witnessing a professional shearing carried out with quality is something that usually raises the bar for future shearings.

This wool will have several purposes for us. The first will be to renew the Saloia wool in our archive of Portuguese wools, in which we keep many examples of fleeces from all the national breeds and which we use in our research and educational work. The second is precisely to have consumable material for our trainings, during which we like to be able to show you real Portuguese wool. Finally, a small part of this wool will be available in our shop, for those who like to get their hands dirty and try out the diversity of Portuguese wool.

The Saloia remains faithful to what we've come to know since 2015. Fine, crimpy wool with medium-length locks, which although officially Bordaleira type, more closely resembles Merino wool. Large, uniform fleeces. During the shearing, we were able to identify the animals that produce the best quality wool, information that may be useful to Mr.Cardoso in the coming year.
The Saloias are beautiful sheep, one of the three ‘redhead’ breeds we have in Portugal, along with the Churra Badana and the Churra do Campo. In these three breeds, the lambs are born with a red hair coat all over their bodies, which is later replaced by white wool, but that hair will continue to colour their faces and legs throughout their lives.