Sheep ranches' shear madness

Shearing has marked a seasonal passage on Colorado's farms and ranches as long as there have been sheep here. But it's getting to be a bigger headache for the state's 1,600 lamb and wool producers. Tightened immigration regulations and a lack of domestic interest in the work have cut the number of experienced shearers on the spring-clipping circuit. Farmers and ranchers now must jockey for slots on a very tight shearing schedule that is also weather-dependent. If the producers can't get their sheep shorn in a short window between winter's sharpest cold and spring lambing season, the sheep tend to have more health problems. Parasites burrow into the wool. And it is more difficult for ewes to give birth and nurse their lambs when covered by thick pelts of wool. Colorado wool growers haven't resorted to raising breeds of sheep that don't have to be shorn like some producers in Texas have. That's not an option in Colorado's cold...Denver Post