A merino sheep which managed to evade shearers for six years has
finally been cornered and shorn in New Zealand.
The ten-year old merino known as Shrek, apparently hid himself at
shearing time with the result that his coat continued to grow into a
huge ball of matted wool and was reportedly 'unrecognisable as a
sheep'.
The beast was finally shorn live on New Zealand television by a
champion sheep clipper producing a fleece that weighed 59lb and was
15 inches thick. The wool is to be auctioned to raise money for a
children's charity.
Meanwhile, to stop poor old Shrek catching a cold in the chill
South Island winter, he has a rather natty new red coat rather
fittingly sponsored by New Zealand brand Icebreaker,
which specialises in, you guessed it, merino wool outdoor
clothing.
Story with pic here
on the Telegraph site. And in his new Icebreaker coat in The
Times which rather amusingly refers to the coat as being 'blue' -
doh.... he makes the Guardian
too.
Merino wool, as used by the likes of Icebreaker, Smartwool, Odlo,
Macpac and others is a great natural baselayer fabric. The ultra-fine
fibres don't scratch and it is thermally effective in both cold and
heat and has the bonus of not ponging with use either.
We reckon Shrek is going to make a lot of rather nice technical
baselayers...
Prismatix
