The Last Shearers

 

   © Photos and Text: Katy Gómez Catalina

"Hunted backs, sweat and dust. Millennial hard work to strip cattle of their precious fleece. For five centuries Spanish wool monopolized the best European markets and was listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange, constituting the main source of foreign currency for the kingdom From the glorious past to the current situation in which wool has depreciated into a worthless by-product, a natural, renewable, reusable and biodegradable raw material that languished as synthetic fibers derived from petroleum made their appearance.

In June, the shearing crews travel to the Andalusian sheepfolds. They work tirelessly, one day after another until the season is complete. The day begins at dawn, when the castrated male (tame) acts as a call to drive the batches of sheep that are going to be sheared. Everyone knows their mission, with dexterity and at a frenetic speed, the spearmen lock and knock the sheep down on the ground until they are stripped of their precious fleece. Sacks full of wool that have long since ceased to have value. The day ends with a hearty lunch, between laughs and anecdotes, which alleviate the harshness of the trade. In this way, an ancient practice that is becoming extinct at the same rate as the native cattle farms linked to the land is renewed. A defeated culture and the disappearance of a trade and a way of life that made Spain prosperous. In many places there are only embers, farmhouses sealed off by brambles and oblivion”.

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