The shearers are long and lanky like cowboys, and all wear tight navy-blue pants and tops. Watching them work is like watching an odd form of modern dance performed over and over and over. By the time the three are done this week, they will have shorn more than 3,000 sheep, about half of the Edwards' entire flock. They are paid per animal, so they waste no time. Emma and her father quickly roll each piece of fleece and toss it into one of the sorting bins, each collecting wool according to the fineness of the fiber.
Rock music fills the shed the entire day.
Sheep in, sheep out. The Edwards' kitchen goes almost nonstop from morning to night as well, with Emma's mother cooking breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for the gang. Meals are often raucous, and many of the best stories are told by Emma's mother, whose imitations leave the room howling. The days are the same. By Friday, five days after the gang arrived, the shearing will be done here and they will move on.