watched a sheep-shearing demo yesterday and the sheep do this thing. where they kick and struggle and bleat as the farmer drags them into place for clipping and wrestles them onto their back. the sheep hate it so much because they don't know what's happening.
and then the farmer gets two or three clips in, and the sheep just sort of chills out, and realizes it feels kind of nice. and their coat comes off and five minutes later they're released, shorn and naked, and they go run around with the other freshly-shorn sheep. they rub their skin against the hay and the barn walls and each other, and get startled by the new textures. sometimes they get cold, so they huddle up together or get a under a blanket.
and they will get sheared this time again, next year, and they will kick and struggle and bleat again, because they won't remember how it felt. they will remember a year of being an animal that everything wants to kill, and they won't be ready for someone to try to help them.
