Kelvin Fletcher says ‘we’ve failed’ after farm setback ‘I feel like crying’
Kelvin Fletcher and his wife, Liz, were left red-faced in a repeat episode of Fletcher’s Family Farm as they attempted to shear their sheep
Kelvin and Liz tried to shear four of their sheep(Image: ITV)
Kelvin Fletcher admitted defeat during his ITV series and put his head in his hands.
In tonight’s repeat of Fletcher’s Family Farm, the couple decided to have a go at shearing four sheep themselves — but what starts as an enthusiastic effort quickly turns into chaos.
After both of them try their hand, they choose to time the next run to see how fast they’re getting. “Let’s time it and see how quickly you can do it. On your marks, get set, go,” Liz told him.
Kelvin explained in voiceover that a trained shearer can take off a full fleece in under a minute — and admits they’re nowhere near that pace. Struggling with the size of the animal, he commented, “He’s so big, so strong, and he’s got such a big fleece as well.”
By the 11-minute mark, Liz points out how long it’s taking, prompting Kelvin to groan: “Oh my goodness, that’s embarrassing.”
Kelvin Fletcher didn’t know whether to laugh or cry(Image: ITV)
Then things get worse. Just as Kelvin feels he’s starting to get the hang of it, the clippers die. “Battery’s gone,” he said, reminding Liz that both batteries only last 90 minutes — before adding they definitely haven’t been going for three hours.
Liz isn’t convinced, laughing: “We might have done… We’ve only done two and a half sheep. It looks like someone’s been murdered.”
Clearly deflated, Kelvin admits he’s furious and can’t decide whether to laugh or cry. He gestures to one sheep with its coat half off and points out they’ve now got an unfinished job on their hands.
Liz Fletcher found the failure hilarious(Image: ITV)
Liz does the maths and jokes that at their current speed, shearing the full flock of 40 would take around 80 hours, while their usual shearer gets the whole lot done by the afternoon.
Kelvin then accepts defeat: it started well, but they’ve messed it up. He even says he feels like crying, while Liz tries to put a positive spin on it: at least they’ve learned they won’t be attempting it again.
With the botched shears needing sorting, Kelvin says they’ll have to call in their professional shearer — though he’s reluctant.
He joked he might just send a photo with “SOS”, while Liz compares the mess to a disastrous throwback to her hairdressing days.
Fletcher’s Family Farm is available to watch on ITVX.