Efficient sheep shearing practices have greatly benefited us and our sheep!

Approaching the time to shear your sheep?

Having 7+ pounds of wool shaved off right before the hot summer sun rolls in sounds pretty nice, right?? As sheep owners, we recognize the importance of shearing our sheep periodically throughout the year – it is vital to their temperature control, comfort, and overall well-being. What we didn’t recognize right off the bat was how efficient this process could become when enlisting the help of a professional and learning from them.

I now write to you after enjoying the help of a professional shearer for the past couple of years. We are sure glad we outsourced this step in our animal maintenance. It used to take me about 3 days to complete what this professional did in 15 minutes – no joke! I hope you can benefit from this as much as we have!

Our epiphany of enlisting professional help

The most important time we shear our sheep is before the county fair – allowing them the clean and polished look they need before a showing and much needed relief before the temperature spikes. Summer is also our busiest season on the farm, so we made the executive decision to reach out for help.

Here’s what we learned:

• Prop the sheep up on their butt – they don’t like to sit on their tailbone either! Setting the sheep up for shearing can be dangerous for both the handler and the sheep – setting them up like this, with their backs against us makes it easy to rock and rotate them from one side of their butt to the other. We like to call it a “yoga-like” position because our sheep seriously looked so comfortable!

• The safest way to shear is having one hand on the razor and one hand directing the sheep’s head. This keeps them as still as they can be. The shearer definitely knew the sheep’s pressure points to keep them calm and comfy!

• Our daughter learned the lesson that sheep’s skin is covered with lanolin oil. While she didn’t love this feeling on her hands, lanolin oil helps the sheep’s skin stay dry and protected! It can be extracted from the wool and used in skincare products. Check your cabinets – you are probably using chapstick or other products that have lanolin oil in them!

We are SO thankful for experts in this area! Having a professional shearer come out to the farm has been one of the smartest investments we’ve made – efficiency and safety-wise. He took the time to teach myself and my kids how to properly conduct the sheep shearing process – something we have taken into the future!

More on Sheep Shearing

Southdown Babydoll Sheep

We own Southdown Babydoll sheep. They heir from England and are notoriously great sheep to care for: easy to handle and great for an occasional snuggle :). They may be some of the smallest at the fair but they are perfect for our kid’s 4H showing and great to keep on our farm.

When should I shear my sheep?

Your sheep will need to be sheared periodically throughout the year, when you choose to do this is up to you. Shearing them in early fall allows them to grow their coat before winter and late spring/early summer will keep them comfortable during the hot months. Individual breeds may have different requirements.

Showing your sheep at the fair like us? We also make sure to shear them twice in the summer before showing. This allows them to be as spruced up as possible!

What should I use to shear my sheep?

Where should I shear my sheep?

Any place where the sheep can be comfortable being propped up and a place where you can efficiently clean up the wool – we do it right in our barn.

Shearing Day: The Video

So much wool… what should I do with it?

We never let the wool go to waste, especially when filling multiple bags worth in one day!

1. Dryer Balls. Our non-scented dryer balls are perfect for throwing in with your load. We are currently sold out of our dryer balls but I promise you’ll find other handcrafted items you’ll love: Browse our store here!
2. Waldorf Dolls – Waldorf dolls are special to our kids and even more special when we know that the wool comes right from our own sheep. We use the wool to shape the head and fill in the body – follow along on our step-by-step blog series on how to make a Waldorf doll!

• Making a Waldorf Doll Head
• Making a Waldorf Doll Face
• Making a Waldorf Doll Wig
• Making a Waldorf Doll Body

3. Compost it! I love using our dirtier wool in our raised beds or just right into the garden. If you till, tho, be careful as it can tangle up your tiller. It increases the moisture and the soil biome in our gardens and makes for excellent weed barrier and mulch too. I’ve also incorporated it into our favorite soil block recipe to help increase the moisture.

4. Once cleaned, you could also take it to a wool mill to be milled into yarn!

Pin for later!

Read more Sheepy Wool Blog Posts:

The Benefits of owning a Wool Hide

How to Clean a Sheep Rug