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Sheep Shearing
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We are not taking new shearing customers at this time.
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When should your sheep be shorn.
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The best time to shear ewes is 6 weeks before lambing. Even if it's cold outside. Ewes frequently lamb in the early morning hours. If she is shorn, she is much more likely to move into shelter to lamb. Lambs have a much easier time finding a teat when she is shorn. And lambs are not suckling on dirty tags which causes scours. These factors have a huge positive impact on lamb survivability.
The ewe's skin doubles in thickness after she is shorn to compensate for the wool being gone. She also will eat more to compensate. This has a positive impact on lamb growth in utero. Lambs do the majority of growing in the last 30 days of gestation. More food going through a ewe means more available nutrition for growing lambs. |
The night before shearing.
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| Proper preparation of your flock and shearing area makes the job much easier on all involved. Please put your sheep up in a barn or corral the night before and remove all food and water. Sheep with a full ruemen can suffer from a build up of digestive gasses and die during shearing. Sheep must be dry to be shorn. Please let us know the night before if your sheep can't be kept dry. We can reschule you for another day. Do NOT trim their hooves before we arrive. Freshly trimmed hooves are like knives and are very dangerous to a sheep shearer. I'm happy to pass you sheep after they are shorn so you can trim hooves, drench, and vaccinate.
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Shearing Day
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Please have any equipment and supplies you need such as wool bags, hoof trimmers, vaccines, etc. ready before we arrive. Please also have your sheep confined to an area appropriate for the number of sheep you have. A horse stall sized area is right for less than a dozen sheep. The shearing area will need to be flat, have a grounded outlet nearby, and have a ceiling at least 8' tall. For hygienic purposes, we prefer you provide your own 3/4"- 4' x 8' sheet of plywood as a shearing surface. We will have a used sheet of plywood if you don't have one. We will not shear on any other surface such as concrete, tarps, etc. We will bring our shearing equipment and a 6' x 6' catch pen to attach to your handling system.
We like your kids and dogs. However, it is just not safe for us all to be together while shearing. Sheep shearing is exiting for young kids. So, we are happy to do a Q&A while we shear one sheep. After that, they need to be completely outside the shearing area. Trained working border collies are fine in the crowding pen. However , pet or guardian dogs are absolutely not allowed in the shearing area. Please note, there are additional charges for things such as catching your sheep, shearing wet sheep, shearing sheep that have not been kept off feed, etc. Basiclly, if you don't follow the guidence above, you will pay extra.
 
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