Sheep Industry News February 2025

Preparation is Key to Successful Shearing Day

W hether you’re shearing five head or 5,000 head, shearing day is an important time for both produc ers and their flocks. And even though it happens at least once a year on every wool farm and ranch, it’s easy to overlook the details from one year to the next. “A year is spent growing the product, while only a few minutes are required to harvest it,” according to the ASI Code of Practice for Preparation of Wool Clips , which is available for download and purchase at SheepUSA.org/shop. “It is in this brief harvest period that quality is often adversely affected.” With that in mind, here’s a brief overview of how to prepare for the arrival of your shearer. The first thing you need to do is contact your shearer and set a date for shearing. Keep in mind that nothing is set in stone when it comes to dealing with livestock and weather. Prepare to be flexible as things such as weather, broken equipment and illness can hamper your shearer’s ability to get to your farm or ranch on the designated date. Spring snowstorms make scheduling particularly difficult for shearing crews. As you await your shearing date, order any needed supplies such as wool packs/bags, clips, markers and health supplies. You should also schedule extra help for shearing day. If your shearer

doesn’t offer wool handling/classing services, you’ll want to find someone who can help with that. You'll also need extra sets of hands to move and pen sheep, as well as a variety of other tasks that will come up on the day. Larger shearing crews will often bring their own shearing trailers, but producers with smaller operations will need to provide a clean, dry environment for shearing to take place. The area should be large enough for the shearer to maneuver while shearing and easy to sweep so it can be kept clean. Two 4-foot by 6-foot sheets of plywood on flat ground in a covered barn can make an excellent shearing floor for a small flock. Raising the shearing board off the ground in a stable manner will help reduce contamination and make wool handling easier. Sheep should not be shorn on old rugs, carpets or poly tarps. Make sure the area is well lit, and electrical outlets are available within 6 feet of the shearing surface. In the final days before shearing, sheep should be sorted so they can be shorn in the order of: whiteface (from fine to coarse), black face, colored, and hair and hair-crosses. Sheep can be further sorted by lambs and weanlings, rams, sheep that ran in different conditions, and any sheep that might be sick. Ideally, sheep would be penned under cover in dry, contam

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