Shearing is the process whereby the sheep’s fleece or wool is removed using  shears called ‘handpieces’. The fleece needs to be removed regularly because it grows continuously.  Sheep should be shorn annually. Unshorn wool could eventually impede movement. Sheep can overheat and die in the summer months if not shorn, and become the target for parasitic species such as ticks, lice, mites, and the maggots that cause fly strike, a gruesome and even deadly condition.

PeeBee (on the left) and Jay were two sheep that came into our care and were in desperate need of being shorn.  In PeeBee’s case, her wool was full of burrs, bugs, sticks and even some pieces of trash.  After some quality shearing, she is looking good and feeling much lighter.