Why Do Sheep Need Shearing? And Other FAQs - Farm Sanctuary

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Nestled in the beautiful Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York, the rolling green pastures of Farm Sanctuary’s 275-acre New York Sanctuary are home to more than 400 rescued farm animals.

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Our 39-acre Southern California Sanctuary — home to approximately 100 rescued farm animals — is located on a beautiful hacienda ranch in Acton, just 45 minutes from Hollywood.

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Isn’t shearing an industry thing? Why do we do it at Farm Sanctuary?

Let’s face it: Quarantine hair has been a challenge for many—even sheep! Those wooly winter coats are an excellent defense against the cold but come springtime, the style’s out of season. They’re hot, they’re itchy, and they’re even threadbare in parts from scratching up against the barn for a bit of relief. Who needs all that extra weight once it’s finally time to graze and gallivant on pasture?

A spa day is in order!

It takes about three days to shear the 80+ sheep at our New York shelter. Their yearly appointments are for April or May. Last year, we added a second late-summer session because the wool grows back fast and the sheep could overheat. Our Southern California flock also gets two shears per year.

Here are the top five questions we get about the topic (plus some cute before and after shots from this year!).

Erin and Reuben sheep enjoying a run through the pasture

Ferdinand sheep and his after-shear curls

1. Why do sheep need shearing?

Sheep didn’t always need to be sheared; people breed sheep to produce excess wool. Wild sheep (and certain types of “hair” breeds like the Katahdin) will naturally shed their coarse winter coats. They do this by scratching their bodies against trees and rubbing away their extra fluff as the weather warms up.

Most of our rescued sheep are wool breeds—or wool/hair crosses—and can’t regulate this excess weight on their own. So we shear them to keep them from overheating and to improve their quality of life. This excess wool isn’t natural—and sheep are the ones who pay the price.

Zuri sheep with a full coat

Zuri is part hair sheep, but still needs shearing to remove excess wool and hair.

2. What’s the problem with wool?

In 2018, about 1.2 billion sheep were used for wool production around the world.

Commercial shearing is very different from a simple haircut. Shearers are paid by the sheep, not the hour, so there’s an incentive to work as quickly as possible. As sheep are prey animals, they’re frightened by the rapid pace, rough handling, and whirring of the shears. They can also get cut from the sheer speed of operation or while trying to reorient themselves to feel safe. Merino sheep bear the brunt of this cruelty: the Australian favorite yields soft and bountiful wool beloved by fiber artists and fashionistas alike.

But the issues go beyond shearing. Mutilations, including castration, tail docking, and mulesing (the slicing and removal of skin from the sheep’s backsides), are other common, traumatic, and sometimes deadly practices in raising sheep. As sheep age and they stop producing top-quality wool, they’re slaughtered for meat. In Australia, the source of most of the world’s wool, such sheep are typically exported by boat to countries where mature sheep meat is commonly consumed, enduring grueling journeys of up to three weeks..

Learn more about how sheep are used for wool, meat, and milk.

Elli sheep with full wool

Elli sheep after shearing

3. What is shearing like at Farm Sanctuary?

It’s a much slower process, completed over several days. We work with a shearer who’s known our flocks for years and treats our sheep with care and respect. Our caregiving team is also there throughout the process to assist with handling and to ease extra jitters.

But it’s still a little scary, even with all these precautions. Sheep don’t like feeling vulnerable. Even the calmest among the flock may feel a bit tense when gently turned on their sides for a thorough shear. (It’s safe when done correctly—even for older sheep—though some with special needs may remain standing.)

And even when taking the very best care, some accidental cuts still happen. Our caregivers apply a liquid bandage to their skin and monitor them until they’ve healed. Then we administer one of their annual vaccines and send them off to join their friends on pasture.

Ranchers will often starve sheep for a full day before shearing to reduce the animals’ reactions to the stresses of shearing.

Sarah sheep with full wool

Sarah sheep after shearing

4. How do the sheep feel about it?

Once everything’s done, they feel light and free––a literal weight has been lifted from their shoulders! They kick up their heels, roughhouse a bit with their friends, and enjoy their first graze with the cool breeze against their skin.

Some also enjoy all the extra attention from their human admirers! (It’s so much easier to scratch their backs without all that wool and embedded hay in the way.) Here’s our tip for giving the best sheep scritches: You’ll know a sheep is happy when they close their eyes, turn their heads, and smack their lips and flick their tongues as though saying, “Aaah yes, that’s the spot!”

A very wooly Officer Cal around the time of his rescue

Officer Cal enjoys the warmth on his skin during a joyful graze on pasture

Sheep experience complex emotions that they communicate to other sheep with their faces and other parts of their bodies.

THINKING SHEEP: A Review of Cognition, Emotion, and Social Complexity in Domestic Sheep By Lori Marino, Ph.D. and Debra Merskin, Ph.D. for Farm Sanctuary

5. What do we do with the wool?

We don’t keep or sell it—but why not? It seems ethically sourced: We’re not raising the sheep for their wool, and we take great care throughout the shearing process. By approaching animals with the mindset that their lives are their own, then it’s easy to see how the wool isn’t really ours to use or sell. To do so would further commoditize these sheep.

Instead of using something cultivated from unnecessary harm, we give the wool back to nature—laying it out upon the hillsides for compost and for wildlife to collect for their nests. And in 2010, we donated some to help sponge up the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

It’s one way to restore a bit of natural order and honor our good friends, the sheep.

Mandy sheep on a wet, wooly day

Mandy sheep after shearing

Click here for the full scoop on shearing, and check out our live sheep cam through explore.org to see them rocking their new ‘dos!

The Someone Project: Sheep

The Someone Project is a Farm Sanctuary-sponsored research-based initiative documenting farm animal sentience through science. Download our white paper on sheep titled Thinking Sheep: A Review of Cognition, Emotion, and Social Complexity in Domestic Sheep.

Download

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