No drama, no forcing, no rush

Fiber animals need to have their fiber removed on a regular basis in order to remain healthy. This process need not be stressful or unpleasant, but sometimes past bad experiences make an animal wary, fearful, or even violent. I love animals and will treat yours with the same care that I do my own.  I try to work quickly and efficiently, but speed is not my primary goal:  safe and painless removal of the fleece is, and sometimes this requires taking a break or changing the shearing position in order to accommodate your animal’s particular needs, or even talking, humming, or singing to the animal.

I shear for both pet/hobby flocks and production flocks, and I use the accepted professional shearing methods based on my training.  If you or your animals have special needs, please let me know. I have disabled sheep at my own farm and understand that accommodations need to be made.

I’d like you to stick around

Shearing time is a good time to evaluate your animal’s body condition. I am not trained in veterinary medicine, and so any observations I may report to you are from a shepherd’s point of view. Shearing allows me (and you) to access to most of the exterior areas of your animal and so it is an optimal time to do close observation; I will be glad to report to you anything that I see. I encourage you to stay close by during shearing so that you can also observe.  Ordinarily I also trim hooves/toenails at the same time.

A productive partnership

Shearing is an act of partnership, and I need your assistance to make it a positive experience for everyone. If you need help learning how to handle your animals, I’m glad to help. I ask you to be ready for shearing, with animals penned in on empty stomachs in a clean environment.

Let’s do herd health another day

I do not recommend administering shots or worm medicine at the same time that an animal is sheared. Shearing is a stressful experience, and the adrenaline in the system can either negate the value of the vaccine, and/or cause unwanted reactions in the animal. I have witnessed extremely negative results of de-worming anemic animals at shearing time, including death.

I do offer herd health services in the shearing off-season.