Finding a shearer who will travel to your farm can be a challenge.  In many areas of the US, shearers are in short supply and more than one desperate shepherd has resorted to scissors to relieve their animals of their fiber.

Shearers come in all shapes and sizes.  We are young and old, men and women, skilled journeymen and apprentices.  But

1. Gates.  Can you open your gate with one hand?  Or do you have to drop everything and fiddle with

In some ways, it should be easy to evaluate your animal's body condition. But if they are all fluffy, how can you tell? 

Shearing uncovers some surprises. Here are a few things to look for on your animals on shearing day.

Here are some things to consider if you're planning an event around shearing day.

It's spring.  Time for shearing But it's raining. What do you do? Here are some ideas.

No, these words were not uttered by a client. They are my own. I just returned from a 10-day, 4-state

I became a shearer by accident.  And yet I cannot imagine a better job, more satisfying and more suited to

Now you've gotten your animals shorn for the year -- what next!? There are many options to use the fiber

With a few caveats, I'm a firm believer in pre-lambing shearing.

Shearing is a service. As such, shearers aim to please the farmers, remove the fiber efficiently and expertly, and treat

August 4, 2014 Recently there has been a terrific brouhaha in the shearing world and amongst animal rights activists over

Most farmers think of shearing as being exclusively a spring activity.  Contemplating the heat of summer, they (hopefully) call their

Despite all the challenges of setting up a schedule for shearing at hundreds of farms in multiple states, and despite the hard physicality of the job, you may find that the most difficult part of being a shearer is communication.

The year 2020 brought a deadly and decidedly inconvenient disease to the world.  For many people, life stopped. But the shearing must go on.

Being a travelling shearer means that I get to meet a wide variety of people and animals. Here are some of their stories.

The story of Huckleberry: his love, loss, and comeback.

A story of how I got hooked on shearing.

Busting some myths about sheep shearing and those who would oppose it!