Sheep Shearing Videos Now Available

Two new videos are available from Penn State University. One explaining the tools needed to shear sheep and preparing and caring for the shears, and one explaining the six positions to shear a sheep.

Producers interested in learning to shear their own sheep, or those who may just need a refresher to brush up on their skills, can now look to the Web for help on shearing sheep. Finding someone to shear your sheep is becoming more difficult and expensive every year. We hope these videos will get you on a good track to doing your own shearing.

Penn State Extension’s Start Farming team realized there is a relative lack of good sheep shearing information when class after class has filled and folks keep asking for more. Mike Fournier, Penn State Extension Educator in Bucks County, teaches Introduction to Sheep Management and Sheep Shearing schools each year in southeastern Pennsylvania. In the past three years, 77 aspiring or beginning producers have taken the courses – most planning to join the almost 3,800 sheep farms in Pennsylvania.

The team created two videos, one explaining the tools needed to shear sheep and preparing and caring for the shears, and one explaining the six positions to shear a sheep. To view the videos, please visit the Start Farming team’s website at extension.psu.edu/start-farming and click on the “Sheep” tab on the left side of the page.