- Crops
- Livestock
- Pests Diseases
- Careers in Agriculture
- Wildlife
- Dip Land Based Studies
- Teaching Curriculum Map
Shearing Sheep.
Sheep Shearing
Teachers if you want to show these videos full screen for the whole class then you will need to register and login then accees Shearing Shearing through teachers menu - Sheep Shearing Full Screen Page
More video of shearing below - first some background on wool.
Astronauts wear wool for comfort in the confines of their spacecraft. Wool protects mountain climbers and polar scientists, the sailors who navigate single-handed the oceans of the world and men 'who strike oil in Alaska. It is a fibre fit for heroes-and for more ordinary folk.
(Source Seven Sisters Sheep Centre) Visit Sheep Centre for more
British Wool is a superior, natural fibre, thanks to a special combination of bulk, resilience, softness and warmth. British wool is used predominantly and recognised worldwide, as a quality carpet fibre. It is also ideal for casual, country style knitwear and tweed fabrics, knitting yarns, bedding and household products.
(Source British Wool Marketing Board.)
The British Wool Marketing Board has just launched a new campaign to promote the 'Green' credentials of British wool - see latest news below...
Sheep in Northumberland
A Brief History of Wool
Large scale manufacture of woolen cloth is thought to have started in Worcester in 1534, and it became England's chief industry until the middle of the 18th century.
Many 'empires' where built on the profits from first wool and then with the help of the industrial revolution cloth weaved from wool. The income from fleeces use to pay the rent on rented estate farms, this was when the value of a fleece was about £10 in today's prices. A fleece now is worth around 65p with some as low as 10p. It costs £1.10 to shear a sheep!
The shearing process.
Shearing sheep details.
Despite it now costing more to remove a fleece than the fleece is actually worth shearing sheep is necessary to prevent the sheep from overheating in the summer. It also reduces the chance of 'fly strike' - this is when flies lay their eggs in the wool of sheep so that when they hatch the maggots can eat the sheep alive!!
Electric clippers are used which in expert hands are very safe and the sheep is not hurt.
There is a special technique to holding the sheep and also where to start and finish shearing the animal.
Sheep are usually shorn on a wooden board or sheet to avoid contamination of the fleece which could lower the value.
Most shearers wear special soft footwear - some even do it barefoot!
The shorn fleece is carefully rolled and tied by its own wool before being placed in a woolsack.
The shearing 'Circuit'
How quick could you shear a sheep?
Much of the shearing in this country is carried out by shearers from Australia and New Zealand who travel the world to shear sheep all year round. This "shearing circuit" is seen as a way to save money to start farming.
Top shearers can shear 1 sheep in 2-3 minutes and expect to shear around 250 sheep in a day.
Sheep Shearing in the past.
Sheep shearing in the past
This is what sheep shearing used to be like in the past.
With no electric clippers not only did the shearer have to hold the sheep down, but they also had to work the clippers with their own hands - I bet they had vice like grips when shaking hands after a season clipping!
Thanks to:
Bishop Burton College for allowing us to film the modern shearing sequences.
Robert Stephenson for allowing us to use the archive footage of sheep shearing.
Home
Contact
About Us 
Help