Thanks to the generosity of the shop community, Lindsey was able to attend the Washington State Sheep Shearing School in Moses Lake, Washington in late April 2024. (She shared her experience in real time on the shop's Instagram feed by doing a live broadcast after class each day and saving it to the grid - if you're interested, start with Day 1 by clicking here.)
She is now a certified learner shearer and would love to help you with your small flock's shearing and care needs!
If you're interested in booking a shearing session, please fill out the intake form on Google Forms.
After you have completed the form, you will be directed to our online shop to pay a $50 non-refundable deposit
so we can get you on our shearing schedule.
PLEASE NOTE: We have specific pre-shearing tasks we ask clients to complete to help our team and the animals stay safe.
These are detailed in the intake form. We've provided further information below, but if you have any questions,
please reach out to us by phone or email.
She is now a certified learner shearer and would love to help you with your small flock's shearing and care needs!
If you're interested in booking a shearing session, please fill out the intake form on Google Forms.
After you have completed the form, you will be directed to our online shop to pay a $50 non-refundable deposit
so we can get you on our shearing schedule.
PLEASE NOTE: We have specific pre-shearing tasks we ask clients to complete to help our team and the animals stay safe.
These are detailed in the intake form. We've provided further information below, but if you have any questions,
please reach out to us by phone or email.
Shearing FAQ
Q: Which animals do you shear?
A: Sheep - no camelids (camels, alpaca, or llamas), no goats, and although I appreciate the offer of your dog to practice on, I don’t have the right equipment for that, either. I'm happy to help you find someone who might be able to help you with other animals.
Q: How many animals can you shear in a day?
A: As of summer 2024, I will schedule up to 5 at one site on one day. If you have more than 5 animals, I will ask to set up a second appointment.
Q: But it only takes the shearers on Tiktok 3 minutes to do 1 sheep!
A: Yes, and they are often professional production shearers who do this full-time and can handle dozens of sheep each day… and have to in order to make a living. Shearing is my side gig to being a yarn shop owner, and I’m noting health issues and fleece quality as much as I’m working to get the wool off the sheep. I’m also a novice shearer who has to use alternate shearing positions and methods in many cases, which can also add time.
Q: How much do you charge to shear?
A: There is a $50 non-refundable deposit to reserve a shearing date on the calendar. That deposit is deducted from your total at the end of your shearing session. I tell folks to budget about $25 per sheep as a starting point if the animals have been shorn on a regular basis and I’m able to use my electric equipment. Additional charges may be assessed for extra-sassy sheep, oversized animals, or difficult/overgrown fleeces.
Q: Do you offer services other than shearing?
A: Yes! I can help you out with hoof trimming, fleece skirting, fleece quality evaluation, and consultation on processing options for your fleece. Hooves and skirting are paid add-ons to your shearing; alternately, if you’d like me to come out and trim hooves outside regular shearing sessions, I can do that for $10 / animal plus mileage from my starting point to your location.
Q: What about docking tails and vaccinations?
A: No - those are requests for your veterinarian.
Q: Can we watch you while you’re shearing?
A: Of course! I encourage folks to watch and ask questions. There’s a lot of misinformation out there about shearing and animal handling, and I’m happy to share what I know as I work. My roustabout/s are experienced sheep handlers and are also happy to answer questions.
HOWEVER - please keep other animals away from the shearing area. Startled sheep can react in unpredictable ways and injure themselves or the shearing crew.
Q: How do I keep my sheep dry before shearing? And what if there’s dew on the grass?
A: The simplest answer is to enclose them overnight prior to shearing. If it has been rainy in the week prior to your shearing date, you are responsible for making sure they are dry before we arrive - it can take up to 3 days for very wet sheep to dry out, so plan accordingly!
If the sheep are wet, it increases the risks that the shears will slip and either hurt the sheep or hurt me. Even if it’s a gorgeous sunny day on shearing day, wet sheep upon arrival will incur an automatic reschedule and a new non-refundable deposit payment.
Q: It’s enough to have the sheep in a fenced-in pasture and it qualifies as “penned,” right?
A: NO. Your sheep need to be secured in an area no larger than 10’ x 10’ before the shearing crew arrives - and we do mean secured - in a pen, either purpose-built or improvised with hog panels, pallets and ratchet cargo straps, or farm gate panels. Shearing takes a lot of focus and energy, and running after sheep in unfamiliar pastures or pens is a hazard to all parties involved. Securing the animals in advance makes it easy for us to get sheep out for shearing, keeps them from munching on any feed hanging around, and keeps the sheep from being able to build up speed and run. Sheep running at full speed can hit and seriously injure the crew.
Q: Do I really have to keep my sheep away from all food and water for most of the day before shearing? They’re going to be hungry!
A: YES. They will be hungry by the end of shearing, but as long as you’re following the fasting guidelines and we don’t have to wait for them to be caught, they’ll be fine.
N.B.: GRASS IS FOOD. Not only can you not give them grain, but they need to be off pasture during that entire suggested timeline as well.
If the animals aren’t fasted, there are 3 major problems we face:
Q: Is it okay if there are other animals in the area where shearing is taking place? We have [chickens, alpacas, etc] that hang out with the sheep in their pen all the time.
A: No. Even if they are normally well-behaved around you and your family or friends, the shearing team are probably strangers to the animals - that can often cause the other animals to react unpredictably. This can result in startled sheep and/or injuries to the shearing team.
Q: I noticed that sometimes the sheep gets cut during the shearing process. How serious is that?
A: It’s usually a non-issue. Sheep heal INCREDIBLY quickly - their wounds will often visibly be on the mend before shearing is done! We have antibiotic spray, aerosol bandage spray, and suture kits on hand to make sure we are equipped to handle the most common nicks and cuts. Think of it as learning to shave - you're pretty familiar with your own body, but there's always one little curve you don't realize is there! Since every sheep is different and we may only see them once a year, we take extra time to look them over and evaluate possible problem areas; it won't prevent all nicks and cuts, but it will give us a good head start.
Q: I saw that you had to wrestle an animal to the ground [or had to sit on the sheep, or had to pull its legs out from under it]. Does that hurt the sheep?
A: Nope! Sheep are incredibly hardy critters and are heavily muscled. They're also prey animals and have a VERY healthy flight response when faced with a situation they don't like. If they feel like they can get their legs under them, it causes them to kick and scramble to attempt to get away. We try to catch them by surprise by "rumping" them or getting their legs out from under them to lay them down; during shearing, we can often soothe them by using specific pressure points (or, if necessary, just laying on the animal... not elegant, but it usually works!). These are all methods that we're trained in as shearers and roustabouts. We may also use a neck or leg crook to help us catch animals if necessary.
A: Sheep - no camelids (camels, alpaca, or llamas), no goats, and although I appreciate the offer of your dog to practice on, I don’t have the right equipment for that, either. I'm happy to help you find someone who might be able to help you with other animals.
Q: How many animals can you shear in a day?
A: As of summer 2024, I will schedule up to 5 at one site on one day. If you have more than 5 animals, I will ask to set up a second appointment.
Q: But it only takes the shearers on Tiktok 3 minutes to do 1 sheep!
A: Yes, and they are often professional production shearers who do this full-time and can handle dozens of sheep each day… and have to in order to make a living. Shearing is my side gig to being a yarn shop owner, and I’m noting health issues and fleece quality as much as I’m working to get the wool off the sheep. I’m also a novice shearer who has to use alternate shearing positions and methods in many cases, which can also add time.
Q: How much do you charge to shear?
A: There is a $50 non-refundable deposit to reserve a shearing date on the calendar. That deposit is deducted from your total at the end of your shearing session. I tell folks to budget about $25 per sheep as a starting point if the animals have been shorn on a regular basis and I’m able to use my electric equipment. Additional charges may be assessed for extra-sassy sheep, oversized animals, or difficult/overgrown fleeces.
Q: Do you offer services other than shearing?
A: Yes! I can help you out with hoof trimming, fleece skirting, fleece quality evaluation, and consultation on processing options for your fleece. Hooves and skirting are paid add-ons to your shearing; alternately, if you’d like me to come out and trim hooves outside regular shearing sessions, I can do that for $10 / animal plus mileage from my starting point to your location.
Q: What about docking tails and vaccinations?
A: No - those are requests for your veterinarian.
Q: Can we watch you while you’re shearing?
A: Of course! I encourage folks to watch and ask questions. There’s a lot of misinformation out there about shearing and animal handling, and I’m happy to share what I know as I work. My roustabout/s are experienced sheep handlers and are also happy to answer questions.
HOWEVER - please keep other animals away from the shearing area. Startled sheep can react in unpredictable ways and injure themselves or the shearing crew.
Q: How do I keep my sheep dry before shearing? And what if there’s dew on the grass?
A: The simplest answer is to enclose them overnight prior to shearing. If it has been rainy in the week prior to your shearing date, you are responsible for making sure they are dry before we arrive - it can take up to 3 days for very wet sheep to dry out, so plan accordingly!
If the sheep are wet, it increases the risks that the shears will slip and either hurt the sheep or hurt me. Even if it’s a gorgeous sunny day on shearing day, wet sheep upon arrival will incur an automatic reschedule and a new non-refundable deposit payment.
Q: It’s enough to have the sheep in a fenced-in pasture and it qualifies as “penned,” right?
A: NO. Your sheep need to be secured in an area no larger than 10’ x 10’ before the shearing crew arrives - and we do mean secured - in a pen, either purpose-built or improvised with hog panels, pallets and ratchet cargo straps, or farm gate panels. Shearing takes a lot of focus and energy, and running after sheep in unfamiliar pastures or pens is a hazard to all parties involved. Securing the animals in advance makes it easy for us to get sheep out for shearing, keeps them from munching on any feed hanging around, and keeps the sheep from being able to build up speed and run. Sheep running at full speed can hit and seriously injure the crew.
Q: Do I really have to keep my sheep away from all food and water for most of the day before shearing? They’re going to be hungry!
A: YES. They will be hungry by the end of shearing, but as long as you’re following the fasting guidelines and we don’t have to wait for them to be caught, they’ll be fine.
N.B.: GRASS IS FOOD. Not only can you not give them grain, but they need to be off pasture during that entire suggested timeline as well.
If the animals aren’t fasted, there are 3 major problems we face:
- Sheep poop and urine on the shearing surface can make it slick, which can lead to serious injury for the sheep and the shearing team if someone slips.
- Sheep poop and urine can contaminate a fleece. Some of that will already be on the fleece, of course, but having a sheep pooping and urinating on the shearing area means that more of the fleece will be tossed away and wasted in the skirting process.
- Sheep with food in their system are going to be uncomfortable and at increased risk of major health issues during shearing. They’re ruminants, so their digestive systems work differently. Their stomach has four compartments, the largest of which is called the rumen. Ingested food hangs out in the rumen as 3 layers: the gas layer, the liquid layer, and the solid layer. As we flip them around during shearing, if there's food in their system, those layers get disrupted and they have VERY grumbly tummies. The discomfort often causes the sheep to kick and be less compliant, which is an increased risk for shearers. Additionally, the mass of the food in their digestive tract, in combination with the movements of shearing, can lead to GI tract torsions - twists that will cut off blood supply to the intestines, kill the bowel tissue, and kill the animal in the majority of cases.
Q: Is it okay if there are other animals in the area where shearing is taking place? We have [chickens, alpacas, etc] that hang out with the sheep in their pen all the time.
A: No. Even if they are normally well-behaved around you and your family or friends, the shearing team are probably strangers to the animals - that can often cause the other animals to react unpredictably. This can result in startled sheep and/or injuries to the shearing team.
Q: I noticed that sometimes the sheep gets cut during the shearing process. How serious is that?
A: It’s usually a non-issue. Sheep heal INCREDIBLY quickly - their wounds will often visibly be on the mend before shearing is done! We have antibiotic spray, aerosol bandage spray, and suture kits on hand to make sure we are equipped to handle the most common nicks and cuts. Think of it as learning to shave - you're pretty familiar with your own body, but there's always one little curve you don't realize is there! Since every sheep is different and we may only see them once a year, we take extra time to look them over and evaluate possible problem areas; it won't prevent all nicks and cuts, but it will give us a good head start.
Q: I saw that you had to wrestle an animal to the ground [or had to sit on the sheep, or had to pull its legs out from under it]. Does that hurt the sheep?
A: Nope! Sheep are incredibly hardy critters and are heavily muscled. They're also prey animals and have a VERY healthy flight response when faced with a situation they don't like. If they feel like they can get their legs under them, it causes them to kick and scramble to attempt to get away. We try to catch them by surprise by "rumping" them or getting their legs out from under them to lay them down; during shearing, we can often soothe them by using specific pressure points (or, if necessary, just laying on the animal... not elegant, but it usually works!). These are all methods that we're trained in as shearers and roustabouts. We may also use a neck or leg crook to help us catch animals if necessary.