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Farmer Anne's Kind and Gentle Sheep Shearing
Specializing in small hobby farm and pet flocks
Maryland, Virginia, and Southern Pennsylvania
tel: 301-349-0802

Preparing for shearing | What you provide | How long? | The wool | References | Costs | Disclaimer

Sheep Shearing School!

Farmer Anne and her shearing partners are available to come and shear your sheep and Angora goats within a 100 mile radius of Boyds, MD. We have all attended the MD/DE Sheep Shearing School and have extensive experience in shearing a wide variety of sheep breeds as well as Angora goats.

We can shear your sheep with the New Zealand method (sheep on the ground) or on a shearing stand. We will trim your sheep's hooves and hold him/her while you administer vaccines or worming medication, if you wish. We promise minimal second cuts for those concerned about fleece quality, and is extremely careful about nicking. We LOVE sheep and will make yours feel as comfortable as possible.

All tools (clippers, hand shears, and foot clippers) are disinfected with clorox after each farm visit. Shoes are also disinfected to minimize any chance for spread of disease.

How do you prepare for shearing?

• IMPORTANT! Remove all feed and water from sheep the night before shearing.
• Ensure that your sheep is not wet from the rain. If weather is forecasted for shearing day, please enclose your sheep in a covered area.
• Please collect your sheep in one enclosed area for easy access to the shearer.
• Although the shearer will take biological security precautions as outlined above, please inform us if your sheep have any known infectious disease (such as CL or footrot) so that we may take extra care to prevent any spread of bacteria or germs.
• Please tell us in advance if you are aware that your sheep has any tumors, lumps, surgery scars, dewlaps, or areas of skin that require special care.

Sheep being shorn. It's not so bad after all!

What do you need to provide?

• A clean, enclosed, flat area away from other animals, with minimal loose vegetable matter (hay, pine shavings) on the ground. (We actually prefer to shear right on grass).
• A rake to clean up the shearing area after each animal.
• A shallow bowl of hot water for soaking clippers between sheep.
• A tall glass of water for the shearer.
• One person to assist with moving sheep and closing gates.
• Bags to collect wool if you plan to keep it (we bring bags to haul away wool you do not want).
• A notebook for record keeping if you are doing shots, worming, or want to note any observations during the process.

How long will it take?

Our team values quality and gentle treatment over speed. If animals are brought directly to us for shearing (e.g. no wrangling for us), we can shear approximately 4 sheep in one hour. However, larger or uncooperative animals, or sheep who are severely matted, may extend our visit at your farm.

The advantage of going somewhat slower: since we are literally going over every inch of your animal, we will let you know if we find any skin growths or lesions, signs of hoof problems, or any other externally visible or palpable issues which may have previously been hidden by the thick fleece and on which you may want to follow up.

Cart full of wool! Very soft fleeces.

What about the wool?

We can help you skirt the wool, and will be able to give you a brief assessment of the wool's condition, although we strongly recommend that you send it to a professional woolen mill for evaluation and processing. If you do not want the wool, we are happy to take it away for you. Your sheep spent a year growing it, and we never let anything go to waste.

References

We are happy to provide references to you from the happy sheep (and their owners) for whom we've sheared. If you refer us to someone else, we will shear one of your sheep next year for free!

Costs

Ewes and lambs	$6 per sheep
Rams	$10 per sheep
Angora Goats	$10 per goat
Llamas and Alpacas	$25 per animal
Hoof trims	$2 per animal
Sheep with tails	$2 additional
Winter and pre-lambing crutching	$4
Pizzle area trims	$2
Farm call	Click to enlarge map of zone charges for farm call costs Zone 1: $25 Zone 2:$35 Zone 3: $50 Zone 4: $75 Zone 5: $100
Additional costs	We reserve the right to assess additional fees for any of the following conditions: - Sheep with more than one year's growth or goats with more than 8 months' growth (depending on the complexity of the job). - Animals with extremely long and problematic hooves that require special tools and/or excessive time and labor. - Wrangling: any animal handling that extends beyond flipping and shearing the animal (e.g. catching and bringing the animal to the shearing location).

Disclaimer

Shearing involves using a set of sharp, fast-moving cutting shears and the danger of cuts on both animal and shearer is ever-present. Sheep shearing is, however, a necessary activity to maintain the health of your animals. Should we cut ourselves during the process of shearing for you, we will not expect you to pay our medical bills. Likewise, should your sheep be accidentally cut during shearing, it will be your responsibility to determine whether veterinary care is needed and to provide it. We will not be held liable for damages of this sort.

If we are not in your area, or are unavailable to help you, please check with the American Sheep Industry Association's online shearers database.

Interested in talking with other shearers online?

Please call 301-349-0802 to schedule your shearing, or fill out our shearing request form!