Cutting or shaving the wool off of a sheep is called shearing. Shearing doesn’t usually hurt a sheep. It’s just like getting a haircut. However, shearing requires skill so that the sheep is shorn efficiently and quickly without causing cuts or injury to the sheep or shearer. Most sheep are sheared with electric shears or shearing machines. The fleece is removed in one piece.
Some sheep are sheared manually with scissors or hand blades. While some farmers shear their own sheep, many hire professional sheep shearers. In many countries, including the United States, there is a growing shortage of qualified sheep shearers. Many states hold annual sheep shearing schools.
A professional shearer can shear a sheep in less than 2 minutes. The world record is 37.9 seconds. The record was set in 2016 by Ivan Scott from Ireland. Scott set another record, shearing 867 lambs in just 9 hours. Matt Smith from New Zealand owns the record for shearing the most ewes, 731 ewes in 9 hours. The most Merino ewes sheared in 8 hours is 497, a record set by Lou Brown from New Zealand. The blade shearing record was set over 100 years ago when legendary shearer Jackie Howe sheared 321 sheep in 7 hours and 40 minutes.
In 1957, a New Zealander sheared a sheep in just 47 seconds!
Picture Credit : Google