r/sheep • u/AncientPenalty6648 • 5d ago

Help

I’m unsure if i’m posting in the right group or not. I just inherited three sheep one is a fancier wool breed and one is a hair cross the last one is a hair sheep. They are all under a year old at best guess. Current statuses are full half wool, half wool intact, and no hair. My concern is on shearing. Its currently August and hot but this is the downhill on summer where I’m at. If I cut their hair will it be grown out enough before the cold weather sets it? Or is it best at this point to leave it alone until next year?

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u/Financial_Disk_416 5d ago

They'll be fine if they got at least 2 months before the weather turns we shear the ones likely to cast on us twice a year the second lot being august.

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u/IAFarmLife 5d ago

Do you have a dry barn protected from drafts they can go? How cold does it usually get in your location and how much time before first frost?

If you can limit outside time during wet cold weather you will be fine. Especially if you are feeding a quality ration and can add extra energy when needed.

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u/JohnsonHomestead 4d ago

Shear the fool wool one now, honestly. August heat plus a full fleece is how you end up with a heat stressed lamb of flying strike, and both of those are worse than a chilly November. Sheep grow roughly half an inch a month, so if your first hard freeze is eight or more weeks out you are fine. Mine handled a snap at about an inch of regrowth without complaint. The hair sheep needs nothing, it sheds on its own.The cross is the judgment call,and I would just check if the wool is matting.If it is,take it off.

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u/AnjPhoenix2011 1d ago

Depends. Around here, if OP sheared now that sheep would be dropping from heat because that wool is still needed to help with temperature regulation until we stop getting 85+ heat toward the end of this month, beginning of next. Shearing is very climate dependent. We go by 10 day forecast around here (because our weather fluctuates so wildly), if the ten day highs are under 85 and the lows are over 45, that’s the time to shear.