Sheep Shearing

June 2006

The whole process of shearing sheep is quite arduous. I was offered the chance to go and see first hand how the experts do it.

I was kindly invited to John Spensley's Manor Farm, where Marcus Preston presided as the shearer.

Sheep shearing and wool production have always played an important role in the UK's sheep industry over the last six thousand years. The earliest sheep had pigmented coats and moulted, allowing farmers to collect the fallen wool: however breeds developed with improved wool characteristics. By the middle ages wool was the UK's most important output being exported throughout Europe. Later, as exports declined, production was used domestically in the fast growing cloth industries.

Wool is a modified form of hair that grows with a waviness (called the crimp) which is characteristic of the breed of sheep. Fleeces of British sheep can be classified into three main types: carpet wools, down wools and long wools, each with differing end uses.

Sheep are either sheared in the early summer months, or immediately prior to winter housing. Since sheep breeds no longer naturally moult, shearing is necessary to prevent the animal from overheating either when indoors, or outside during hot summer months. When shorn, sheep are also much less prone to fly strike.

Sheep are usually shorn on a wooden board that can easily be cleaned through the shearing process to avoid faecal contamination of the fleece. Fleeces can also be spoiled by marker paint, brambles and other contaminants - all of which lower the value.
The shorn fleece is carefully rolled and tied by its own wool before being placed in a woolsack. Indoor shearing uses a woolsack supported by a frame for easier filling.


Most wool in the UK is marketed through The British Wool Marketing Board which co-ordinates the collection and sale of wool from around 70,000 registered producers. Wool is graded, pooled and sold throughout the year at public auction, some, live online.

Wool is an extremely versatile product that lends itself to use in clothing and carpets. Wool is wear resistant, provides good insulative properties as well as being able to absorb up to 30% of its own weight in moisture without feeling wet. Despite these qualities, wool has been widely displaced by the use of cheaper synthetic fibres.

Wool is now a premium product but for much of the last 6000 years it has been the mainstay of clothing in all grades and qualities.

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Grateful thanks to Mr. Marcus Preston
and to J & A Spensley of Manor Farm Thorlby.

Images by CragFace.

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Pickersgill Manor Farm

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