Sheep producers in Texas and beyond empowered by knowledge gained at shearing school

Wool sheep require annual or biannual shearing to maintain proper health and productivity. Prior to 2016, Texas did not have any formal schools or trainings to develop sheep shearing professionals, forcing sheep farmers and ranchers to quit the sheep industry or switch to sheep that don’t require shearing.

The first Texas A&M AgriLife Sheep Shearing School was held in January 2016, with subsequent workshops held annually except 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Given Texas is the largest sheep-producing state and has the largest number of sheep farmers/ranchers, this school has been at capacity every year that it has been offered. The main goals for the school are to teach students the internationally recognized pattern of sheep shearing, train proper use and maintenance of shearing equipment, demonstrate proper animal handling to minimize stress and reduce risk of injury and teach proper wool harvesting and packaging methods to optimize wool marketability. In a typical year, about 350 head of sheep are shorn during the school period. To date, attendees have come from all over Texas and from 11 states.

Shearing school attendees rate their ability to shear a sheep before and after the school on a 1 (no experience) to 5 (very experienced) scale. Scores improved from 1.8 before the school to 4.1 after. Unanimously attendees rated the level of instruction a 5 – the most helpful on a 1 to 5 scale in 2023.