# how much to shear your sheep?



## farmergal

Does anyone pay to have their sheep sheared? I was asking a local breeder (like 5 mins away from me) who she uses to shear her sheep, and she said she did it herself and would be willing to shear my sheep for me. When I asked how much she would charge for my 4 sheep, she said $300. I emailed her back to ask it it was a typo ($30 seems reasonable to me, as a good shearer takes only a few minutes per sheep) and she said no, it would be $300. :shocked: I just about dropped dead. My sheep aren't even full sized sheep, they are babydoll southdowns, so they're much easier to handle than the full sized breeds. 

Am I crazy or is she? How much should I expect to pay per sheep on a small flock to have them sheared?


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## Shelly Borg

She is nuts!!
There is no way it should cost that much. For that you could buy a high end shears and pay some one to teach you to do it your self. 
There is a add on the local sales site that has $15 a sheep plus $20 farm call. 
I wish I lived closer I would come do it for the fleece.

Hmm you are in Northen CA. Where about. I may be able to help you after all. I would be happy to show you how to do it if youi are not to far away.


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## StaceyRosado

dont have sheep but wow that is expensive


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## Crissa

That is WAY too expensive! I also wish you were closer as I miss shearing. (weird I know, but I always loved shearing my market lambs, lol)


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## DebMc

I have Angora goats which are huge of wads of mohair - so probably a royal pain to shear compared to sheep. Our shearer (who travels out here from KS) charges $50/head for Angoras. A 4-Her here in AZ who has very limited experience w/Angoras gave me a quote of $25/head. The latter does show clips for sheep and goats, wash and style included, for the same price.

Deb Mc


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## keren

whoa that woman is crazy!

someone convert this to American $ for me but here the pricing is as follows:

Commercial shearer - shearing sheep in a woolshed (so it has the overhead machine to plug the handpiece into) - $3 per sheep. $5 per goat. $7 per alpaca. 

Mobile shearer - this type will come to your place and use an electric handpiece, so you dont need the standard woolshed. Mainly hobby and pet herds, do them in your own backyard. They do charge a little more. $5 - 10 per sheep. $15 per goat. $15 - 25 per alpaca. Depending on your location there might be a travel charge as well. Most of these will also drench, vaccinate, foot trim and lice prevention so if you need that done just ask. 

I am fortunate to have a really good shearer, he comes and does them with the electric handpiece, for between $5 and $7 a goat ... no added petrol  I know I'm lucky


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## AlaskaBoers

$300 is alot for 4 sheep! $10 per sheep sounds reasonable.


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## goatnutty

That does seem....quite expensive. I would definately look elsewhere!


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## farmergal

Thanks for the advice! I also heard from a friend locally that she pays $20 for a site visit plus $6 per sheep.... so I guess I was right in thinking that $300 was way out of the ballpark. Not sure what this woman was thinking :shrug: maybe she thought I wouldn't know better? I had just written a feature article for the local paper on her 4H sheep project too so I was kind of hoping for a friendly neighborly price. Oh well.

Shelly... I so wish I was closer to you... I am in Sonoma County just north of Santa Rosa, so 3+ hours from Redding. DARN. Sometimes I wish our state weren't so insanely big... I always forget there's another 4+ hours of California north of me! 

To those of you who shear at home... how hard is it to do? My fiance wants to try because he is a big DIY type guy. We don't have sheep-specific shearers but we have professional electric clippers that are labeled for horse, goats, and sheep (used off Craigslist).


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## JPMeyer55

Okay, I am in Santa Rosa, CA and trying to find someone to shear my 2 alpacas?
Any ideas please?
JP Meyer


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## Frosty

My understanding of it is if you aren't gonna use the wool you could practice yourself just make sure the clippers don't get hot and burn the animal. But if you want to use the wool it needs to be done special. Course I am new at this all also. This is something I picked up on the way..


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## markdsessoms

I will shear inand around Sonoma, not great at it though


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## Shearing123

I have been traveling to shear for 13 years. $10-sheep $35-Alpaca $40-Llama. no extra charges, no minimum amount of animals. I give a discount for a larger number of animals.


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