Shears

[shy sheep]

What brand of shears do you recommend for my sheep? The are Suffolk/Hampshire cross and have thick wool. Suggestions?

 

[Kellykidz]

What brand of shears do you recommend for my sheep? The are Suffolk/Hampshire cross and have thick wool. Suggestions?

I was trying to find out this information too. We used the shearers we got from my son's FFA teacher but they either have a dull blade or who knows. Then we went to the local store and bought Oster A5 Golden with the larger blade and got the FFA sheep done but on the Shetland and Shetland crosses we can't get it to go. I will post pictures of our attempts IF I get over my embarrassment.

 

[Roving Jacobs]

I have the premier shears and I really like them. They're light and fit well into my small hands but powerful enough to do a small flock a day. I've done a bunch of different types of sheep from fine wools to suffolks and it handled all of them with ease. The trick is learning to adjust the tension right and keeping the cutter SHARP. If you have a metal cutter you need to switch it out every couple of sheep or at least wash the grease off with hot water if you aren't a pro at shearing and able to do it quickly. I vastly prefer the ceramic cutter and that can do dozens of sheep before needing to be changed and doesn't get hot.

Kellykidz, I'm guessing you either need a new comb or cutter to do the shetlands or the tension isn't quite right. If the equipment is dull it just pulls the wool and isn't any fun for anyone.