Shearing Our Flock of Farmyard Sheep

Originally posted April 2020.

April is the time of year when we’d typically be celebrating all things sheep with you — families, teachers, students, and fellow farmers. However, since our programming is currently put on hold and our barns are closed to the public, we decided to bring our annual “Sheep and Shear Delights” main event — shearing with professional shearer Mary Lake — to you!

Farm work is going on as planned, and the Children’s Farmyard flock still needs to get their yearly haircut (our larger herd that lives at the Dairy and out on pasture gets shorn in February). Watch below to see shearing in action and learn about the equipment and process:

As you’re learning at home, or sharing through your virtual classroom, here are some additional resources and activities to explore further:

• Sheep to Shawl Activity Cards: See if you can figure out how to get from a white, woolly sheep to a beautiful blue wool sweater! You can check your answers with the provided answer key.
• Dress Up a Sheep: With some items you probably already have in your home (if not, you can get creative with what is on hand!), dress up with some sheep props and explore the parts of a sheep.
• See how many things you can find in your house that come from sheep: like a wool sweater, or sheep’s milk cheese, or yarn.
• Book suggestions from our Education Team:
  • Farmer Brown Shears His Sheep: A Yarn About Wool by Teri Sloat
  • Charlie Needs A Cloak by Tomie dePaola
  • Sheep to Sweater from Lerner Publishing Group
  • Feeding The Sheep by Leda Schubert