If the average weight of a sheep fleece is 3Kg, how much does it cost to shear and how much does it sell for?

Question

Wool is the GREEN alternative to man made fibres which are manufactured from NON-GREEN oil by products.

If you get caught in a fire, wool will protect you, because is doesn't melt and stick to your flesh like oil based fibres, in fact wool carbonises and forms a non-inflamable barrier to the flames.

Despite this, wool brings little return for a farmer, but just how little? Next time you buy a carpet and the salesman tells you that the dearest carpets are expensive because they are woven from pure wool, tell him what you have learned from the answers to this question. If you don't know the answer, an educated guess will do!

Answer 1

We used to raise sheep and did real well on them.  They sold in the market about as well as cattle or hogs, but the real bonus was when we got the wool check.  It was a time to celebrate at our house.  After a few years the wool check started getting smaller and smaller.  Soon it would barely pay for the shearing.  When it reached the point that it cost more to shear the sheep than the wool would bring, we had to get rid of our sheep.  I can't give you an exact figure but sheep have to be sheared and it costs more than the wool is worth.  You can always shear your own sheep but the wool still won't bring you much.

Answer 2

Price of wool really depends upon what it came off of.

The crimp and the type will really make the price.

Then you get into the color, the natural colored- black, sliver, brown, pure white, white.

You wont be selling the wool from say a Hampshire, but deff the wool off a Lincoln or border leicter

The cost of shearing can be a pair of $120 dollar clippers, a $20 blade, and some hard work.

You can pay someone 30 bucks a sheep to shear around where I live but it all depends.

Wool farming can bring in some amount of money but exactly how much depends on where you are and the time.

Pricing goes up and down up and down. Sometimes you spend more than you make.

Most people I know with wool sheep have them as a hobby farm.

Meat sheep are what goes in my area, but even then its just a hobby.

Answer 3

I don't think you could find out how much shearers charge unless you was a farmer. Shearers are from NZ or Australia and travel the world so it must cost a bit. I just had a quick look on the net and in 2005 sheep fleece sold for 50p per kilo.

Answer 4

Hi alot of the farmers I know shear their own sheep because they get such a poor return on the fleece. In the building trade sheep wool makes the most effective insulation but it is very expensive. Wool carpets, wool insulation and many other wool products seem to not bare any relation to the cost of wool from the farmer.

Answer 5

about a £1 to shear 10p for wool per sheep average