Sheep grow thick wool coats which keep them warm and cosy in the winter. But in the summer they can get too hot unless their wool is shorn off.
Dartmoor farmers go out to gather in their sheep off the moor each summer. At Tor Royal we have several trusty sheepdogs that help us.
Once the sheep have been collected together and brought down to the farmyard it’s time for them to have their wool cut off. This is called shearing and it is completely painless for the sheep. It’s just the same as when we have our hair cut.
Farmers can hire professional sheep shearers to do the shearing, or they can do it themselves. At Tor Royal we do a bit of both.
Shearing is very hard work and it can be very hot too! The shearers hold each sheep still and then carefully cut its wool. Experienced shearers can do this very quickly and can shear hundreds of sheep in one day.
Historically sheep wool was a very valuable commodity and it was one of the main industries in Devon, making our county famous and rich. Sadly nowadays wool is almost worthless so we shear the sheep to make them comfortable in the hot weather but we don’t make any money from selling their wool.
See how we gather our sheep off the moor in this video: https://youtu.be/OsLx7XolIf8
On The Farm | Tor Royal Farm | A Dartmoor Hill Farm
