Has there ever been a time when you drive past a farm and see some sheep out grazing but you see they absolutely Need to be groomed and cared for. Just imagine being the owner of those sheep, those poor things, sheep need to be paid attention to just as much as other farm animals especially their wool. They have specific grooming steps that need to be followed to ensure a sheep's happiness, comfort, and no stress. In this article I will be talking about the basic steps to groom sheep that are just on the farm and for show, the steps on how to wash either of those types of sheep, and the supplies needed. 

As I said before if sheep aren’t groomed and cared for for a long period of time, that could result badly for the sheep and stress it out. So here are steps to prevent those things. Now before you do anything you need to fit the sheep. Fitting is important because you’ll shear the sheep to what shape you have fit for it. According to an article back in 2017 from Gone Outdoors, sheep ideally have a muscular, not fat body shape and it’s recommended to follow that ‘standard’. When you’re done fitting the sheep then you can begin to wash your sheep. Washing the sheep before shearing is required because the dirt in their fleece can get stuck and clog up your clippers. You’ll want to do all this with only a few weeks between each wash so the growth of the fleece isn’t out of control. But if you’re grooming a sheep for a show then you’ll want to shear it two weeks before the show so the fleece can grow nicely. 

Going back to the topic of washing before shearing, which is required,  you’ll want to just scrub your sheep with livestock soap and then thoroughly rinse with a hose. For drying there's a number of things you could do like using a livestock blower, hair dryer, or a towel. Many sheep owners favor the livestock blower because that gives the best results but all of them do the job. If your sheep is going into the show, none of this information on how to wash and dry your sheep varies. Once the sheep is all dry it will be ready to go into the shearing stand to get all cleaned up. 

Many think the supplies for grooming a sheep are obvious and self explanatory but many people leave out important tools. The most important ones are going to be good and quality clippers and combs for your sheep. The other tools are important but these are the big known ones so I might as well mention them already. For washing your sheep you’ll need a towel/rag, livestock soap- any can work, sponges, and a towel for drying after. For shearing you’ll need hoof trimmers, hand shears, curry comb, wool cards, and a rope. For new sheep it can be hard to keep them in one spot so a rope is going to be required and will be your best friend during every shearing session. 

In Conclusion, sheep care is definitely a bigger deal than many may think. Majority of the supplies listed a lot of people probably didn’t know were required because when you think it's time to shear a sheep many default to thinking you only need shears. But when really there are many more steps to the process which I hope this can help anybody who is unclear about anything they need or don’t need. Neglecting sheep and their needs has become more of a problem lately than not and we can’t just sweep it under the rug to forget about, so I hope this article helps anybody on the fence or confused.