The program starts off on Monday morning, taking you through the essential work health and safety processes to begin with. One complete, you’ll be introduced to all the gear and bits of equipment you’ll need to get familiar with in this industry

You’ll learn about grind combs and cutters for machine shearing, how to load up a handpiece and downtube, how to sharpen the blades and maintain your equipment properly, ensuring a smooth run ahead when you actually start shearing.

Next you’ll learn how to handle a sheep, how to ‘catch-and-drag’ a sheep from the pen to your shearing station where you’ll learn about crutching - the process of shearing around the tail and between the rear legs of a sheep, which prevents soiling of the wool, improves hygiene and prevents flystrike.

After lunch you’ll start to shear your first sheep, beginning with the belly to get you used to the process, then moving onto the first hindleg and undermine before wrapping up your first day!

Starting Tuesday morning you’re straight into shearing again, and Josh will show you how to approach necks, long blows, the last shoulder and the last side, and then from here on in it’s practice, practice, practice. Wednesday you’ll focus on crutching, by Thursday you’ll be shearing a full sheep on your own, and you’ll keep going until Friday afternoon, when you’ll finish no doubt exhausted from all the activity.

What to Bring

Sheep shearing is a fairly intensive activity, so make sure you wear long trousers and enclosed shoes. You’ll also need to bring your lunch, water and snacks for each day, and a towel as you’re probably going to work up a sweat, no matter what the weather’s doing.

Achievement & Certificate

By the end of the week you’ll be able to undertake basic shearing and crutching, and you’ll receive a ‘Novice Statement of Attainment in Shearing’ from the Australian Agricultural Centre.

Instructor

Josh Clayton
Josh has been shearing sheep for 20 years, and is one of Australian Wool Innovation’s most experienced shearers. He’s also officially one of Australia’s fastest Merino shearers, having shearing 454 Merino Ewes in a world record attempt in 2019.