Professional sheep shearers like Frank Schwartz can remove sheep fl eece in one piece. The longer the wool, the easier it is to produce an intact fl eece. Photos by Jocelyn Pedersen
SHEAR Beauty O By Jocelyn Pedersen
klahoma is known for being cat- tle and horse country, however a lesser-known Oklahoma livestock is sheep. Not as numerous as they once were, sheep, especially show sheep, are a money-making commodity. These wooly critters have to be shorn and there are several professional shearers in Oklahoma who make the cut. Paul Wolf, a Stillwater, Okla., resident and
Central Electric Cooperative (CEC) mem- ber, is a self-proclaimed small-time shearer who started shearing when he was 17 years old and continued for over 40 years. Although he went to Texas and Wyoming for a short stint, he mainly sheared in Oklahoma, working mostly on the weekends. Having learned to shear at a Sunbeam-sponsored school in Okmulgee, Okla., Wolf added that in the ’50s and ’60s, he stayed pretty busy in the spring.
“One time I took 300 and I never wanted to do that again,” Wolf said. “I could do about 50-60 sheep in a day. It’s like anything else. If you like sheep you like them. If you don’t, you hate them.” Sheep used to be more prevalent in Oklahoma, but Wolf said he doesn’t
know of many small fl ocks anymore since even the purebred shepherds need 100 head to make any money. Carl Mize, an Oklahoma Electric Cooperative member who lives in Slaughterville, Okla., has a fl ock of about 30. He doesn’t shear his sheep himself. Instead, he hires Frank Schwartz, a professional shearer in Orlando, Okla., who has been shearing for 40 years. Schwartz, a member of CEC, started shearing in 1977 when he worked
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on a sheep farm and saw an opportunity. He said there are various shearing styles, but he uses the Australian method, which he maintains is the “key to getting the maximum amount of work with the minimum amount of effort.” Having been to a variety of shearing schools,
Sam and Frank Schwartz hold shears they use to shear sheep at their farm in Orlando, Okla.
Schwartz went to New Zealand where one man sheared 800 sheep in a day. Schwartz has traveled to New Mexico, Texas, Kansas and Colorado to shear commercially. One year he sheared in 11 different states. Although he still travels to shear larger fl ocks, he now stays mostly in Oklahoma where he has become a club lamb shearer serving 4-H and FFA members. The new shearing model for which progressive-thinking farmers have pro- vided positive feedback, is to have farmers with smaller fl ocks bring their sheep to him; this cuts down on loading equipment, traveling and set- ting up before he can begin. Schwartz shears 10
to 12 sheep per hour and maintains he’s doing well when he shears 100 in a day. Typically, the shearing season is April through May, but some farmers prefer to have their sheep shorn early in the year before lambing. Shearing nearly year-round keeps Schwartz, and his two sons who shear alongside him, pretty busy
“Sometimes it can be diffi cult when the sheep don’t cooperate. Most don’t fi ght too much,” Frank’s son, Sam Schwartz who started shearing at age 16, said, explaining that sheep are shorn in a sitting position. “Most of the time, they just sit there.” Schwartz places the wool, weighing in at 10,000 pounds per year, into a huge burlap bag and sells it to a bulk-wool purchaser in South Dakota. “I’m really proud that both of my boys shear,” Frank Scwartz said. “They won’t shear for a living, but shearing will help pay for college.”
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