The Learning Centre

Shearing

Sheep need shearing to make them feel cooler in the summer
Shearing does not hurt the sheep
At our events you can feel the fleece - what does it feel like? Would you like a jumper made from it?
You can smell the fleece - what does it smell like?
The strong smell and greasy feel is from an oil called "lanolin" which helps the sheep stay dry and the ram (daddy sheep) also uses it as a scent to attract his girlfriends
You can try carding! Take a small piece of fleece and put it between 2 brushes
Pull the brushes away from each other. Repeat several times - the wool should all be lying the same way
The wool is then ready to be rolled up so it can be spun

Did You Know...?

A chicken will lay eggs whether or not a cockerel is around
Chicken eggs come in all different shapes
Chicken eggs come in all different colours
Chicken eggs come in all different sizes
Eggs are a great source of protein
A chicken does not fly
A chicken will occasionally go "broody" - it will want to sit in the nest box all the time. However it may not want to stay long enough to hatch out any eggs.
A cockerel must be around for eggs to be fertile - and for there to be a chance of any chicks hatching
A chicken must sit on fertilised eggs for 21 days for them to hatch.
Keeping the eggs warm by sitting on them (or using a special machine called an incubator) is called incubation.
Duck eggs take 28 days to incubate

Can you think of any other uses?