Clipper: Get the Fleece Off Without Your Arm Going to Sleep

Clipper: The Right Machine for Your Flock

Shearing is usually done once a year in spring, often in May. How you go about it depends above all on numbers. We stock 19 machines from Heiniger, Aesculap, Kerbl, Wahl and Wellington, from compact hand shears through machines of 200 to 400 watts up to the shearing plant with a flexible drive shaft for long runs.

Handpiece, shearing plant or hand shears

With a shearing plant the motor hangs from the ceiling or the wall and the power reaches the handpiece through a flexible drive shaft. Only a little weight sits in your hand, and that is exactly what counts when thirty animals come through one after another. The Heiniger ONE runs single speed at 300 watts, the Heiniger EVO at three speeds, and the Wellington Worm-Drive comes with a matching handpiece available separately. The machine with an integrated handpiece is the flexible option: nothing to hang up, usable anywhere, but the full weight rests in your hand. For single animals, tidying up around the head or near the feet, hand shears stay unbeatable, available in the heart shape at 31 centimetres and in a compact, wide toothed version.

Watts, speeds and staying power

The wattage tells you how long a machine pulls through without warming up or bogging down in a dense fleece. At 200 watts, as on the Kerbl FarmClipper4 or the Heiniger XPERT 1-Speed, you get on fine with a few animals. Anyone shearing larger groups regularly is better served by 250 to 400 watts, for instance the Kerbl Constanta4 at 400 watts or the Wahl Fusion at 360 watts with two settings. Multi speed machines let you pick the pace: slow for wet or matted wool, faster for a normal run. Low vibration models such as the Heiniger XPERT 2-Speed make themselves felt once you work for longer.

Frequently asked questions

When does a shearing plant pay off?
As soon as you shear larger groups regularly. The handpiece on the flexible shaft weighs little, so the arm tires far more slowly.

How many watts do I need?
For a few animals 200 watts is enough. With larger flocks or dense fleece, 250 to 400 watts is the safe choice.

When are sheep shorn?
Usually once a year in spring. With ewes the date before lambing pays off, because the lambs then find the udder more easily.