am I supposed to shear Jan lambs now, for summer heat?

[patandchickens]

This came up in my "bad haircut" thread, but by the time I'd asked it the thread had sort of wandered off and was 'going to sleep' so I'm going to ask it again as a separate question here.

From a comment about the importance of shearing for heat-tolerance in summertime, now I am feeling insecure about whether I correctly understand what to do. I'd thought you only shear *grown* sheep, but I've got these two January dairybred lambs who have a fair growth of wool on 'em, like probably 1-1.5" of fleece. Am I supposed to be shearing them too?

Just checking,

Pat

 

[aggieterpkatie]

It's up to you. Most wool producers don't shear lambs, most meat producers do. They grow faster if they're sheared, but they won't be as hot as an adult with a full year's fleece.