You may be able to get more bang for your buck than you bargained for with your sheep. When sheep are sheared every spring, wool has to go somewhere - you might as well try to sell it. There are plenty of wool crafters and fiber manufacturers looking for good-quality fleece.
You want to keep as much vegetable matter, such as hay, straw, and grass out of the fibers as possible. Also trim off fleece stained with manure.
Wool buyers are looking for fleeces that are approximately 3 to 3.5 inches long. That's called "staple length," and it's what the commercial machinery and factories are made to work with.
Make sure the wool is dry when it's sheared and when it goes into the bag. Don't store store wool in a black garbage bag because the wool will sweat. Burlap and specialty plastic bags developed for the wool industry are preferred.
Wool is graded and priced per pound, depending on the quality of the fiber and the animal it comes from. Black-face breeds bring less money from commercial sources because they usually have black fiber in their wool. Black fiber does not take dye, so there is a deduction in the U.S. 35- to 45-cent range. White-face breeds with a medium white-face wool get 60 to 65 cents a pound. Rambouillets and Merinos with the high-quality fine wool will bring in $1.25 or more.
Handspinners and knitters are a specialty market for your wool, especially if you have unusual breeds of sheep and varied-color fleeces. Selling your wool on-farm or at a fiber-related show allows you to market directly to individuals who are looking for specialty fleeces. Your sheep shearer may also be a good source of information on who's buying wool in your area.
Sheep (at least my Shetlands) are funny little creatures — they will fight me when I catch them and bring them to the shearing stand, fight when I put their head in the chin rest, then stand (more or less) still for the shearing process. I have a few that will get fussy, but it must feel good to have that 3-5” of wool removed because they settle down once they realize this isn’t going to hurt. Shearing isn’t easy work, but it gives me some “one on one” time
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