Sheep do not shed, in order for them to get rid of their wool, they need to be shorn. as sheep are adapted for colder weather climates they will not shed their wool.. Sheep do not shed, in order for them to get rid of their wool, they need to be shorn. as sheep are adapted for colder weather climates they will not shed their wool.. The more ancient species of sheep like the shetland, soay etc do shed their fleeces naturally and humans would just go around picking up the wool but once man started to selectively breed sheep for their fleeces they lost the ability to shed naturally and had to be shorn..
Sheep are sheared in the spring, just before they would naturally shed their winter coats. because shearing too late would mean a loss of wool, most sheep are sheared while it is still too cold. an estimated one million sheep die every year of exposure after premature shearing.. Some races of sheep have retained their primitive capability of spontaneously shedding their wool once a year. this genetic feature was bred out of sheep races with softer wool because it created a weak spot throughout the entire fleece if the sheep was shorn a few weeks after it would have shed.. Wild sheep shed their coats every year, but humans have bred the animals to keep growing in order to increase wool production. merino wool is common in high-end clothing. hilariously humongous sheep, in other words, are the result of people tinkering with animal evolution..
