Shearing is a necessary welfare management procedure for domesticated sheep with continuously growing wool, but the experience can cause significant stress and injury when performed poorly or without appropriate handling.
Shearing welfare depends enormously on shearer skill, handling system design, and post-shearing management. Poorly performed shearing causes lacerations, bruising from rough handling, and prolonged restraint that causes significant distress. Sheep are prey animals with strong fear responses to unfamiliar situations, confinement, and physical handling; minimising the duration and intensity of these experiences through skilled technique and good race design is important. The thermal welfare of freshly shorn sheep is particularly important in spring when shearing often coincides with variable weather — adequate shelter or delayed shearing for cold forecasts prevents hypothermia. Positive reinforcement approaches to sheep handling, while less established than in other species, can reduce fear responses to routine procedures over time.