Sheep Shearing Demonstrations

The Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival is pleased to have Emily Chamelin Hickman of Westminster, Maryland as our sheep shearing demonstrator.
Emily is a full time machine shearer who grew up in Carroll County, Maryland. Her first introduction to sheep was through 4-H and her shearing education began right here as well, having attended the Maryland Shearing School. Emily shears over 5,000 sheep in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Delaware each spring and travels throughout the remainder of the year to the Midwest and overseas to continue to pursue work and adventure opportunities that shearing can provide. She also teaches at shearing schools all over the USA as well as competes in shearing competitions both here and abroad.
Emily and her husband, Kevin Hickman, have over 50 years of shearing experience between them and enjoy working for the shepherds in the region. They also operate as wool/fiber buyers and source wool for a variety of craft and yarn businesses.
There are many highly skilled and talented shearers working in the Mid-Atlantic region and all over the USA. We are always excited to spotlight some of the amazing shearers who make the journey to the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, and hope to have some new faces hop up on stage to help demonstrate the skill and finesse required to shear sheep for our agricultural community.
There will be a general discussion of sheep, wool, and sheep handling. Please drop by to enjoy our show and ask questions.