QUEENS, N.Y. (PIX11) – The weather is warming up, which means it’s almost time for the sheep at Queens County Farm Museum to get their much-needed, yearly haircut.
The 12th annual Sheep Shearing Festival is on Saturday and it’s the only event of its kind in New York City. Visitors can watch the sheep and lamb get their annual springtime haircuts.
Hayden Cubas is the director of marketing and external affairs at the farm.
“Sheep Shearing Festival really honors an aspect of animal husbandry that goes back thousands and thousands of years,” Cubas said. “A sheep grows its wool continuously, so we, really, as humans are responsible for taking care of them.”
Just like planting and harvesting fields, sheep shearing is an important part of the farm life cycle. It keeps the animals cooler during the summer months.
“Imagine if you had to wear your wool coat all summer,” Cubas said. “That wouldn’t be very fun for us and it’s not very fun for the sheep either.”
It also keeps them mobile because they’re not carrying that extra weight and it limits them from carrying pests and diseases.
The wool is then sent upstate to be cleaned and naturally dyed for yarn which is sold in the farm store.
“What’s greater than being able to knit a scarf and then come to the farm that your wool came from?” Cubas asked.
Visitors will also be able to say hello to the other farm animals and see what the 47-acre historic farm has to offer. It’s been in operation since 1697 and is the only farm in New York City with livestock.
For tickets, head to the farm’s website here.
