In the experimental livestock farm "Askaniye" from the Kherson region, it is hot time: about three thousand fine-fleeced sheep are sheared here, preparing them for the summer.

To shear such a quantity of sheep, the farm invites three professional shears, which charge UAH 45 per animal for their services.

From one sheep receive up to 6.7 kg of wool. This year the sheep has a good, clean coat, since last year was arid and the fleece did not have a lot of weeds and thorns. Such a fleece can be called golden. That's just profitable to sell it is not easy.

On the territory of Ukraine, only two enterprises buy sheep wool - in Chernihiv and Kharkov. Due to low demand, purchase prices for goods are small and they start from 25 UAH / kg.

Askaniye farm is preparing to sell a large batch of wool weighing 12 tons, which allows it to be sold at a price of 50 UAH / kg for resale abroad. But even such a price does not reach the cost of wool. The price of fleece should be at least 4-5 times higher. The same situation was with lamb: for 1 kg of live weight more than 34 UAH they don’t give, although its cost starts from 68 UAH, says Viktor Naidyonov, director of the GP “Askaniye”.

At the same time, for 1 kg of unwashed sheep wool in the world market, they pay from 2.5 to 12 US dollars, depending on the quality and volume of the batch. Sheep wool from New Zealand is considered the best.

In the southern regions of Ukraine, sheep breeding is almost not developed. In the best case, herds consist of several dozen animals. Only in the experimental farm "Askaniye" a livestock of sheep, numbering about three thousand heads, is grown.