--- title: Shaun the Sheep Shorn and Did Not Break Woolly Record description: Sheep that could have 55 pounds of wool stuns farmers in Tasmania. canonical: https://time.com/3181838/woolliest-sheep/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-26T15:57:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:48:29.241Z og:title: The Sheer Amount of Wool on This Sheep Baaa-ffles Farmers og:description: Sheep that could have 55 pounds of wool stuns farmers in Tasmania. og:url: https://time.com/3181838/woolliest-sheep/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Sheer Amount of Wool on This Sheep Baaa-ffles Farmers twitter:description: Sheep that could have 55 pounds of wool stuns farmers in Tasmania. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The Sheer Amount of Wool on This Sheep Baaa-ffles Farmers > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=3fb274c6-6746-49b6-b8f6-e266e48c5a27&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Aug 26, 2014 3:57 PM UTC by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Aug 26, 2014 3:57 PM UTC Two Tasmanian farmers were in for a surprise Sunday when a wild, impossibly fleecy sheep wandered onto their land. His name is Shaun, and after going six years without a haircut, they think he could be a contender for a world’s wooliest sheep record. “I just couldn’t believe it, I just could not believe a sheep could have so much wool,” Netty Hazell, one of the farmers, [told Australian Broadcasting Corporation](http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-25/tasmanian-farmers-believe-they-have-found-worlds-woolliest-sheep/5695048). Netty and Peter Hazell estimate that Shaun has been lumbering around with at least 20 kilograms (about 55 pounds) of fleece. They plan to shear him soon to see if he is, in fact, even woolier than [the late Shrek](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13680884), that was found hiding in caves in New Zealand in 2004 and yielded 27 kilograms of fleece (about 59 pounds). The competition is sure to be a close shave.  Shrek the merino sheep waits in a pen as a large crowd gathers before a charity function in Cromwell, New Zealand, April 28, 2004. Simon Baker SB/CP – Reuters **Update on August 28, 2014**: Shaun has been shorn! Turns out he was carrying 23 kilograms (about 51 pounds) of wool, 4 kilograms less than Shrek: ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3181838/woolliest-sheep/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3181838/woolliest-sheep/"},"headline":"The Sheer Amount of Wool on This Sheep Baaa-ffles Farmers","datePublished":"2014-08-26T15:57:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:48:29.241Z","description":"Sheep that could have 55 pounds of wool stuns farmers in Tasmania.","url":"https://time.com/3181838/woolliest-sheep/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3181838/woolliest-sheep/","name":"The Sheer Amount of Wool on This Sheep Baaa-ffles Farmers"}}]}] ```