When he’s in Ohio, Aaron Kaufman works under the company he and his former wife, Michelle, started several year’s ago, The Sheep Shearers Inc. He enjoys doing the small shearing jobs in Ohio that nobody else wants to do. Here, he’s pictured working on the farm of Jeff and Diana Coons near West Mansfield in mid April.

Aaron Kaufman was born in Bellefontaine, but his family moved to California for work when he was a young boy. He grew up in famous Orange County, but these days, his time is spent in a much different world.

The 29-year-old travels the country shearing sheep. It’s an occupation Kaufman never imagined he’d be doing just four years ago.

"I went back to Orange County not too long ago to visit a couple friends I hadn’t seen since high school, and they asked, ‘What is the quarterback of our football team doing shearing sheep?’" Kaufman said. "The people who live where I grew up, they have no idea what the rest of the world is about. They haven’t seen some of the beautiful countryside I’ve seen. Some of the nicest people I’ve ever met are sheep people."

He also has never shied away from hard work. The harder the work, the better is his opinion.

"I love working with animals. I love getting dirty. And, I love working hard and being able to see when I’m finished the impact I’ve had, not just on the animals but the people I’m working with," Kaufman said.

How it all came about is an interesting story.

While Kaufman grew up in California, all his extended family still lived in Ohio, so he was back in the Buckeye State a lot. After attending college in Ohio, he returned to California, but met his eventual wife, Michelle, while visiting family here.

"My grandparents live in Bellefontaine and she lived in Kenton, and we just kind of ran into each other," Kaufman said.

He was introduced to shearing through his former wife and her family, who have a strong legacy as excellent sheep shearers. His wife’s grandfather, Eugene Haudenschield, has shorn for more than 50 years, her uncles, Chuck and Donnie Haudenschield, are experts themselves, and Michelle knows how to handle the shears as well.

"It’s just something in the blood with that family," Kaufman said. "They know sheep and they know hard work better than anyone I’ve ever met."

While the couple lived in California after their marriage, Kaufman got to shear his first sheep on a return trip to Ohio.


"We were back for Thanksgiving and her uncle asked if I wanted to shear a sheep," he said. "I said sure, why not, I’m never going to do this again."

The experience was fun, but Kaufman didn’t think anything else of it. But during Christmas in 2004, Michele was talking to her family about shearing, and they asked if she and Aaron would be interested in moving back to Ohio and getting into shearing with the family’s help. They did some budgeting and it looked like it could work, so in June 2005 the couple moved back to Ohio and established their business, The Sheep Shearers Inc.

"I still had only shorn that one sheep prior to coming back here to do it for a living," Kaufman said.

Before leaving California, they had established a Web site, thesheepshearers.com, and that’s how they got their first Ohio job, although most of their work came through Michelle’s family. The Haudenschields taught Kaufman proper shearing techniques and the importance of doing a good job.

"They instilled a lot of the pride qualities I have in my work — making sure I do a good job and trying not to cut the sheep," Kaufman said. "So the legacy I’m running on has been around a long time."

Initially, it took him 20 to 30 minutes to shear one sheep.

"It was about two months before I got one under 20 minutes, and I had to go out and celebrate," he said. "I look back at those days and laugh. I’ve come a long way and had a lot of excellent, excellent training."

The winter of 2005, Aaron and Michelle traveled to New Zealand for a month to shear. They also attended a shearing school while there to refine their skills.

But once they returned to Ohio, things started to go bad. Aaron got homesick, was tired of Ohio weather and things started to drag him down. He and Michelle eventually separated. Aaron returned to California and "got a real job," while Michelle went on shearing.

"Then after about six months, I got a couple side jobs shearing and fell back in love with it again," Kaufman said. "Last year was my first full year shearing."

During that time, he got training from two other expert shearers who really helped polish his skills. Kaufman met them at shearing contests. Loren Opstedahl of South Dakota helped improve his speed, and Gavin McCarow of Wisconsin taught him how to be smoother and lengthen out his shearing strokes.

"Watching Loren, when he’s finished, you’re like, ‘Did he just do that in a minute and a half?’" Kaufman said. "He takes the fewest strokes of anyone I’ve ever seen."

He now works regularly with both men. He lives in Rapid City, S.D., and works with a crew of four shearers through a contractor. The crew typically shears a flock of 300 to 800 head each day from the fall through the spring.

"I’m in a good position to be able to learn from the people I work around," Kaufman said. "Sometimes you stop and watch them shear a sheep to see how they handle spots that you have trouble with."

During the summer, Kaufman usually bounces around feedlots out West and makes several return trips to Ohio to shear small flocks through The Sheep Shearers business. He also has regular customers in Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky and is working on Tennessee. He’s sheared sheep in Illinois, Iowa, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Wisconsin. Eventually, he figures he’ll shear sheep in every state.

"I’m in a unique position now where I could make a phone call and within two weeks be anywhere in the world with this job," he said.

While he makes his living shearing large flocks, Kaufman enjoys working with the small flocks that most other shearers don’t want to mess with.

"I’m losing a lot of money being here in Ohio doing these jobs, but I like the people," he said. "For me, coming back here and doing these jobs is not a business decision, it’s personal. God put me on Earth to serve people, especially doing things most people don’t want to do. I like doing these small jobs because I get to visit with the people. If it’s a big job with 1,000 head, they just set you up in the barn and say, ‘See you later.’"

About a year ago he thought about giving up on shearing
again. But encouragement from his family helped him fight through the learning process and decide to give it a real go and see if he could do it.

Recently, during a shearing trip in Wadsworth, Ohio, he was surprised when a job that was supposed to involve 80 sheep ended up being 120. He started at noon and was finished by 7 p.m.

"I called my dad and reminded him how 120 sheep would have taken Michelle and I three days to do," Kaufman said. "If it wasn’t for the people and family sticking behind me, I’d never been able to stick this out."

What started out being hard work is now fun.

"Not long ago, I was sitting and joking with the guys I shear with in South Dakota, and one of the guys said, "Is this really what we get paid to do? Sit around and joke all day, get a workout, and get a paycheck at the end of the day?" Kaufman said.

Last year, Kaufman shore 11,976 sheep. By mid April of this year, he’d already done nearly 6,000. During the summer, he typically shears six days a week and is off on Sundays. From the end of fall through early spring, the job is pretty much seven days a week. The longest stretch he worked last year was 18 straight days. This year, he’s already done 26 straight at one point.

"Gene (Haudenschield) told me you’re not really a sheep shearer until you’ve shorn 10,000 sheep, and I sent him a picture last year of my 10,000th sheep," Kaufman said.

The most ewes he’s tallied in one day was 146, and his best lamb count is 188, although he averages about 120 sheep a day in about six hours of work. He shears about 18 to 20 ewes per hour and about 25 lambs. It takes about 30 minutes to setup and about 20 minutes to tear down.
Kaufman likes starting with the biggest sheep.

"I say bring the biggest, scariest ones out first and get them out of the way, and I’ll just coast the rest of the day," he said. "The challenge is getting in good enough shape to be able to do it every day. Still after the first 10 my back hurts, but you push through the wall and coast after that. Last year in South Dakota, I was the last one to get started everyday, and now I’m the first one to tip one out of the chute and get rolling."

It’s a constant learning process.

"The vast majority of this job is just finesse," Kaufman said. "It’s knowing how to handle the sheep and letting the sheep know that you’re the one who’s in control. It’s a dying art, and nobody wants to do it anymore, but if you pay your dues and get good enough at it, you can make a living and take care of your family at the same time."

While the travel can be long and the days can be hard and lonely, Kaufman is enjoying what he’s doing and thoughts of quitting are now the furthest from his mind.

"The places I’ve seen are gorgeous and the people I work with are great, so I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world," he said. "At the end of the day I’m tired and I feel great, and there’s a check in my hand, and there aren’t too many jobs in the world that can say that."

For more information, visit thesheepshearers.com or call The Sheep Shearers at 419-788-3131.

(Click HERE to read the Mid-May Livestock Section.)