Jakoti Hand Shears Review

There are certain bits of farming I love and certain bits I hate. Dagging sheep is firmly in the "hate" camp but it's also a fairly essential job to do when it's needed! 

Dagging is the job of trimming around the sheep's bum to remove the muck that accumulates there. 

For years I've struggled with this job, using traditional "Double Bow" type shears. They never cut much, blunt too easily, hurt my hands (and my hands are fairly tough) and won't get through dried muck so you end up pulling that off first. Trouble is until you see something else you carry on with the way you were taught.

There must be an easier way...

Double bow traditional type shears

I've been thinking about investing in some cordless shears for a while as I used a friends once and they made the job take minutes rather than hours. Trouble is most start at around £200 and for 25 ewes it's hard to justify that cost on something that might not last that long (battery life etc).

So when looking for some shears online I read some forum posts and a few people on there recommended trying Jakoti Hand Shears before splashing the cash on a bigger systems. At around £25 - £30 I thought it was worth the gamble.

I dare you to hold a sheep in place, trim some muck from a tail and take a picture all at the same time...

When they turned up I got them straight out the packet and felt them, they certainly had a good quality feel about them, fitted really nice in my hand and not too heavy but had good balance. 

I think it's the first time I've ever looked forward to trimming mucky bums, but I was excited to try them out. I got the sheep in and made a V with a hurdle in the corner to help hold them while I gave them a hair cut. 

After I finished the first sheep I could have wept. 

Why hadn't I discovered these sooner? The abuse I'd given my hands over the years when I could have been using these! Last autumn my hands had bled from burst blisters after dagging 30 lambs. I felt a bit of a fool! 

It cut through everything easily, In fact it was so easy I was even making sure I cut both sides evenly so they looked nice. The daggings just fell to the floor! Dried muck or wet made no difference, it just cut through them easily. 

I felt like a hair dresser it was so easy. I almost made small talk about holiday plans and the weather...

Old type and new side by side

I also ordered the leather holster which is great as well. Rather than leaving the shears on top of a post and trying to reach them whilst holding a ewe in place, I always had them to hand! In fact I'm going to make some for the foot trimmers as well, I've always been a tool belt sort of man, no idea why I didn't think of this one sooner!

The shears are supposedly shelf sharpening and if you ever loose the spring they'll replace it free of charge. After trimming around 20 ewes I noticed no difference in the blade from the first cut so I'm hopeful they'll  keep their edge a long time, unlike the double bow ones that need an oil stone running up them half way through trimming a ewe!

I know this is a gushing review but I just had to share it so that anyone else out there who is still struggling with the traditional type hand shears can see there's another way.

If you trim sheep by hand then buy these shears!


*Please note that this post is in no way sponsored by Jakoti, I brought the shears with my own money, but have fallen in love with them and needed to share this product with you all!