Who wants a free haircut Saturday at Lilburn's Yellow River Game Ranch? Back up people, the ewes have it.

This hair-raising event is reserved for the sheep, which are ready to shed their soft, fluffy coats in time for summer.

Vino Wong/AJC (ENLARGE)

The Yellow River Game Ranch will demonstrate sheep shearing on it's mile-long trail on 24 wooded acres this weekend.

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Residents, however, are encouraged to come watch the fleece fly as a professional sheep shearer works his magic.

There will also be demonstrations on a spinning wheel showing how the fleece is meticulously cleaned, lined up and fed into the spinner. The fleece then twists and forms strands of wool.

Most of the wool will be a milky-color although a few of the sheep have coats that are coal, charcoal or shades of brown.

The sheep are a tad bit hesitant of the shearing, especially the ewes, ranch owner Art Rilling, 79, said.

That's because they lose their smell when they are first sheared, making it hard for their babies to recognize them. The lambs will seem lost for a few days before reconnecting with their re-styled mothers, Rilling said.

Initially, the rams aren't too happy about losing their thick fleece either. Both the males and females are a tad bit vain and feel less attractive.

As dozens of school children dropped in for field trips Wednesday, the sheep were in fine form, crawling all over themselves in an attempt to reach the children, who held out corn kernels and crackers.

A chorus of "bah, bahs" could be heard for quite a distance.

But after Saturday, the flock will retreat a bit until all of the sheep adjust to their new looks, Rilling said.

They don't realize that the trim will help keep them cooler in the scorching Georgia sun this summer, he said.

The sheep will get the spotlight Saturday, but there are many other reasons to visit the ranch.

Teacher Allison Tollman herded her own flock of students from Atlanta's Grove Park Elementary School through the park during a field trip Wednesday. She said the kids loved the chance to leave the city behind and visit this patch of wilderness, where they giggled as they fed deer and goats right out of their hands.

"They had a great time," she said. "My kids have been studying animals all year."

A couple of her first-graders astutely noticed that the Great Horned owl was awake, rotating his head around like a puppet. "Isn't he supposed to be asleep?" they asked their teacher, who had recently taught them about nocturnal creatures of the night.

Tollman said she couldn't really give them an answer, but she was delighted by the question: "I thought, 'Oh, they're learning!'''

Rilling said he loves the chance to educate children, which is why he has kept up the ranch for 46 years, first in Stone Mountain and now in Lilburn. He said he loves to watch children react to the animals.

"It's real gratifying," he said. "They get here and back up with fear. But within about 10 minutes, they've got their arm around the animal's neck."

Rilling's face lights up when he shows off his friends, including a jovial group of Georgia black bears, an enormous pink pig, peacocks, rowdy roosters, coyotes and a mountain lion.