Farmers are warning of a welfare crisis in sheep flocks this summer because of a shortage of shearers.

They say millions of animals will have to carry heavy fleeces throughout the hottest months of the year – and some may not even get sheared at all.

The country is facing a potential shortage of professional shearers from Australia and New Zealand, who have traditionally supplied around a quarter of the workforce for the shearing season.

Shearing gangs have been descending on the country for decades providing a vast army of experts which would be hard to muster from British farm workers.

But because of changes to the way permits are being granted, only one Southern Hemisphere shearer is known to have been granted permission to enter the country so far. About 500 shearers work in the UK every summer and most would normally have now made arrangements for the trip. But shearing contractors – who traditionally hire hundreds of Australian and New Zealand shearers each summer – say a new biometric identity card system introduced by the Government for foreign workers looks like keeping the workforce away from the UK.

The cards cost £200 each but to get one workers have to travel personally to Canberra for fingerprinting and photographic identity details.

Chairman of the British Wool Marketing Board East Sussex farmer Frank Langrish, says the situation is "ridiculous" and poses a serious welfare issue for British producers.

"The UK sheep sector relies on the shearing undertaken by these very skilled gangs from the southern hemisphere.

"At a conservative estimate they shear around five million sheep in the UK.

"If they don't arrive in the UK in the coming weeks we are facing a very serious welfare situation for our flocks," he said.

Shearing contractor Rob Morris shears about 35,000 sheep each summer himself and employs New Zealand shearers for the season.

"This is bureaucracy taken to the extreme and will mean millions of our sheep will suffer this summer," he said.

"We just don't have the skilled labour force in sufficient numbers in the UK to get all our sheep sheared. A lot would normally come to the UK straight from contract shearing work in the USA and Italy, but now the Government says they must first return home to the southern hemisphere to undertake the biometric card formalities.

"We are urging all farmers to put pressure on their MPs so that we can avoid a major livestock catastrophe this summer."