What does the shepherd trade?

The shepherd buys wool and dye for emeralds, and sells shears, colored wool, carpet, beds, banners, and paintings. It is the only profession built entirely around the game's dye and wool economy.

What workstation turns a villager into a shepherd?

A loom placed near an unemployed villager assigns the shepherd job. Break the loom and the villager drops the job and goes back to being jobless.

Does the shepherd buy every wool color?

No. At Novice it only ever offers 4 fixed wool colors out of the 5 possible offers that tier can roll, and any one villager only shows 2 of them at once. Dye buying opens up from Apprentice onward and covers the rest.

Why does one shepherd sell different items than another?

Each tier above Novice draws its visible offers from a much larger hidden pool, so two villagers at the same tier can show completely different trades. Curing a zombie villager or trading to trigger a reset reshuffles which offers are showing, not just their color.

Does paying for a specific dye color change what wool or carpet I get back?

No. The colors of sold wool, carpet, beds, and banners are rolled independently on each purchase, regardless of which dye color you sold the villager. There is no way to lock in a specific output color through the trade itself.

How many levels does it take to unlock every shepherd trade?

Five, from Novice to Master. Each level after the first needs the villager to successfully complete trades to earn enough trading experience before it levels up and reveals its next tier of offers.

What is the fastest way to make emeralds from a shepherd?

Trade whatever wool or dye color the villager is actually offering rather than farming a specific one. At the lowest tier, 18 white wool nets 1 emerald, and every wool color trade in that tier pays the same rate, so color is not worth being picky about early on.

What is the best item a shepherd sells?

The banner sale at Expert, 3 emeralds for one, is the most expensive single-item trade this profession offers. The Master trade is cheaper per item but delivers 3 paintings at once.

Can I still get shears from a high-level shepherd?

Shears are a Novice trade specifically, costing 2 emeralds. Leveling the villager up does not remove earlier trades, but it does add them to the same large draw pool, so a fully leveled villager is not guaranteed to still be showing the shears offer.

SHEPHERD

Workstation: Loom|13 trades across 5 levels

Sells colored wool, carpets, beds, banners, and paintings. Buys wool and dyes.

Last checked: 26 September 2026
Java Edition: 26.3, 13 of 13 rows found
Bedrock Edition: 1.26.50.4, 11 of 13 matching
Edition differences: none, 2 rolled prices aside

What is the Shepherd?

The shepherd works the loom and runs the game's dye and wool economy, but it does not buy every wool color you own. At Novice, it only ever offers 4 specific wool colors for emerald, each capped at 18 wool per use, alongside a 1-emerald shears sale. That is 5 possible novice offers in total, and any single villager only ever shows 2 of them, so two shepherds standing side by side can buy completely different wool.

Any wool color you did not get offered still has a way in. From Apprentice onward the villager buys any dye instead of wool directly, so dye covers the other colors that the fixed wool list leaves out. That trade sits inside a pool of 37 possible offers at that tier, with only 2 ever active on one villager, a roughly 5.4% chance of seeing this exact one and an average of 18.5 trade resets before it does.

On the sell side the shepherd is the decoration profession: colored wool and carpet, then bed, then banner, and at the top tier 3 painting for 2 emeralds. Every one of those sales rolls its own color independently of whatever dye you fed the villager, so paying for a specific dye color does not steer what color wool or carpet comes back out.

Master is the only tier with a single, guaranteed offer instead of a random draw: no buy trade at all, just the painting sale. Everything this profession sells, from carpet to that last painting slot, only appears once you climb the full ladder and unlock it.

Shepherd trades at Novice level
Input	Output	Uses	Villager XP	Java 26.3	Bedrock 1.26.50.4
White Wool		16	2same in Bedrock	verified	verified
Brown Wool		16	2same in Bedrock	verified	verified
Black Wool		16	2same in Bedrock	verified	verified
Gray Wool		16	2same in Bedrock	verified	verified
	Shears	12	1same in Bedrock	verified	verified

5 trades at Novice level

The game draws 2 of the 5 offers this tier can hold, so any one of them is on 40% of novice shepherds, and a specific one takes about 2.5 rolls to turn up. Bedrock builds this tier out of 2 groups and draws 1 of 1 and 1 of 1, so there the same offer is on 100% of them. Counted from the game's own draw sizes. How that check works.

Curing a zombie villager is worth 125 reputation, taken off the first thing you hand over. The discount is capped by the price, so here it runs from 1 on the shears (2 to 1) up to 6 on the gray wool (18 to 12). No cost ever drops below one.

The white wool offer pays the villager 2 XP a use and the shears offer pays 1, so the 10 XP from Novice to Apprentice is 5 trades one way and 10 the other. That fits inside the 16 uses the offer holds, so one stock run covers it. Read out of each trade's own file. How that check works.

All 5 trades on this page were read out of the trade files Minecraft Java 26.3 ships in its own data, checked on 26 September 2026 against the item, both amounts and the use limit. Bedrock 1.26.50.4 is read as well, and where it disagrees the row says how. Which files, and what is not checked.

Shepherd trades at Apprentice level
Input	Output	Uses	Villager XP	Java 26.3	Bedrock 1.26.50.4	Notes
Any Dye		16	10same in Bedrock	verified	verified	Accepts any of the 16 dye colors
	Colored Wool	16	5same in Bedrock	verified	verified	Random color
	Colored Carpet	16	5same in Bedrock	verified	verified	Random color

3 trades at Apprentice level

The game draws 2 of the 37 offers this tier can hold, so any one of them is on 5.4% of apprentice shepherds, and a specific one takes about 18.5 rolls to turn up. Bedrock builds this tier out of 2 groups and draws 1 of 1 and 1 of 2, so there the same offer is on 100% or 50% of them. Counted from the game's own draw sizes. How that check works.

Curing a zombie villager is worth 125 reputation, taken off the first thing you hand over. On this tier that is 6 off every trade, so the any dye goes from 12 to 6. No cost ever drops below one.

The any dye offer pays the villager 10 XP a use and the colored carpet offer pays 5, so the 60 XP from Apprentice to Journeyman is 6 trades one way and 12 the other. That fits inside the 16 uses the offer holds, so one stock run covers it. Read out of each trade's own file. How that check works.

All 3 trades on this page were read out of the trade files Minecraft Java 26.3 ships in its own data, checked on 26 September 2026 against the item, both amounts and the use limit. Bedrock 1.26.50.4 is read as well, and where it disagrees the row says how. Which files, and what is not checked.

Shepherd trades at Journeyman level
Input		Output	Emeralds	Uses	Villager XP	Java 26.3	Bedrock 1.26.50.4	Notes
Any Dye				16	20same in Bedrock	verified	verified	Different dye color from Apprentice
		Bed		12	10same in Bedrock	verified	price computed in game	Random color

2 trades at Journeyman level

The game draws 2 of the 21 offers this tier can hold, so any one of them is on 9.5% of journeyman shepherds, and a specific one takes about 10.5 rolls to turn up. Bedrock builds this tier out of 2 groups and draws 1 of 1 and 1 of 1, so there the same offer is on 100% of them. Counted from the game's own draw sizes. How that check works.

Curing a zombie villager is worth 125 reputation, taken off the first thing you hand over. The discount is capped by the price, so here it runs from 2 on the bed (3 to 1) up to 6 on the any dye (12 to 6). No cost ever drops below one.

The any dye offer pays the villager 20 XP a use and the bed offer pays 10, so the 80 XP from Journeyman to Expert is 4 trades one way and 8 the other. That fits inside the 16 uses the offer holds, so one stock run covers it. Read out of each trade's own file. How that check works.

All 2 trades on this page were read out of the trade files Minecraft Java 26.3 ships in its own data, checked on 26 September 2026 against the item, both amounts and the use limit. Bedrock 1.26.50.4 is read as well, and where it disagrees the row says how. Which files, and what is not checked.

Shepherd trades at Expert level
Input		Output	Emeralds	Uses	Villager XP	Java 26.3	Bedrock 1.26.50.4	Notes
Any Dye				16	30same in Bedrock	verified	verified	Different dye color
		Banner		12	15same in Bedrock	verified	price computed in game	Random color

2 trades at Expert level

The game draws 2 of the 22 offers this tier can hold, so any one of them is on 9.1% of expert shepherds, and a specific one takes about 11 rolls to turn up. Bedrock builds this tier out of 2 groups and draws 1 of 1 and 1 of 1, so there the same offer is on 100% of them. Counted from the game's own draw sizes. How that check works.

Curing a zombie villager is worth 125 reputation, taken off the first thing you hand over. The discount is capped by the price, so here it runs from 2 on the banner (3 to 1) up to 6 on the any dye (12 to 6). No cost ever drops below one.

The any dye offer pays the villager 30 XP a use and the banner offer pays 15, so the 100 XP from Expert to Master is 4 trades one way and 7 the other. That fits inside the 16 uses the offer holds, so one stock run covers it. Read out of each trade's own file. How that check works.

Shepherd trades at Master level
Input		Output	Emeralds	Uses	Villager XP	Java 26.3	Bedrock 1.26.50.4	Notes
		Painting		12	30same in Bedrock	verified	verified

1 trade at Master level

This tier holds one offer and every villager gets it, so every master shepherd shows this whole table. Nothing to roll for at this tier. Bedrock lands on the same chance from its own table. Counted from the game's own draw sizes. How that check works.

Curing a zombie villager is worth 125 reputation, taken off the first thing you hand over. On this tier that is 1 off every trade, so the painting goes from 2 to 1. No cost ever drops below one.

Master is the top tier. Its offers still pay 30 XP a use, but there is no tier above for that XP to open. Read out of each trade's own file. How that check works.

The 1 trade on this page was read out of the trade files Minecraft Java 26.3 ships in its own data, checked on 26 September 2026 against the item, both amounts and the use limit. Bedrock 1.26.50.4 is read as well, and where it disagrees the row says how. Which files, and what is not checked.

Novice to Master: what the climb costs

A Shepherd does not level up on time served, it levels up on trading XP, and each of its offers pays a fixed amount of it. That makes the climb a countable thing rather than a chore: 19 trades take one from Novice to Master if you use the offer that pays most at every tier, and the tiers below say which offer that is.

The fewest trades that take a Shepherd from Novice to Master, tier by tier
Climb	XP	Offer that pays most	Trades	You hand over	You get back
Novice to Apprentice	10	The white wool offer, 2 XP a useor any of the 3 others that pay 2	5	90 white wool	5 emeralds
Apprentice to Journeyman	60	The any dye offer, 10 XP a use	6	72 dye	6 emeralds
Journeyman to Expert	80	The any dye offer, 20 XP a use	4	48 dye	4 emeralds
Expert to Master	100	The any dye offer, 30 XP a use	4	48 dye	4 emeralds
Novice to Master	250	no restock needed	19	90 white wool and 168 dye	19 emeralds

The bill for the whole climb is 90 white wool and 168 dye (2.6 stacks). It pays for itself: 19 emeralds more than you started with by the time it is Master. No offer in the route runs past what its slot holds, so a Shepherd with full stock can be walked all the way up in one sitting.

Counted, not timed. The XP each offer pays is the xp field of its own trade file, the 10, 60, 80, 100 XP between the tiers is VillagerData.NEXT_LEVEL_XP_THRESHOLDS, and the prices and use counts are the table above. Where a tier has more than one offer paying the top rate, the route takes the one any villager can hold, then the one that pays rather than costs, then the cheapest. XP over the line is not lost, it counts toward the next tier, so no trade in the route is wasted. How that check works.

Odds, groups and price rules for every Shepherd trade

Trade	Java odds	Bedrock odds	Bedrock group	Price multiplier	One cure takes off
18White Woolfor1EmeraldShepherd, Novice	40%	100%	1	0.05	6 items
18Brown Woolfor1EmeraldShepherd, Novice	40%	100%	1	0.05	6 items
18Black Woolfor1EmeraldShepherd, Novice	40%	100%	1	0.05	6 items
18Gray Woolfor1EmeraldShepherd, Novice	40%	100%	1	0.05	6 items
2Emeraldfor1ShearsShepherd, Novice	40%	100%	2	0.05	6 items
12Any Dyefor1EmeraldShepherd, Apprentice	5.4%	100%	1	0.05	6 items
1Emeraldfor1Colored WoolShepherd, Apprentice	5.4%	50%	2	0.05	6 items
1Emeraldfor4Colored CarpetShepherd, Apprentice	5.4%	50%	2	0.05	6 items
12Any Dyefor1EmeraldShepherd, Journeyman	9.5%	100%	1	0.05	6 items
3Emeraldfor1BedShepherd, Journeyman	9.5%	100%	2	0.05	6 items
12Any Dyefor1EmeraldShepherd, Expert	9.1%	100%	1	0.05	6 items
3Emeraldfor1BannerShepherd, Expert	9.1%	100%	2	0.05	6 items
2Emeraldfor3PaintingShepherd, Master	100%	100%	1	0.05	6 items

Shepherd trades by tier (Novice to Master)

A Shepherd climbs five career ranks, and each rank it reaches adds a fresh batch of offers on top of the ones below it. The experience gates are fixed: the Novice tier opens immediately with 5 offers, 10 more trade-XP points unlock Apprentice (3 offers), 60 more trade-XP points unlock Journeyman (2 offers), 80 more trade-XP points unlock Expert (2 offers), and 100 more trade-XP points unlock Master (1 offer). The full price list for every rank is laid out below; emerald costs marked as a range roll randomly within that band each time the trade is generated or restocked.

Tier 1 · Novice

5 trades · available from the start

Sell to villager: 18 white wools for 1 emerald, 18 brown wools for 1 emerald, 18 black wools for 1 emerald, and 18 gray wools for 1 emerald.

Buy from villager: shears for 2 emeralds.

Tier 2 · Apprentice

3 trades · 10 cumulative XP

Sell to villager: 12 any dyes for 1 emerald.

Buy from villager: colored wool for 1 emerald and 4 colored carpet for 1 emerald.

Tier 3 · Journeyman

2 trades · 70 cumulative XP

Sell to villager: 12 any dyes for 1 emerald.

Buy from villager: bed for 3 emeralds.

Tier 4 · Expert

2 trades · 150 cumulative XP

Sell to villager: 12 any dyes for 1 emerald.

Buy from villager: banner for 3 emeralds.

Tier 5 · Master

1 trade · 250 cumulative XP

Buy from villager: 3 painting for 2 emeralds.

Shepherd trading tips

Do not shop for a shepherd by wool color. Since only 4 of the 5 possible novice offers show up on any one villager, check what it is actually buying before you haul a stack of wool over. If it is not buying your color, hold onto the wool and wait for the any dye trade at the next tier instead, since dye covers every color the wool list skips.

The random draw gets more extreme the higher you climb. Apprentice through Expert each hide dozens of possible offers behind just 2 visible slots, so a shepherd that will not sell you a bed or a banner is not broken, it simply drew a different combination. A trade reset by curing a zombie villager (see the zombie villager discount guide) or by using the villager rolling guide reshuffles that whole pool, not just the color, so it can hand you an offer that was not there before.

If your goal is decoration rather than income, skip straight to the top of the ladder. Master has no buy trade at all, only the painting sale, so once you are there every trade with this villager nets you 3 paintings for the price. There is no reason to keep feeding it wool or dye after that unless you are gossip farming for a different villager nearby.

For the fastest run to master, keep the villager fed with whatever it already accepts rather than farming a color it never asked for. Wool and dye are both cheap to gather in bulk, so the bottleneck is almost always trades unlocked, not materials in hand.

Watch the maxed-out trades too. Every offer this villager has runs dry after its own use limit, 12 uses on the shears sale, 16 on each wool buy, and it only restocks by walking to the loom and working, which the game allows at most 2 times a day. If every trade greys out, the fix is time and access to its workstation, not more wool.

Beds, breeding and the Shepherd

Shepherds sell beds, and villagers will not breed without free beds, so the Shepherd is the one to trade with first when you build How to Build a Villager Breeder. Put the two together and Villager Breeder and Trading Hall Combo Guide shows the full setup.

White Wool, 18 per emerald at Novice: How to Make a Wool Farm in Minecraft
Brown Wool, 18 per emerald at Novice: How to Make a Wool Farm in Minecraft
Black Wool, 18 per emerald at Novice: How to Make a Wool Farm in Minecraft
Gray Wool, 18 per emerald at Novice: How to Make a Wool Farm in Minecraft

Shepherd trading FAQ

What does the shepherd trade?
The shepherd buys wool and dye for emeralds, and sells shears, colored wool, carpet, beds, banners, and paintings. It is the only profession built entirely around the game's dye and wool economy.
What workstation turns a villager into a shepherd?
A loom placed near an unemployed villager assigns the shepherd job. Break the loom and the villager drops the job and goes back to being jobless.
Does the shepherd buy every wool color?
No. At Novice it only ever offers 4 fixed wool colors out of the 5 possible offers that tier can roll, and any one villager only shows 2 of them at once. Dye buying opens up from Apprentice onward and covers the rest.
Why does one shepherd sell different items than another?
Each tier above Novice draws its visible offers from a much larger hidden pool, so two villagers at the same tier can show completely different trades. Curing a zombie villager or trading to trigger a reset reshuffles which offers are showing, not just their color.
Does paying for a specific dye color change what wool or carpet I get back?
No. The colors of sold wool, carpet, beds, and banners are rolled independently on each purchase, regardless of which dye color you sold the villager. There is no way to lock in a specific output color through the trade itself.
How many levels does it take to unlock every shepherd trade?
Five, from Novice to Master. Each level after the first needs the villager to successfully complete trades to earn enough trading experience before it levels up and reveals its next tier of offers.
What is the fastest way to make emeralds from a shepherd?
Trade whatever wool or dye color the villager is actually offering rather than farming a specific one. At the lowest tier, 18 white wool nets 1 emerald, and every wool color trade in that tier pays the same rate, so color is not worth being picky about early on.
What is the best item a shepherd sells?
The banner sale at Expert, 3 emeralds for one, is the most expensive single-item trade this profession offers. The Master trade is cheaper per item but delivers 3 paintings at once.
Can I still get shears from a high-level shepherd?
Shears are a Novice trade specifically, costing 2 emeralds. Leveling the villager up does not remove earlier trades, but it does add them to the same large draw pool, so a fully leveled villager is not guaranteed to still be showing the shears offer.