Minecraft – kill sheep to collect wool

Here's an elaborate solution involving trapping a skeleton that appears to work well. It seems that this setup could easily be changed to use a snowball/arrow dispenser instead of a skeleton, however the business of keeping it fueled, and firing at the right time would be an issue.

No.

Hitting a sheep in the head will cause no wool to be dropped until it is killed, when it will drop 1 block of wool. Furthermore, hitting a sheep in the head will not kill it any quicker, but it may relive tension and angst caused by a creeper.

Shearing a sheep with the shears item will result in 2-4 wool blocks being dropped, again, regardless of attack location.