I know Universal Carriers were sold to Canadian farmers after the war. When I was a teenager I used to cut wood every winter with my dad and many of the farmers who worked on or owned the wood lots still had them sitting around. We even found the remains of what I think was one during one weekends work deep in the middle of one woods. It is probably still out there somewhere.

Careful there Goose, we Shermanholics may tke offence!! Just remember Shermans fought in Korea, 48,67,73 Middle East wars, 65 & 71 Indo-Pakistan wars, used by Chile (60MM Hyper velocity gun) hand in hand with their Leopards 1V until a copule of years ago and the Argentine ones rearmed with French 105s as well as ex-Israeli M51s.
And they battled some of the newer tanks from the East and the West (T54/55, T62, Centurions, M47, M48). Sometimes it is not just the kit but how well the user employs the kit.

lol - no offence meant! eekk - and this close to Christmas is doesnt pay for a Goose to get into trouble!
(I quite like the sherman, though I not quite a shermanholic)

They may well have still been used until fairly recent times, but that doesnt alter the fact that their design was quite dated - high profile, prone to fire etc. Though I do agree that the skill of the crew will go a way to make up for the deficiencies of the equipment.

But as an answer to the question what happened to them - then yes as you say they were still in use for quite some time. As were many other WW2 AFV - the good old Greyhound is a prime example.

There were 50 odd thousand Shermans made. All of the post war use by everyone doesn't come even close to that number. Even to half of that number.

The bulk, i'm pretty sure, went into the scrap mills to become the previously displayed paperclips, as well as Austins, Audis & Ramblers.

Paul