'Shearing is a huge welfare issue. Thanks to human intervention, the majority of sheep no longer self-shed and so it is imperative that once a year (twice for some breeds), we remove the previous year’s woolen growth. Not doing so leaves sheep prone to fly strike, injury, and illness as they have to move, eat and drink carrying dirty fleece and excess weight on their backs. The majority of sheep, and virtually all commercial sheep flocks, are shorn by mechanical clippers. These handheld (and surprisingly heavy) pieces of equipment remove the fleece at 'skin' level, something to be done 'on the rise' – i.e. at the time of year when the fleece is naturally starting to separate from the new wool coming through underneath. An experienced shearer can take off a whole fleece in under a minute – indeed, in many parts of the world, shearing is practised as both an occupation AND a sport with shearing competitions being a regular feature in the farming calendar. Whilst those fleeces need to come off from a welfare point of view, the ‘race’ to remove them is not perhaps quite so 'welfare-friendly'? A debate for another time!

Blade shearing is slower, but not much slower – and as such can be a much happier experience for sheep and shearer alike. The principle behind blade shearing is that the wool is not taken off at skin level, it is cut such that a layer of wool (2-3cms) is still left attached to the sheep. In Bec’s own words: 'Hand shearing leaves a layer of wool rich in lanolin on the animal which stops them being exposed to the elements. It is a slower process in which the shearer and sheep owner can take the time needed to look over the animals and check they are healthy and well. Blade shearing gives us a cleaner fleece with less lanolin and fewer second cuts.

Blade shearing is also often done before lambing, again, a major difference compared to mechanical shearing which is usually done ‘after’ lambing. The biggest impact for the sheep is that many will be 'crutched' (shorn around their back ends) before lambing (to make the sheep cleaner and also to expose the udder for those hungry mouths) and then they will have to go through full shearing as well, often when still very full of milk, and with lambs a-foot that can get rather stressed as mum is taken away. Worse, sometimes, lambs and ewes then struggle to recognise each other when they are reunited!! Blade shearing before lambing means the ewes are ready to lamb with clean back ends and enough wool left on their backs to keep them warm and healthy AND they do not then have to go through the process again.

The biggest impact of blade shearing though can be seen in the wool itself. 'Shearing before lambing' says Bec, 'means I then get a better fleece before it declines in quality as resources go to producing milk. It has more lustre and fewer 'breaks'.' Moreover, as the layer of wool left on the sheep is lanolin rich, less lanolin is produced as the new fleece grows back. Each year when Bec sends off some of her fleeces to be processed at her local mill, the percentage she gets back is greater due to there being less lanolin to wash out! As mentioned in my last article, lanolin can often account for around a third or more of the weight of a full fleece.'