With the potential of wool starting to become recognised in the desire for sustainable materials, we speak to blade shearer Andy Wear about his experiences with working with wool and why he is
optimistic about the future.
An interview with Andy Wear for British Wool 2019
A former contract machine shearer, Andy has always admired the craft of blade shearing, a skill still commonly used around the world. He first started machine shearing at the age of 15, and following his graduation from university, went overseas to shear in New Zealand.
Brought up on a sheep farm in the South West, Andy Wear, after seeing a blade shearer at work, knew that this was a skill he wanted to learn, but never imagined the experiences and achievements he would gain from performing one of the most fundamental aspects of sheep management.
“Looking back, it was seeing Tony Dobbs, [back in the 90’s] at the Royal Show, I remember thinking how he was so skilful. Shortly afterwards, I hosted some South African shearers for a few days, and watched them working with blades. This gave me the basic knowledge as to what it was about and it really inspired me to improve. The South Africans are some of the best blade shearers in the world; fluid, easy and swift. They make a really tidy job of blade shearing.
In 1996, I was asked if I would like to go to Masterton, New Zealand, and shear for England in the World Championship. That was an incredible experience. There were competitors from South Africa, New Zealand and the USA – six in total and I came sixth! In spite of this, this is still my biggest achievement and the one I am most proud off – the South Africans and Kiwis are in a league of their own - so to be placed against them was incredible.
I was offered so much encouragement at the World Championship by the other shearers, it enthused me to go back the following summer to Mackenzie Country in New Zealand and work with a blade shearing gang. That is where I could really learn the skills, working day in day out, with a professional gang.”
Commenting on his first day at work, Andy says: “My first day of shearing was incredibly hard. I only managed to shear 3½ Merinos in the 1st hour – I nearly cried and just wanted to come home. Luckily, I stayed for three months and improved massively. Working alongside others really drives you, and on my best day I shore 82 – that is about 10 per hour.”
Andy then returned to the UK with his love of blade shearing really kindled: “I carried on meeting with a lot of shearers and have since sheared in another three World Championship locations – in Scotland, Masterton-NZ and Ireland.
It’s amazing what an impact blade shearing has been on my life. I have travelled to many countries and get to share my passion with an incredible community of people.”
Andy now has his own farm in the Mendip Hills in Somerset, running 2400 ewes, mostly Romney Cross Shetland, which are all blade shorn. From there, he and his partner Jen, run Blade Shearing Tournaments, training courses and workshops. {Next date 21st March 2020}
“Twice a year, between 20 and 30 competitors come in from across the world - New Zealand, France, Netherlands and the UK – to train and compete. In the autumn, we shear all of the lambs and in the spring, pre-lambing we shear all of the ewes. Everyone comes together to shear, share and improve their skills and we shear about 2000 in total during each tournament.”
Andy has seen a resurgence of blade shearing within our home nations over recent years and has been proactive in encouraging blade shearing here in England:
“I think with any shearing, when you work together, you improve, and the British Blade Shearing standard is rising all the time. Although we used to be a long way from the standard of the teams from South Africa and New Zealand, I am pleased to say we are now pushing them along and I look forward to seeing where we are placed in future competitions. I predict that there will be one or two British who will make the final in the World Championships!”
“This is an industry where there is great enthusiasm of working and shearing together, and although the competitions are of course competitive, many of these events are used for the transfer of knowledge and to improve their skills.”
“The beauty with blade shearing is that it is relatively inexpensive to get started and I would encourage anyone to give it a go. A set of blades costs around £20, and with some basic training, and learning how to keep them sharp, you are ready and prepared.
Currently we are finding a lot of small-scale and hobby farmers are getting into blade shearing. Often this sector of the sheep industry finds it hard to get a contract machine shearer to suit their timescale, so they learn how to do it by blade themselves.
Additionally, more and more people are appreciating the benefits of blade shearing. Typically, you leave around 10mm on the sheep, compared to the 3mm with machine shearing, so it acts almost as a vest. This depth also leaves a lot of lanolin on the sheep so you can turn it straight back out in almost any weather with minimal metabolic impact.
The longer cut gives an extended season and blade shearers are happy to shear from March to October.
Research in New Zealand has shown that a blade-shorn sheep has no environmental impact and suffers no shock to the body, and another benefit is that it will grow the equivalent to another fleece of wool during its lifetime.
Having also worked as a machine / blade shearing instructor, he still works closely with the British Wool team of instructors for the general marketing of wool.
In addition to attending British Wool courses, over the years, Andy has also worked closely with British Wool to support the future marketing of wool. Up until around 1998, his farm was a collection centre for about 400 farmers, so he coordinated all of the wool for British Wool in the area and delivered it to the South Molton depot.
He and Jen share their confidence of the industry and Jen has recently completed a Nuffield Scholarship, looking at Wool Processing and Wool Marketing. They are both passionate about wool and feel its overall value has been almost forgotten by the farmer:
“Because wool prices have dropped so much, it has become almost a hassle. It really is vital that we reposition the product as a valued and essential fibre. I feel the time is right to do this. The realisation that synthetics are not helping planet Earth, is an opportunity for us and I feel very strongly that wool has a key
role in furnishing and clothing for humans in the future. It’s interesting to hear that after years of research, the astronauts have gone back to wearing wool as a base layer. I would like to see British Wool continue to take a very progressive role in the marketing of wool in the future as there are such huge opportunities.”
Andy still aspires to be a better shearer and looks to South African, Mayenseke Shweni, to improve: “I have competed against him at the World Championships and I would love to have a one-to-one lesson with him. The way he shears is so relaxed and super-efficient - clean and a pleasure to watch. His shearing is smooth and simplicity at its best - he probably blade shears about 10,000 sheep a year - incredible.
When I started out blade shearing, Noel Handley said to me, ‘Keep getting another sheep out and another and just keep going.’ That has served me well and is still relevant today. Another saying from Noel was ‘Watch and Practice. Watch and Practice’ – you can learn so much technique from watching the best and trying it yourself. You just need to stick with it.”
Andy’s achievements and support for this industry has not been unnoticed, and at the 2018 Bath and West
Show he was awarded a medal and certificate for services to the shearing industry by BISCA - the British Isles Shearing Competitions Association:
“I was totally surprised and totally honoured. It was totally out of the blue. It motivates me to get better, and I would love to help others learn about shearing and see them enjoy the rewards, as I have, from the industry”, concluded Andy.