Shearing community thanked for rising to challenge posed by Covid

A nationwide effort to get the country’s flock shorn during the C o v i d -1 9 pandemic has been hailed a success.

British Wo o l – the marketing body which is owned by approximately 40,000 sheep farmers across the UK – has issued a note of thanks to shearers who rallied together to ensure sheep shearing could go ahead during lockdown.

Covid-19 restrictions resulted in a drop in the number of overseas shearers coming to the c o u n t r y, leading to industry bodies, including British Wool, setting up a national register to connect farmers with shearers in the UK.

“On behalf of all sheep farmers and British Wool, I thank our shearers for their hard work and commitment in ensuring a successful and efficient shearing season,” said

British Wool chairman Jim Robertson.

“Un d e r challenging circumstances, the way in which the shearing community and sheep farmers rose to the challenge is an excellent example of how working together and supporting each other to achieve a common goal benefits everyone.”

He said he was hopeful British Wool shearing

courses, wh i c h were cancelled this year, would go ahead next season.

Gareth Jones, British Wool’s head of producer marketing, said: “We hope to be in a position to provide further details on the 2021 courses in Ja n u a r y and remain committed in continuing to deliver a high standard of training to the next generation of shearers across the UK.”

A shearer working in ‘challenging circumstances’.