David Cummins-Egan meets Bec Briar, a sheep keeper, blade shearer and spinner, to explore the benefits of stripping wool by hand.
In 2019, Bec Briar from The Woven Briar based in Taunton, started with a small flock of Portlands and Shetlands. Since then, she has grown her flock to over 60 animals that include Icelandic, Exmoor Horn and other crossbreeds, all of which possess excellent fleece quality and colours.
As well as using fleeces from her own flock, Bec also buys in blade shorn fleeces from the South West. This allows smallholders and breeders who choose to blade shear their sheep to obtain the best quality fleece from their sheep, which subsequently enables them to make a profit from the wool. This end result allows Bec to use the wool for her own spinning and weaving as well as providing the opportunity to sell it to people who want to know the provenance and welfare of the wool that they are purchasing.
As we are fortunate to have so many breeds to choose from here in the UK, the choice of end product fleece is vast. Bec took the time out of her day to share her reasoning on how she chooses specific breeds for her own individual choices.
“I specialise in blade shorn down type short wool and primitive breeds, as well as Icelandic double coated fleeces” Bec explained. “I spin long draw, woollen style which makes a fluffy warm cosy yarn. My sheep are all small and hardy and they all lamb outside with minimal or no help from me. This means that I have self-sufficient sheep that do not require a great deal of my time. Primitive breeds are smaller too, meaning that I can handle them on my own. They are known to be more likely to escape or jump fences, so I try to keep them well-fed and tame so that I can get them home again. If I want to use long wool breeds for worsted spinning, I visit local blade shorn flocks with breeds such as Leicester Longwool and Gotland. These are great for lustre and strength, adding variation to my spinning, and for the warp threads on my floor loom.”
WHY HAND SHEARING?
In the wild, primitive sheep would have shed their fleece naturally. However, with thousands of years of human intervention, even primitive breeds don’t always naturally shed their coats. Bec works with an experienced blade shearer early in the spring before lambing, not only to reduce any negative impact on the sheep, but, as she confirms, “to improve the welfare of the animals and their young”.
Using these traditional skills and farming practices ultimately benefits the quality of the wool that Bec produces, as she reveals: “The hand shearing of sheep leaves a layer of wool, rich in lanolin on the animal which stops them being exposed to the elements. Although this is a slower process, it does mean, however, that the shearer and I can take the time to look over the animals and check they are healthy and well, whilst subsequently allowing the shearer the time to get the very best out of the fleeces.”
Blade shearing, however, provides a cleaner fleece with less lanolin and fewer second cuts.
This article extract was taken from the May 2025 edition of The Country Smallholder. To read the article in full, you can buy the issue here.
