SHEARING THE SHIANTS | Meet the people keeping the old farming traditions alive

The Shaints – the name means holy or enchanted isles - are a group of three uninhabited islands that lie around 4 miles off the East coast of Lewis and Harris in the Hebrides. Crowned with five-hundred-foot cliffs of black basalt and surrounded by tidal rips, the islands are home to thousands of sea birds and a handful of sheep, The Shaints are wild, dangerous, and dramatic.

The islands themselves are privately owned by Tom Nicolson who inherited them from his father Adam, author of the book Sea Room, which tells the story of the Shaints and its incredible history in detail. The family have a real love for these islands and maintaining their harsh beauty and that, is where the sheep play a critical role in maintaining the ecology of the island.

I have very little knowledge of The Shaints and what you have read until now is information that has been passed to me or that I have researched since my visit to these islands. I just wanted to share with you, the reader, my adventure when I was part of shearing The Shaints 2021.
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ABOUT ME

I’m 31 years old and I’m a sheep farmer from Ayrshire in South West Scotland, which is why I have such a strong accent! I was born and raised on a sheep farm watching my dad who was the shepherd.

At 18 I went away from farming to work in the city (something I still do) and at 23 (2013) I decided I wanted to do something for some extra money so I went on a sheep shearing course. The hardest thing I’ll ever do was learning to shear sheep. [shudders thinking about it]

I shore whilst on my holidays from work for 2 years and then in 2015 my dad died so I decided to get my own sheep so I could continue working with sheep as it was something I loved doing. From there it escalated quickly from my first 4 sheep in my mum’s garden to now running around 600 breeding ewes.

I shore over 15,000 sheep this season in UK and I also travel to Norway for shearing in March and September. (Covid messed it up this year)

A few years ago I bought myself a sheep pregnancy scanner and have been building up my run since then.

I watched a few farm vlogs on YouTube and decided I could have a go and now here we are!

Thanks for watching my videos and please subscribe if you want to see more in future.

Видео SHEARING THE SHIANTS | Meet the people keeping the old farming traditions alive канала The Sheep Game