Doug Lambie, who farms in North Wales and is a Shearing Instructor with the British Wool Marketing Board, has been awarded the Shearing Personality of the Year title presented by the British Isles Shearing Competition Association (BISCA).
Doug, 45, began shearing when he was in his teens. He was brought up on a remote farm in western Scotland where his father was a farm manager and it was there that he first became interested in shearing sheep.
"I was brought up on a farm that was 70 miles from the nearest town so we had to learn to be self-sufficient and as a youngster that meant learning as many skills as you could around the farm.
"I became very interested in shearing and it’s a skill that gave me the opportunity as a young man to travel all over the world and earn a living at the same time. It’s a great honour to have been given this award," says Doug.
He now runs a flock of Beulah ewes and a small herd of suckler cows with his wife and their two daughters at Corwen, north Wales. But as a young man Doug travelled around the world shearing sheep in New Zealand, the USA, Norway and Italy.
"Shearing sheep around the world was a wonderful experience and its something that’s still open to young people who take up shearing," says Doug who notched up many top wins in shearing competitions and twice represented Scotland in the world championships.
During the spring and early summer he works as shearing instructor with the British Wool Marketing Board’s shearing training team and is keen to see more young people learn to shear under the guidance of professional instructors.
"Learning to shear gives you a life-long skill, the chance to travel and an ability to earn an income from that skill. It’s something I’d like to see even more young people become involved with in the future," says Doug.
