DOUG Lambie has lived with sheep all his life and is used to the annual claim that there's a shortage of shearers, but he says its no truer this year than any other.

What may have changed is that although the shearers from Australia and New Zealand still come to the United Kingdom on tour, ours are needed Down Under.

"There is a shortage of skilled farm labour of all sorts. What has happened is that farming has got much more timetabled. A job gets written in for a particular day and it has to be done then.

"The boys from Down Under still come here on tour but nowadays they are probably more dependent on ours going over there. There will probably be 60 going to New Zealand this year, including some girls nowadays.

"I did it for 10 years. You could write yourself a tour – first Norway, then Australia, New Zealand or the Falklands, and from there to America or Italy," said Mr Lambie, 43, a farmer and sheep shearer.

"Once you can do it, you get competitive about getting your rate up. For me, now, a good working rate is 300 sheep a day. The rate now is £1 a sheep, so you can earn good money when you do it. But of course, a lot of days you don't.

"A fleece off an ordinary upland mule is only worth 60p, but they've been bred to grow it, so you have to cut it, or they'll have two coats. If the price of wool had kept pace with inflation since the 1800s, it would be £2,500 a kilo, they reckon. That's what built all those chapels and so on," said Mr Lambie.

"It's a good life when you are young. But it's hard work. Somebody worked out that if you lift 300 sheep weighing 80 kilos each, that's the same work as running two marathons – and that's not counting the shearing.

"It's all about persuading the sheep there is no point in struggling. If its feet touch the floor, it will try to get up.

"But it won't fight for nothing. The only thing stupid about a sheep is the person chasing it. They are no more stupid than dogs."

Mr Lambie, who grew up around sheep, at Oban, in Scotland, said: " A lot of farmers' sons get involved. But we get all sorts on these courses, because of the hobby farmers – who are very welcome, by the way."

The two-day sheep shearing course was organised by the Wool Board at Hall Farm, Blubberhouses, where board member Nicholas Houseman farms, and it was run by Mr Lambie and Richard Schofield, of Tosside, near Skipton, at a cost of £80 a head.

To book a place on future courses contact Gillian Tart at the wool board on 01274 688666.