Jane Cooper, The Lost Flock (classic)

About this episode

Jane Cooper shares her journey of becoming a shepherd and creating a breeding program for the rare Boreray sheep on a Scottish island.

The picture of a flock of primitive-breed sheep, the last of their kind, living on an island off the northeast coast of Scotland, has a certain romance to it. Plenty of knitters, spinners, fiber artists, and citizens of the modern world might idly dream of living on such an island and tending such a flock. With no background as a farmer and only a few years as a shepherd, Jane Cooper decided to bring that dream to life. Enchanted by the fiber of the Boreray sheep, and with her life transformed by a class on knitting with rare breeds, Jane decided to buy a small parcel of land and start a spinner’s flock by adopting a few wethers from another farmer. In a short time, however, she found herself with more land—and more sheep—than she planned for. And so began her adventure as the shepherd of the “lost flock,” a group of sheep whose ancestors had escaped the official registry. Since obtaining her first sheep in 2013, Jane not only developed her own breeding program but established several other breeding flocks in the Orkneys. She has explored the recent and ancient history of her sheep, from the Vikings who used dual-coated wool in their sails to the breed registries established in…

People in this episode

Guest: Jane Cooper

Topics covered

• sheep farming
• fiber arts
• breeding programs
• knitting
• rare breeds
• Scottish heritage

Keywords

• Boreray sheep
• fiber artists
• shepherd
• breeding program
• lost flock
• knitting
• Scotland

Sponsors

Treenway Silks

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: the lost flock

Places: Scotland, Orkneys, northeast coast of Scotland

More episodes of The Long Thread Podcast

• Pamela K. Schultz, Spin Off · June 13, 2026 · 43 min
• Reweaving Marguerite Porter Davison’s Handweaver’s Pattern Book · May 30, 2026 · 47 min
• Kate Larson, Farm & Fiber Knits · May 16, 2026 · 40 min
• You Need This Book! The Yarn Barn of Kansas Required Reading List · May 10, 2026 · 39 min
• Angela Tong, Multidisciplinary Maker · May 2, 2026 · 51 min
• Amy Sadler, Knitty · April 18, 2026 · 49 min