Wool Price Rising And Early Research Analysis Of Heritability Of Fine Wool

[Frank-the-Wool]

The wool discussion on here ends once the shearing season finishes and little more is ever thought about it. Yet the sales of this seasons wool have only just begun.
The good news is that the price has increased and is now back to where it was 4 years ago and all new seasons wool has been sold at the auction since July.

Some of you will remember that I imported some Snowline ram lambs from New Zealand last year, these are a maternal meat sheep with fine wool but with no Merino blood.
We have now a small number of lambs on the ground, mostly Romney crosses and a few Cheviots in the Borders of Scotland.

We don't have the official research data yet, but early indications are that the heritability of breeding the wool finer (and much higher value) is extremely strong. The Romney cross lambs, more than 70% are below 28 micron, down to 22 at the lowest.
What is even more encouraging is in the Cheviots, the ewes were a higher micron than the Romneys yet the lambs have come in at a similar low level down to 24 micron.

Having recently tested a number of Lleyns for the local breeders it is encouraging that a large number of the samples tested were in the low 30's.

Now I know many of you still dismiss the wool as a cost of have gone down the route of Shedding, but plainly there is another option without making drastic changes to many of the white woolled breeds.
I already have breeders who are interested in using some of the finer Ram lambs and may have a small number available to use this season.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

Wool gone back up to where it was 4 years ago? So now it’s worth two thirds of fudge all instead of 100% fudge all

 

[Bill dog]

Hopefully @Frank-the-Wool will be able to tell us what 22 micron wool is worth.
I wouldn’t knock it , if it’s going to be worthwhile and the end product is still a good lamb and its mums wool has some value , then win win !

 

[sheepdogtrail]

The wool discussion on here ends once the shearing season finishes and little more is ever thought about it. Yet the sales of this seasons wool have only just begun.
The good news is that the price has increased and is now back to where it was 4 years ago and all new seasons wool has been sold at the auction since July.

Some of you will remember that I imported some Snowline ram lambs from New Zealand last year, these are a maternal meat sheep with fine wool but with no Merino blood.
We have now a small number of lambs on the ground, mostly Romney crosses and a few Cheviots in the Borders of Scotland.

We don't have the official research data yet, but early indications are that the heritability of breeding the wool finer (and much higher value) is extremely strong. The Romney cross lambs, more than 70% are below 28 micron, down to 22 at the lowest.
What is even more encouraging is in the Cheviots, the ewes were a higher micron than the Romneys yet the lambs have come in at a similar low level down to 24 micron.

Having recently tested a number of Lleyns for the local breeders it is encouraging that a large number of the samples tested were in the low 30's.

Now I know many of you still dismiss the wool as a cost of have gone down the route of Shedding, but plainly there is another option without making drastic changes to many of the white woolled breeds.
I already have breeders who are interested in using some of the finer Ram lambs and may have a small number available to use this season.

Unfortunately at 24 is the point you need to be at before one can expect to make any money off of wool. I am with you. Woolly sheep all the way.

 

[egbert]

Serious business questions...
How much per kg is the finer wool currently worth?
Is there a supply shortage in it now?
Would our wider adoption cause a flood, and dip in price?


I wouldn't even begin to think about changing breeds unless it was worth £££ per sheep.
Things reached the state with the wool board now that when we sheared the cheviot hoggs, we simply left the wool in a damp heap in the field.

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

Hopefully @Frank-the-Wool will be able to tell us what 22 micron wool is worth.
I wouldn’t knock it , if it’s going to be worthwhile and the end product is still a good lamb and its mums wool has some value , then win win !

It is worth a lot more than that over 30 micron.
If you estimate that a 3.5 kg Romney fleece at 34 plus micron will return around £1.50 then a 3kg fleece at below 28 will return over £6.00

The sales of wool here have never been on micron and have revolved around breed types.
Of course the buyers have always known which are the finest wools and select them for the high value end market.

However the variation within breeds has been enormous and until I started on this project I had no idea. We have seen Romney from 27 to over 40 and Cheviot from 32 to 45.

The way to get much higher value will be to group sufficient volumes of this finer wool together, and make sure it has no black or Kempy (Hair) fibres. You cannot mix coarser wools in!

There is already huge demand for British grown fine wools from the manufacturers we have in this country.

 

[egbert]

It is worth a lot more than that over 30 micron.
If you estimate that a 3.5 kg Romney fleece at 34 plus micron will return around £1.50 then a 3kg fleece at below 28 will return over £6.00

The sales of wool here have never been on micron and have revolved around breed types.
Of course the buyers have always known which are the finest wools and select them for the high value end market.

However the variation within breeds has been enormous and until I started on this project I had no idea. We have seen Romney from 27 to over 40 and Cheviot from 32 to 45.

The way to get much higher value will be to group sufficient volumes of this finer wool together, and make sure it has no black or Kempy (Hair) fibres. You cannot mix coarser wools in!

There is already huge demand for British grown fine wools from the manufacturers we have in this country.

£6 a ewe would interest me, although I very much doubt the hill ewes would ever manage the kgs.
(and vice versa, ewes that would produce the wool would be very disadvantaged by the conditions)
The inbye flock might though.

Define 'huge'?

There's certainly a long term potential for the gig.....it's just how to prompt and tap it.
(I'm very much aware that I'm delivering wool at about 20p kg, while buying in bale cord (for instance) at something like £2.50 kg)

 

[Hilly]

Cheviot will probably shed 50% before shearing and we’ve have 3.5kgs wool anyway ….

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

£6 a ewe would interest me, although I very much doubt the hill ewes would ever manage the kgs.
(and vice versa, ewes that would produce the wool would be very disadvantaged by the conditions)
The inbye flock might though.

Define 'huge'?

There's certainly a long term potential for the gig.....it's just how to prompt and tap it.
(I'm very much aware that I'm delivering wool at about 20p kg, while buying in bale cord (for instance) at something like £2.50 kg)

Abraham Moon the high end wool clothing and interior textile maker has committed to take all the Romney Lambswool at a premium price (not enough).
This is the first time they have used British Wool for decades even though they are based in Yorkshire. They have already said they will take all the finer wool we can supply and similarly Laxtons are the same.
They want to use British!

 

[Hilly]

Abraham Moon the high end wool clothing and interior textile maker has committed to take all the Romney Lambswool at a premium price (not enough).
This is the first time they have used British Wool for decades even though they are based in Yorkshire. They have already said they will take all the finer wool we can supply and similarly Laxtons are the same.
They want to use British!

Why have they changed ? They buying it at auction ?

 

[Qman]

I got £73 for 120 last year's Texel X, including 24 gimmers, fleeces. It wouldn't even pay for the extra labour to do the job, never mind the cost of shearing. If the bloody stuff would burn, I'd burn it.

We are getting screwed by the wool board who spend too much on wages and pensions. It is a scandal that we allow ourselves to let them do this to us.

Go and buy a wool jumper or suit...it is wool sir...suits you sir....are you getting it sir???

 

[Welderloon]

Wool has to get back to a realistic value as it is a natural fibre.
Subtle societal changes are already dictating a shift from the chemical backed textiles.
As populations grow & more people develop allergies this shift will gather further momentum.
Processing is where the tech development is needed to make the products easier to use & the manufacturing processes simpler thus making wool products more affordable for everyone.
Lets hope shedders & 'another cartel' don't scupper the British Wool industry for good.

 

[JockCroft]

Wool has to get back to a realistic value as it is a natural fibre.
Subtle societal changes are already dictating a shift from the chemical backed textiles.
As populations grow & more people develop allergies this shift will gather further momentum.
Processing is where the tech development is needed to make the products easier to use & the manufacturing processes simpler thus making wool products more affordable for everyone.
Lets hope shedders & 'another cartel' don't scupper the British Wool industry for good.

Its great to think that Wool is becoming more popular, but I fear no matter how much demand increases the end price for us won't change much.
There is also the fact that many breeds, due to the no importance of wool value will now have both poorer yield weight and lower quality.

Does anyone weigh bales/bags of wool before sending away? Had an extra bale and around 30 fleeces extra this year, but weights back almost identical to last years.

 

[unlacedgecko]

The wool discussion on here ends once the shearing season finishes and little more is ever thought about it. Yet the sales of this seasons wool have only just begun.
The good news is that the price has increased and is now back to where it was 4 years ago and all new seasons wool has been sold at the auction since July.

Some of you will remember that I imported some Snowline ram lambs from New Zealand last year, these are a maternal meat sheep with fine wool but with no Merino blood.
We have now a small number of lambs on the ground, mostly Romney crosses and a few Cheviots in the Borders of Scotland.

We don't have the official research data yet, but early indications are that the heritability of breeding the wool finer (and much higher value) is extremely strong. The Romney cross lambs, more than 70% are below 28 micron, down to 22 at the lowest.
What is even more encouraging is in the Cheviots, the ewes were a higher micron than the Romneys yet the lambs have come in at a similar low level down to 24 micron.

Having recently tested a number of Lleyns for the local breeders it is encouraging that a large number of the samples tested were in the low 30's.

Now I know many of you still dismiss the wool as a cost of have gone down the route of Shedding, but plainly there is another option without making drastic changes to many of the white woolled breeds.
I already have breeders who are interested in using some of the finer Ram lambs and may have a small number available to use this season.

I really admire what you are doing.


Can sub 24 micron wool be grown an harvested in UK conditions? I always understood it to be too wet/damp, leading to wool rot and break.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

I got £73 for 120 last year's Texel X, including 24 gimmers, fleeces. It wouldn't even pay for the extra labour to do the job, never mind the cost of shearing. If the bloody stuff would burn, I'd burn it.

We are getting screwed by the wool board who spend too much on wages and pensions. It is a scandal that we allow ourselves to let them do this to us.

Go and buy a wool jumper or suit...it is wool sir...suits you sir....are you getting it sir???

There’s plenty of money being made out of wool….just not the farmer

 

[shearerlad]

I really admire what you are doing.


Can sub 24 micron wool be grown an harvested in UK conditions? I always understood it to be too wet/damp, leading to wool rot and break.

I would think that down in the south east corner where @Frank-the-Wool could be dry enough.
I know there is a flock of fine wool merino just south of Aberdeen, again the east coast climate suiting them

 

[ringi]

I not convicned the demand for 22 micron wool is high enough to make a real difference to the industry, however demand for organic meat is also low but some farms do well targeting the organic markets.

Afterall how many people want cloths that get eaten by moths and that can't be easily washed etc?

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

Why have they changed ? They buying it at auction ?

They use mostly NZ and Merino. They were keen to produce Throws that were made with British Wool and at a price point that was similar to what they already produced. They believe traceable British Wool is a premium product and the work that BW to get licensees signed up is bearing fruit. The retail outlets would be John Lewis and Harrods etc.

No Manufacturers buy out of the Auction, they will give a specification to the Scouring/Combing Plant for what they want to use. They only buy blended Tops.

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

I really admire what you are doing.


Can sub 24 micron wool be grown an harvested in UK conditions? I always understood it to be too wet/damp, leading to wool rot and break.

i believe it can as the characteristics of this type of wool is very different to Merino, hence the reason that when I went down this route I explicitly ruled out any Merino genetics..
The finest woolled British sheep is the BFL, I know they don't have longevity but the wool is very valuable!!

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

I not convicned the demand for 22 micron wool is high enough to make a real difference to the industry, however demand for organic meat is also low but some farms do well targeting the organic markets.

Afterall how many people want cloths that get eaten by moths and that can't be easily washed etc?

As soon as you fall below 30 micron wool is no longer scratchy against the skin and can be used for a wide range of products that are far more valuable than Carpets and Rugs.
Sportswear and high end suiting as well as softer Tweeds.

Demand is there for British low micron wool.