Wool What Will You Do With It?

[Y Fan Wen]

I'm thinking back to my grandfather's time in the 50's and 60's. Back then the wool crop was a valuable thing and would have earned a far greater % of the year's income. It was certainly worth doing on the harder, wetter hills that wouldn't have produced a strong lamb for sale.

Ah the days when the wool cheque paid for the wintering!!!!

 

[Y Fan Wen]

And you just can't get the small children with bells and whistles these days!

NT is financing a man for this job on Snowdon. He has to heft them twice a day I think. Nice job?

 

[ThatsSomeSheep]

Used to be commonly done here in Scotland too where Blackie wethers were left on the outlying hills for three years to take the crops of wool off them.

Reflected in a number of farm and place names: Wedderlie, Wedder law etc.

TSS

 

[Guiggs]

NT is financing a man for this job on Snowdon. He has to heft them twice a day I think. Nice job?

That Will be the job that they showed on countryfile a couple of years ago wouldn't it?
The guy went on to take the tenancy on the great orme for £1 a year, also on countryfile the other week!

 

[GrannyAching]

They filled the Snowdon job again recently.

 

[Tim W]

Another outlet --- if you have organic wool
https://garthenor.com/

 

[Nithsdale]

Another outlet --- if you have organic wool
https://garthenor.com/

Isn't all wool organic?...

 

[yellowbelly]

Finally got round to taking our wool into Stamford yesterday.
The depot's average sheet weight is 69kg
The average of our commercial sheets was 76kg............

......our sheet that had the Lincoln wool in weighed 192kg

FFS, I'm worried we may have left a sheep still fastened to one of the fleeces in that one

 

[sheepwise]

Finally got round to taking our wool into Stamford yesterday.
The depot's average sheet weight is 69kg
The average of our commercial sheets was 76kg............

......our sheet that had the Lincoln wool in weighed 192kg

FFS, I'm worried we may have left a sheep still fastened to one of the fleeces in that one

That sheet will be worth a lot of cash if your Lincoln wool is as valuable as BFL.

 

[Nithsdale]

Finally got round to taking our wool into Stamford yesterday.
The depot's average sheet weight is 69kg
The average of our commercial sheets was 76kg............

......our sheet that had the Lincoln wool in weighed 192kg

FFS, I'm worried we may have left a sheep still fastened to one of the fleeces in that one

Jings!! 69kg?? Our depot avg sheet weight is over 90kg
Last year my sheets avg. was just under 90kg.


192kg is bloody impressive! Sure it wasn't a typo - 19.2kg

 

[crazy_bull]

Finally got round to taking our wool into Stamford yesterday.
The depot's average sheet weight is 69kg
The average of our commercial sheets was 76kg............

......our sheet that had the Lincoln wool in weighed 192kg

FFS, I'm worried we may have left a sheep still fastened to one of the fleeces in that one

I thought I had done well to average 105kg (120, 99 & 98kgs) I bet when they went to hook that 192 his arm nearly pulled out.

C B

 

[yellowbelly]

I thought I had done well to average 105kg (120, 99 & 98kgs) I bet when they went to hook that 192 his arm nearly pulled out.

They are a good natured, happy bunch of chaps in the warehouse at Stamford. Two or three of them were barrowing them away and one chap was hooking them off the trailer.When I told him the next sheet was full of Lincolns he gave me a wink and waited 'til, what looked like the new young apprentice, came back for one. We dropped it on his barrow and the poor little guy had to climb up to the top of the handles to pull it over into the wheeling position The rest of them stood laughing as he struggled with it to the scales and then back past us to the grading area. Obviously they use Lincoln sheets as a bit of a 'rites of passage' thing for the new guys

 

[Old Tip]

Jings!! 69kg?? Our depot avg sheet weight is over 90kg
Last year my sheets avg. was just under 90kg.


192kg is bloody impressive! Sure it wasn't a typo - 19.2kg

Lot depends on the type of wool as to how much weight you get in as well as how much you squash it. Longwool fleeces will he the heaviest followed by mules and mash and, the fluffier down fleeced will be lighter again as there's a lot of air trapped in the fleece. Herdwick and swale will probably be the lightest due to the higher content of hair. @Frank-the-Wool will probably have a more scientific explanation but it means areas with different types of sheep as the main breed will have heavier or lighter sacks

 

[Nithsdale]

Lot depends on the type of wool as to how much weight you get in as well as how much you squash it. Longwool fleeces will he the heaviest followed by mules and mash and, the fluffier down fleeced will be lighter again as there's a lot of air trapped in the fleece. Herdwick and swale will probably be the lightest due to the higher content of hair. @Frank-the-Wool will probably have a more scientific explanation but it means areas with different types of sheep as the main breed will have heavier or lighter sacks

I'd have thought where @yellowbelly is the fleeces would be of good quality, reaping heavier weights...

I'm also surprised, going by your reply, considering my depot is Galashiels and there will be an awful lot of Blackie wool going in there...



Ofcourse, maybe those soft southerners just can't pack a sheet properly

 

[yellowbelly]

That sheet will be worth a lot of cash if your Lincoln wool is as valuable as BFL.

Sadly not 2016 price was 78p/kg. The fleece value comes from the extra weight rather than the p/kg.
The june clipped ewes average about 3.5kg
The march clipped gimmer hoggs average between 5 and 6kg
The march clipped shearling tups average about 9kg (the best one this year was 10kg)

 

[yellowbelly]

192kg is bloody impressive! Sure it wasn't a typo - 19.2kg

Cheeky bu66er...

I'd have thought where @yellowbelly is the fleeces would be of good quality, reaping heavier weights...

Only the best of everything down here in 'Bomber County'

 

[Penmoel]

Another outlet --- if you have organic wool
https://garthenor.com/

They came here on Monday evening our sheets were all loaded ready to go off the next morning, they wanted 6/7 sheets and offered a small premium over BWMB for being organic, I did keep 4 back for them , see how it goes

His car broke down as he left so I ended up towing him home, he is only about 5 mile from here

 

[Nithsdale]

Cheeky bu66er...

Only the best of everything down here in 'Bomber County'

Im sure i can see a decimal point written over in the 2

Nah, I wasn't knocking your weights.. but I'm surprised the depot avg being quite so low.

 

[yellowbelly]

.. but I'm surprised the depot avg being quite so low.

Yeah, I wondered the same - maybe part filled sheets go into the averages, which will pull it down
I expect most of the Lincoln wool in the country goes through Stamford, so you'd expect that to lift their average
Just looked back over the last few years and our Lincoln sheets are in the mid 170's.

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

Lot depends on the type of wool as to how much weight you get in as well as how much you squash it. Longwool fleeces will he the heaviest followed by mules and mash and, the fluffier down fleeced will be lighter again as there's a lot of air trapped in the fleece. Herdwick and swale will probably be the lightest due to the higher content of hair. @Frank-the-Wool will probably have a more scientific explanation but it means areas with different types of sheep as the main breed will have heavier or lighter sacks

Lustre Wools such as Lincolns, Wensleydales etc can achieve great weights, this is due to a combination of the density of the fibre and the amount of lanolin on the fibre.
The later sheep are shorn in warm weather the greater the amount of lanolin (and moisture) so the wool becomes much heavier, remember it is hygroscopic and can absorb up to 30% of water.

It is not the amount of Kemp (hair) that makes wool lighter, although it will absorb less moisture. Lighter wools tend to be the poorer quality cast types that have poor quality staples.
Some of the heaviest fleeces are Cotts (naturally felted), although not the most valuable they often come to the most money as they are at least a kg heavier..