Wool...what will you do with yours...

[Bob]

https://www.britishwool.org.uk/ksupload/userfiles/Farmer/Producer_Booklet/British%20Wool%20Producer%20Information%20&%20Wool%20Values%20May%202021.pdf

Ewes....... 16-17 p/kg

Hoggs......25-30 p/kg

Well that’s much the same as I got for N Mule wool no where near covering clipping cost

 

[muleman]

Unfortunately it is not the Irish who control it but our very own 2 x scouring plants who have used the "Irish" as a way around the Marketing Act.

These are the very same people who buy out of the Auction and one regularly buys over 50% of the offering at every sale. It is not quite a cartel but is verging on sharp practice and by buying wool direct off farm at a low price helps keep the auction price down especially at the start of the seasonal sales.

Cutting out the middle man!

 

[neilo]

Cutting out the middle man!

What happens when the middle man has gone, and the two buyers get together and set the price?

 

[neilo]

Tbh honest i wouldnt be surprised if the wool board folded before long...they are losing a lot of wool.
Think it was an organisation that would set out with good intentions but has lost its way, wheyher its through greed or just that its got too big ,ie more overheads , im not sure.

Are you not worried that such a scenario will accelerate the seemingly headlong rush into shedding breeds, reducing demand for your mule lambs? Or do you think people will continue accepting the shearing/fly prevention costs as just one of those things?

Given the will, any breed or type of sheep could be bred to shed. They don’t have to be narrow, minimal input types, Beltex types wouldn’t take a lot to get there either (to take the other extreme).

 

[muleman]

What happens when the middle man has gone, and the two buyers get together and set the price?

When we're screwed down this far and are recieving nothing it gets to the stage where you take what you can get, even if its just for a couple of years, before the job totally dies out,its a sad state of affairs but there is nothing left to lose for many producers now .

 

[Guleesh]

What happens when the middle man has gone, and the two buyers get together and set the price?

Then the third buyer comes along and gives a higher price.

 

[Anymulewilldo]

Then the third buyer comes along and gives a higher price.

Until the first 2 grab him and say “Oi Sam, come here. Just sit down and bud the same as us. They can’t sell to anybody else so we can just divvy it up as we please”

 

[neilo]

Until the first 2 grab him and say “Oi Sam, come here. Just sit down and bud the same as us. They can’t sell to anybody else so we can just divvy it up as we please”

Nah, that would never happen. I’ve never seen such a thing in livestock markets, even over shared breakfasts in the market cafe….

 

[Guleesh]

Until the first 2 grab him and say “Oi Sam, come here. Just sit down and bud the same as us. They can’t sell to anybody else so we can just divvy it up as we please”

Yeah, but then Sam says 'nah, F off' I want as much of it as I can get because I make more profit that way.' then a fourth buyer comes along and sees the first 3 must be making money if it's worth arguing about so he sneaks in and offers even more money for it. You have to let capitalism do its thing.

 

[yellowbelly]

What happens when the middle man has gone, and the two buyers get together and set the price?

That's the big danger.
Sadly the WB aren't being pro active enough to stop more and more wool going to the Irish.
@muleman has got 280p 'in his hand'. If he sent it to Bradford last year they'll pay him 175p 12mths in arrears. In 2019 he would have got 340p.

The principal of the WB is sound (grading, auctions etc) but they can't seem to make it work
Ignoring what Covid did in 2020, the 2019 accounts show all the reserve fund (OUR money) will have gone in 5 or 6 years so it will fold anyway.
All they are doing is covering their operating costs and top heavy management pay and giving us what scraps are left.
Needs a bloody good shake up but I've no idea who'll do it.

 

[Anymulewilldo]

Yeah, but then Sam says 'nah, F off' I want as much of it as I can get because I make more profit that way.' then a fourth buyer comes along and sees the first 3 must be making money if it's worth arguing about so he sneaks in and offers even more money for it. You have to let capitalism do its thing.

Good theory, it’s one that farmers seem too use a lot… but the big businesses we sell our finished product too don’t…

 

[neilo]

That's the big danger.
Sadly the WB aren't being pro active enough to stop more and more wool going to the Irish.
@muleman has got 280p 'in his hand'. If he sent it to Bradford last year they'll pay him 175p 12mths in arrears. In 2019 he would have got 340p.

The principal of the WB is sound (grading, auctions etc) but they can't seem to make it work
Ignoring what Covid did in 2020, the 2019 accounts show all the reserve fund (OUR money) will have gone in 5 or 6 years so it will fold anyway.
All they are doing is covering their operating costs and top heavy management pay and giving us what scraps are left.
Needs a bloody good shake up but I've no idea who'll do it.

You can’t really compare the 175p the board would have paid on last year’s wool, to what the Irish are paying now. What were they paying this time last year? The sensible comparison would be that 280p from the Irish now, against what comes back from BW auctions in 12 months time.

And anyway, he sold just 100kg of this wonderful wool. It’s a tiny market, with tiny supply quantities, so irrelevant to the market for what most of us produce in any volume, @muleman included.
If he was to wash and spin it for knitting balls then he’d be talking serious money…

 

[yellowbelly]

What were they paying this time last year?

2019 booklet says 340p (as in my post above)

The sensible comparison would be that 280p from the Irish now, against what comes back from BW auctions in 12 months time.

That's where the BW system falls down - it's too late by then - the Irish have mopped it up.

That's what I mean by the WB not being pro active enough. Surely their extensive team of pen pushers at Bradford can look at current auction prices, current stocks, current buyer interest and give some sort of 'estimate' of where they think the price will be. I've never seen any monthly updates like that. They just don't instil any confidence in producers, hence the Irish get more of a foothold.

 

[Anymulewilldo]

Now then. I’m fairly open minded. I’ll offer £20/sheet (minimum weight 60kg) payment upfront on delivery. Plus you get a free brew and a bacon/saus/egg Butty. I’ll store it, stack it high. Then I’ll be able too drop it in when the shortage happens. Job sorted.

 

[Farmer Keith]

It’s done! Got the sheep clipped yesterday, even hung my machine up to help with the 100 hogs at the end. Can’t see how they can charge what they do for that!

Now to the wool, I have two years worth in the shed now, give it to the wool board like we’ve always done, try the Irish or keep it until I have enough wool to buy a farm like the old timers did?

 

[Sheepfog]

Until the first 2 grab him and say “Oi Sam, come here. Just sit down and bud the same as us. They can’t sell to anybody else so we can just divvy it up as we please”

A bit like if everyone sold stock deadweight?!

 

[glasshouse]

People selling raw fleece online £5-80.

And mine now have extra value as at least 1 fleece has been hand sheared.

I pre lamb shear in April, so no chemicals have been applied since last shearing. Marketing adds value

Is that up to £80?
Or £5.80?

 

[unlacedgecko]

Is that up to £80?
Or £5.80?

Up to £80

 

[Highland Mule]

Up to £80

VBN, I’d guess, and with some processing to get it to that price.

I used to sell my mule and BFL for £5 each, and got same for some coloured fleeces too - but it’s a lot of work and there’s a very limited market out there.

 

[unlacedgecko]

VBN, I’d guess, and with some processing to get it to that price.

I used to sell my mule and BFL for £5 each, and got same for some coloured fleeces too - but it’s a lot of work and there’s a very limited market out there.

Raw Shetland fleece