For many farmers, shearing has become an increasingly onerous task in recent years. This is due primarily to a depressed global market for coarse or medium-quality types of wool returning prices that for many will only cover 50% to 55% of the direct costs of hiring a contractor to shear their flock. For those who do the shearing themselves, returns will do little to reward farmers for their efforts.

If we take, for example, a farmer with 100 ewes using a contract-shearer to shear their flock, it will cost in the region of €2.20/head to €2.50/head on average or an overall cost of €220 to €250. At a price of 50c/kg for lowland wool and an average fleece weight of 2.5kg per sheep, the value of wool sales will reap a return of approximately €125, leaving the farmer with a significant cost to bear.

The recent Roscommon Lamb Festival dedicated an evening to a wool seminar

It is not surprising given this background that there is an appetite to try and add more value to Irish wool.

The recent Roscommon Lamb Festival dedicated an evening to a wool seminar. The event had many aims, including highlighting the value of wool as a natural high-quality source of fibre while also exploring if there is potential of adding value to wool.

No formal recognition

The seminar brought together a panel of speakers including Kevin Dooley, Dooley Wool; sheep farmer John Brooks; Saoirse McHugh, Green Party MEP candidate; Sandra Coote, Crafts of Ireland and sheep farmer; and Suzanna Crampton, novelist/blogger and sheep farmer.

One of the initiatives explored was to get support for wool for use as an insulation source in newly constructed or renovated buildings

John Brooks has been supporting a drive for many years to get more recognition at national level for wool as a natural high-quality source of fibre. During his tenure as chair of the ICSA sheep committee, he says the association tried hard to get more support at national level for wool. One of the initiatives explored was to get support for wool for use as an insulation source in newly constructed or renovated buildings.

“Every new house that is built now must have two renewable features. With a little support, wool could be used as a fantastic source of insulation but unfortunately it all comes down to cost and wool does not compare favourably with synthetic insulators. In my opinion, however, it should not come down to cost alone and account should be taken of its longer lifetime and the fact that is a renewable and naturally biodegradable.”

John says that with an increasing focus globally on the use of plastics, there may be an opportune time to highlight the role of natural fibres.

“Only something like 3% of world fibre comes from wool. Unfortunately, many consumers just look at cost in their purchasing habits but with the enthusiasm that is building around climate change and greater protection of the environment, it may be the right time to push the credentials of wool as a renewable and recyclable product.”

The first step is getting wool back on the agenda and supported at national level

This was a view echoed by Saoirse McHugh, who said now is the opportune time to reassert the value of wool.

John says that the first step is getting wool back on the agenda and supported at national level. The Irish Wool Council was disbanded in the 1990s, leaving wool without a voice or monitoring body while the classification of wool as a category three animal byproduct similar to offal, blood, etc, is not helping its cause.

Reduced care

Kevin Dooley from Dooley Wool in Roscrea, Co Tipperary, says the low value of wool has reduced the merit placed on it by farmers.

“In the 50s and 60s, my dad Seamus sheared sheep on contract. There was huge demand for wool and many farmers didn’t have the means of transporting it to market. He started purchasing from farmers and selling to merchants and developed the business over time. In 2005, we set up Dooley Wool as a family run business. We have seen many ups and downs in the trade but the most recent downturn in value has had a big influence on the way wool is handled and presented.”

Kevin says that rolling of fleeces before packing is now a rarity and that every wool pack delivered has to be opened, graded and re-packed, which adds labour and cost to the process. He highlights a recent sale of 12t of daggings they had to remove from fleeces while sorting as denoting the reduced care with which wool is handled in the last four to five years.

He acknowledges that farmers have a reduced appetite given the poor prices. He adds, however, that if there was a little more care put into standard elements such as removing daggings, ensuring sheep are not shorn when damp, wool is stored dry and black wool is kept separate to white wool, then it would at least be a starting point in helping to restore some value.

Export-orientated

Giving an insight into the downturn in the market, he says reduced demand from China has been the key factor. A downturn in the rate of growth in the Chinese economy along with increasingly stringent environmental regulations in scouring and processing plants have reduced global demand for wool, with few alternative markets.

There is roughly 7m kilos of wool up for grabs in Ireland

There has been some discussion of late as to the possibility of constructing a wool-scouring and processing facility in Ireland. Kevin said Dooley Wool will always do whatever they can to support Irish farmers but cautioned that such a move may not be feasible for the Irish industry.

“There is roughly 7m kilos of wool up for grabs in Ireland. One of the two remaining scouring plants in Bradford needs to handle and wash in the region of 500t of wool a week to maintain efficiency.

“In an Irish context, we could only keep a plant operating for 14 to 15 weeks. I was over at the plant recently as we were selling a small portion of wool washed as opposed to the norm of greasy and there was wool there imported from other EU and North African countries.

“It is something that needs a lot of careful consideration and a great deal of investigation”.

Niche demand

Sandra Coote from Crafts of Ireland and Suzanna Crampton, Zwartbles Ireland, say there is a growing demand and resurgence of appreciation for high-quality Irish woollen products.

Sandra, who was recently featured as looking for farmers to make contact about the Roscommon breed of sheep, says there is growing interest at home and further afield in woollen products, adding that there is currently good demand for high-quality wool from breeds such as the Galway Sheep, Bluefaced Leicester and other longwool breeds.

The rise in popularity of social media and fact that Irish farmers have a good story to tell should be capitalised upon in any marketing opportunities

She encourages producers with such wool to consider contacting local craftspeople as there could be an alternative market for high-value wool. The Galway Sheep Society is currently investigating such an outlet for this year’s wool clip.

Suzanna Crampton says the rise in popularity of social media and fact that Irish farmers have a good story to tell should be capitalised upon in any marketing opportunities. The Kilkenny native has witnessed growing demand for her Zwartble woollen products and credits this to customers getting an insight into her farming practice through social media.

She says there is huge potential to develop this industry in Ireland and also highlights that farmers can do more to promote their good work.

Market forecast

Many farmers were keen to hear what market forecast Kevin Dooley envisaged for 2019. Kevin says he remains cautious about market prospects in 2019 for medium- and lower-grade wool.

He expects lowland white wool to open in the region of 50c/kg with white Scotch wool from 30c/kg to 35c/kg and black Scotch wool back to 20c/kg. He hopes this may change with demand from China slightly stronger but says it is early in the season to gauge this.

There has been a fantastic market in the last two years for high-value fine wools such as Merino and he expects this to remain the case.