This is Olivers hat. I made it as a thank you. I hope he likes chartreuse. Everything I do at the moment seems to have chartreuse in it. I can’t help it.
Now I knew Oliver kept a couple of pigs on the village allotments but what I didn’t know was that he had also recently started to dabble with sheep (Norfolk Horn). These are they:
I found this out when he sidled up to me at a concert in the village hall and said ‘ you spin don’t you?’ and offered me one of his fleeces. For free. Gratis. Niet. Well you can’t turn down a man that makes an offer like that! A few days later a potato sack turned up by the back door stuffed with one of the nicest fleeces I have seen in a long time. It was better than many that I have paid for. I have this thing where I can’t take anything for nothing. I have to gift something back. Its good form and helps keep the karma going in the right direction. Hence the hat. But it got me thinking.
In the UK sheep are primarily raised for meat, wool is perceived as a by-product of limited value. Shearing is done for welfare, to avoid stress from overheating and from fly strike. Shearing sheep is a cost that erodes still further narrow profit margins. I don’t keep sheep, I don’t have anything to do with the raising of sheep, I don’t shear sheep. I just want their fleece.
So I don’t really have any idea of how much it costs to shear a sheep. A quick trawl through the internet didn’t give much information, which normally means the data either doesn’t exist or its held in some vault somewhere so someone can sell it or hide it. Someone somewhere must keep statistics on this – if you know where or have them please let me know. However, the little snippets I did pick up gave a range from £1 – £2.50 up to £4 for longwool breeds. Which must eat into profit margins (if any) possible from the revenue that can be generated from sale of the clip. There are many anecdotal stories of it costing more to shear a sheep than the wool was worth.
But, thankfully, things are changing. According to the British wool marketing boards average clip value statistics in 2015 the average clip value was £1.05 per kg. Which makes 2015 a very good year for wool prices. In 2015 wool was actually worth more than the cost to get it off the sheep. Yay!
The table shows the actual wool clip value (£/kg) from 2010 to 2015 (guide). In five years the value has fallen and remained low but showed signs of an upturn this year. I also did a very quick and very dirty average fleece weight to see roughly how much value there was in a raw fleece for each of the main breeds shown (Note this is not a robust investigation so please interpret accordingly and use wisely). You don’t need a PhD to see sheep farmers can’t be in it for the veritable gold mine that is wool…
For small holders – the main resource for spinners who like the raw stuff – the costs may be even greater. They are typically not participants in the BWMB. They generally have smaller flocks. The costs of shearing will be higher. Typically smaller flocks mean a greater outlay in terms of transport and overheads for the shearer or a slower rate of clipping for the smallholder which increase costs. Indeed, many smallholders undertake the shearing themselves. Often this leaves the small holder with fleece that has ‘no value’ or rather no market. It is not unusual for fleeces to be burnt or disposed of in some other way. If they are fortunate they will know someone who knows someone who spins and they will give it away happy in the knowledge that it will go to good use.
So if you get offered fleece for free. Bear all this in mind. Gift something back. Whether it be a crisp £5, some of your time, a cake to go with the cup of tea you will inevitably be offered or a beautifully hand spun hat/scarf/teacosy/gloves/doily or whatever you have made from said fleece. Answer this question: Do you work for free? Why would you think that someone else would not deserve the same?