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Introduction
Marketing wool starts long before the actual selling. It begins with producing as valuable a product as possible. Although current wool prices are the lowest in recent history, a small but real income can be obtained from wool when care is taken in its preparation and marketing.
The first part of this module discusses factors that affect the value of the wool. The second part of the module discusses different ways of marketing wool. Appendix 17 provides addresses of wool buyers and of a custom wool processing plant.
Factors Affecting the Value of the Wool
Admittedly, wool prices are low. However, by implementing the following management practices in a sheep operation, wool producers can maximize their net returns.
Selection of sheep
The first thing that determines the value of wool is the breed of sheep. The breed determines the differences in fibre diameter and the type of wool produced. Finer wooled sheep, such as the range breeds, have wool that is more valuable per pound when sold in commercial markets than the wool of other breeds. For sale to hobby hand spinners, some of the long wooled, coloured or novelty fleeces may also be desired.
Hairs or kemps in the fleece significantly reduce its value. Hairs are long continuously growing coarser fibres lacking in crimp. Kemps are shorter, kinky coarse fibres that do not grow continuously. Similarly, dark or coloured fibres will reduce the value of wool in most markets. Hand spinners, though, sometimes appreciate the special effects coloured fibres can produce. Since the tendency to produce kempy or coloured wool is genetic, it can be controlled by breeding.
Be careful to keep wool value in perspective when choosing sheep for their wool qualities. While the fleece of a fine wooled sheep may be worth several times as much as a coarse wooled sheep's fleece, at today's prices the total value of even the very best fleece is small compared to the value of a market lamb. Therefore, you should choose the sheep breeds best suited to the profitable production of lambs, and taken into consideration the particular conditions prevailing on your farm or ranch.
Fleece quality considerations should not take precedence over factors affecting lamb production. However, if fleece quality can be improved without impairing lamb production, then there could be a slight increase to the total income of the sheep operation. For example, by selecting a ram that does not have kemp or coloured fibres in its fleece over an otherwise equally good ram that does, the wool quality would increase without impairing lamb production.
Care of the sheep
The next thing affecting the value of fleeces is the care sheep received. The portion of the wool fibre growing during periods of stress, such as fever, illness, malnutrition, or lambing is very weak. This weak spot produces a breakable fibre, making it less valuable. If a sheep has a high fever, the weaknesses in the fibre are often so great that much of the fleece will later drop off. Even if the fibre stays together on the sheep, a weak spot can break during processing. Keeping the sheep in the best possible health is important for many other reasons besides its effect on the wool.
Avoiding contamination of the fleece
A fleece can also be devalued if contaminants such as chaff collect in the wool of the sheep. Feeder designs that force the sheep to reach up to get their hay, or feeding systems where hay is thrown to waiting sheep, put a lot of chaff into the fleece of the neck and back areas. It is best if hay is fed out when the sheep are away from the feeding area. This will help to keep hay from being tossed onto the sheep. Feeders where the sheep must reach forward rather than up to the hay also keep the fleece cleaner. Inevitably, most hay feeding arrangements will put some chaff into the fleece, but the amount can be minimized.
Other contaminants also cause problems in processing the wool. Weed seeds, burrs and mud can be minimized by careful pasture management. Generous bedding in the barn helps to minimize mud and manure contamination of the fleece, and enhances the health and comfort of the sheep.
One especially undesirable contaminant is pieces of plastic twine. The scouring, or cleaning, processes used to cope with organic contaminants such as chaff and weed seeds cannot do anything to remove plastic. Remove the twine if hay is put through a grinder or chopper. When hay is fed whole, all twine should also be removed, partly to perfect the fleece, but because sheep can eat the twine, suffer digestive blockages and possibly die.
Paint is another contaminant to be avoided. You may wish to put paint marks on sheep for identification. However, use only a special paint intended for marking sheep. These special wool paints are formulated so the processes used to scour the wool, will remove the paint. Other paints and general purpose livestock markers may ruin the fleece. Take care not to mark sheep excessively, and confine the marks to less valuable portions of the fleece, such as the head and neck.
If you are producing extremely valuable fleeces, particularly for the hand spinning market where cleanliness of the fleece is especially important, keep your sheep covered in fabric coats to protect the fleece. The price of the coats must be compared to the expected premium for the clean fleece when determining whether costs are a sensible investment.
Fleece preparation
Proper preparation of the fleece is necessary for it to retain its full value.
Shearing
Ewes should be sheared three to six weeks prior to lambing, if possible, as the stress of lambing can cause breaks in the wool. Shearing prior to lambing also eliminates the need for crutching the ewes, but care must be taken to not overly stress the pregnant ewes.
Before shearing, the sheep should be as clean as possible. Sheep should not be shorn immediately after a period of unusually muddy weather, or when they have liquid feces from a recent change in feed. The sheep must be dry. If the fleece is wet or even damp at shearing time, shearing is more difficult and the stored fleece is more likely to rot, mildew, mold or become musty.
Coloured sheep should be shorn after white sheep to avoid colour contamination of the white wool. Keep the floor clean where the sheep are shorn and after each clipping. Shearing should be done smoothly, with a minimum of second cuts - places where some of the wool is cut twice - and certainly with a minimum of cuts or injury to the sheep.
Once a fleece has been shorn off, and assuming everything has gone accordingly, the fleece will stay together as a unit. When preparing the fleeces, you should gather up the fleece, picking it up as a unit rather than lifting it in a way that pulls it apart.
Next, the fleece should be tossed onto a wool preparation table. A wool preparation table is simply a table which has a porous top - the top can be made of stucco wire, chicken wire, or wooden slats. This allows chaff and other contaminants to fall away from the fleece while it's being prepared.
The fleece is tossed, cut side down, on the wool preparation table and spread out to its original shape. The tossing of the fleece releases much of the chaff and second cuts.
Soiled wool
Wool soiled with manure, which will be located at the edge of the fleece, should be pulled off. Wool that is coated with manure should be discarded. Crutching ewes before shearing will reduce the amount of manure contaminated wool that will need to be removed. Wool that is merely discoloured by manure or urine, but no longer has manure on it, may be put in a separate bag for soiled wool only. If it's left with the rest of the wool, the entire fleece may be devalued.
If there are any spots of coloured or kempy wool - some black faced breeds are apt to have a dark area near the throat or legs - they should be pulled off and bagged separately. Paint brands should also be removed and bagged with soiled wool.
The wool from the belly area is usually noticeably shorter and often more stained than the rest of the fleece. It should be pulled off and bagged separately in a bag labelled belly wool. Face wool and top knots should also be bagged with belly wool as they are short and often kempy.
Rolling fleece
Roll the remaining fleece. First, fold the sides toward the centre of the fleece, then fold the neck area back toward the centre of the fleece. Then starting at the tail end, the fleece is gently rolled up.
Traditionally, the rolled fleece was tied together with paper twine. Today, most wool buyers prefer it not be tied and that the rolled fleece be placed into the sack. This way it is rolled but not a tied unit. If you choose to tie the fleece, it's extremely important to use only the special paper twine that is made for tying fleeces. Other types of twine should not be used.
Sorting the fleeces
To get the best possible price for the wool, you should sort it according to the different types. Even if one buyer takes it all, separate bagging expedites the job of grading it.
Belly wool, manure stained wool, wool with kemp or dark fibres, and wool that are dirtier or chaffer than most of the lot should each be bagged separately. Label the contents of the bags. If there are sheep of different wool types within the flock, bag their wool in separate bags; i.e., Finn and high lustre wool separate from the Rambouillet -type wool. Down wools (Dorset, Suffolks) should each be bagged separately.
Bagging the fleeces
If you plan to sell wool in small quantities to hobbyists, it should be bagged accordingly. Paper grocery bags or clean, lint-free cloth bags, depending on the size lots that the customers want, are suitable containers. Beware of plastic bags because wool can deteriorate if it does not get fresh air.
When selling large quantities to commercial wool buyers, large sacks sold especially for bagging wool should be used. A wool bagging stand is needed for properly filling these types of sacks. Plans for building a wool bagging stand are available from Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development district offices. Before putting any wool in the large sack, the producer should make ears in the sack. This is done by placing a handful of wool in each of the bottom two corners of the sack, and tying a piece of twine tightly around the corner just above the handful of wool. These ears (they look a little like cat's ears) make it easier to handle the full bag of wool. Then, the sack is installed on the wool bagging stand.
Once eight to 12 fleeces have been dropped into the sack, they need to be compressed. The producer should climb into the sack and step on the fleeces, packing them down as tightly as possible. Rolling additional fleeces down between the compressed wool and the sides of the sack helps with compression. This should be done several times as the bag is filled. A compact, tightly filled sack, weighing 200 pounds or more, is easier to handle than a loosely filled sack because it doesn't flop around. It is also cheaper to ship wool in tightly filled sacks because trucking costs, in the case of a bulky product like wool, depend on volume rather than on weight. Similarly, when there is only a partial sack of wool, it is better to compress the wool and sew the sack closed as a partial sack than to put the same amount of wool loosely into the entire sack.
A label with your name and address should be placed inside the sack, before it is sewn shut. Another label, with your name and address and the name of the buyer, should be tied onto one of the "ears" of the sack.
There are three main ways of marketing wool: selling to commercial wool buyers, selling to handicrafters and selling partially prepared fleeces.
Ways of Marketing Wool
Factories and commercial wool buyers
Wool processors want to purchase a graded product that fulfills their particular requirements. Therefore, they do not usually purchase wool directly from producers except in special circumstances such as local industries. If you can provide a clean, well-prepared batch and uniform type of wool, some wool processing factories may be interested, but for most producers selling to a wool buyer is simpler.
Commercial wool buyers purchase wool, sort and grade it, and sell it to wool processing factories. They deal in large quantities to make shipping economical and to make the paperwork associated with exporting wool to other countries worthwhile.
Wool buyers purchase the types of wool they can readily resell. They do not want to purchase poor quality wool or specialty wools that are of interest only to handicrafters.
What the commercial wool buyer or factory is usually looking for:
- White wool only
- No kemp or coloured fibres
- Usually a strong price preference for finer wools
- Twine or unscourable paint contamination is not tolerated
- Wool that is free from contamination with organic matter is preferred, and will bring the best price
- Wool free from other faults such as break, cotts and stains.
Hand spinners
Hand spinners and weavers form a small but sometimes important market for wool. They purchase a number of different types of wool, but each person usually wants only a particular type. Producers can investigate the requirements of hand spinners in their area.
Hand spinners often value certain types of wool that the commercial wool buyers do not want, such as coloured or long wools. However, they do not want stained, dirty, or weak fibre wool.
While different hand spinners want various types of fleece - varying in staple length, fibre diameter, crimp or colour, there is one demand all have in common: they only want very clean fleeces, free from other faults.
Partially prepared fleeces
Some hand spinners, weavers, etc. like to purchase partially prepared fleeces. The following wool products all have their own buyers:
- Fleece as it is shorn from the sheep
- Washed (but otherwise unprocessed) fleece
- Washed and carded into roving
- Washed a carded into batts
- Washed, carded, and spun into yard
Some sheep producers do this processing themselves. There are also custom wool processing businesses which will prepare the wool and then ship it back to you for marketing.
As a wool grower you may process small amounts of wool for sale, see what the market wants then determine what prices can be obtained. Before investing a lot of time or money in preparing large quantities for sale, current market demands and prices should be investigated, to be sure the effort is worthwhile. Past wool products that have been profitable, or products that may appeal to only a few buyers, are not necessarily profitable every year. The demand for particular types of specialty wool varies tremendously from year to year, and the price for specialty wool is also very volatile.
Markets for wool to be used in handicrafts may be found through:
- Local hand spinners and weavers guilds, Senior Citizen clubs, etc.
- Farmers' markets
- Newspaper advertisements
- Notices posted at craft supply stores
- Displays at fairs and craft shows
Summary
Although wool may not be a high-priced commodity, proper management of its production can make the difference between no income from wool and a modest but real income.
The first thing that determines the value of the wool is the genetics of the sheep. Since wool is worth little when compared to the value of lamb, you should not sacrifice lamb production for improvement in wool quality. However, elimination of coloured fibres and of kemp can often be attained with no sacrifice to lamb production. Breeding choices can also often improve the fineness and the total weight of the fleece with no sacrifice of lamb production.
Maximize the value of the wool you produce by taking proper care of it both while it's on the sheep and while handling it at shearing time. While wool can be sold through commercial wool buyers, coloured, long, or other specialty wools, as well as extremely clean, white wools, may bring a better price when sold to hand spinners. Wool can be sold to hand spinners in its raw state or as a partially prepared wool product.
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