Farmer Focus: Shearing comp highlights wool’s problems
Joe Mault © Richard Stanton As I write this week’s article, I am in the final stages of organising the annual college shearing contest, Cneifio Llysfasi Shears.
Cneifio Llysfasi is a special competition that has been running for about 30 years. It provides a sense of nostalgia for many who compete, as well as the spectators.
The event provides an excellent opportunity to catch up with old friends, which is especially needed considering the competition has been on hold for a couple of years because of Covid-19 regulations.
See also: Traceable wool scheme launched to help secure price premiums
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Although the responsibility for the competition falls to me, there is a great team effort behind the scenes, and I am truly thankful for all the help and support.
While I don’t personally shear, I’m in total admiration of the competitors. Not only are they skilled in their profession, but the fitness required to be a top competitor has been compared with running a marathon.
Those who travel from show to show competing remind me of horse jockeys travelling the country, racetrack to racetrack, to fulfil their adrenaline needs. I imagine shearing competitions will have a similar effect.
The competitions are certainly popular with spectators, too – you only need to visit the Royal Welsh shearing shed on a Wednesday afternoon to see the sea of people watching and cheering on their favourite shearer or wool handler. The atmosphere is electric.
However, amid all this excitement is a large elephant (or sheep?) in the room. The product that is being produced from these shearing events is practically worthless.
Last year, the wool price was so poor we didn’t even bother to take it to the local British Wool depot, as the diesel cost to transport it would have eroded a good proportion of any income.
British Wool must also have concerns about the situation, as we received a phone call to ask if we had taken it somewhere else.
It beggars belief that we have a relatively popular sport that always attracts a crowd and a product that ticks so many sustainability boxes, but still has so little value.
Solutions are varied. Some experts suggest we need more creativity with the end product to add value, or we need to make basic wool products more popular. How to do this, though, is the challenge.