‘Shear Success’ a new guide for farmers on how to maximise their wool’s value, delivered to almost 50,000 sheep farmers nationally
Produced by the Irish Grown Wool Council in partnership with Teagasc, the guide is included in this year’s annual Sheep Census forms issued by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
The ‘Shear Success’ guide is aimed at supporting sheep farmers to maximise the value of their wool. The practical guide offers recommendations to sheep farmers on how best to prepare before, during and after shearing, in order to maximise their wool value and avoid reducing its potential value and use.
The guide emphasises best practices for maintaining fleece quality before and during shearing plus wool handling techniques to ensure that fleeces are rolled and stored correctly post-shearing to preserve their integrity and value.
Nationwide, sheep farmers will be receiving the Shear Success guide along with their sheep census forms. The Irish Grown Wool Council is recommending that sheep farmers review the guide and attach it to the shearing month of their 2025 calendar, as well as encouraging sheep farmers to complete the annual sheep census issued by DAFM.
The ‘Shear Success’ leaflet complements the earlier launch this year of two comprehensive short videos produced by the Irish Grown Wool Council and Teagasc. These videos available online and via Youtube are presented by sheep farmers David Heraty, Irish Sheep Shearers Association and Jayne Harkness-Bones, Ulster Wool, participants of the Wool Quality & Presentation working group in the Irish Grown Wool Council. The content provides best practice for sheep farmers to ensure enhanced wool quality and presentation so that wool is presented in the best possible condition for sale onwards to wool merchants and exporters.
David Heraty explains “Wool quality and presentation is important to ensure that farmers are presenting fleeces in the best possible condition. We see that value is often lost at shearing time due to a lack of preparation or presentation. Additional resources may then be required to bring wool up to standard, which reduces both the price for the farmer and the potential development for the wool. Presenting wool in the best possible condition at the farm gate helps to ensure a better return for everyone all along the value chain. This is an opportunity for sheep farmers to apply some simple steps before, during and after shearing to maximise their wool at harvesting time. Advancing the standard of wool presentation is essential, this enables industry to begin to develop new markets for Irish grown wool across a range of sectors.”
Irish Grown Wool Council Interim Chair Alison Gault said “It’s been 25 years since there has been a formal educational piece on Wool Care and Presentation for sheep farmers. This campaign is to encourage better awareness and training on wool handling and presentation, with a view to reinstating traditional wool handling and presentation standards for farmers, producers, shearers, merchants and graders.
The 2025 wool outlook looks positive and we want farmers to benefit fully.
Ensuring top-quality presentation will be key to capturing increased value and avoiding missed opportunities in a stronger market.
The dissemination of this information delivers a significant milestone for the Irish Grown Wool Council as one of our key objectives of encouraging better awareness and training on wool handling and presentation. We are grateful for the support of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) for their inclusion of the ‘Shear Success’ brochure with their Annual Sheep Census forms and enabling the distribution of this valuable information to almost 50,000 sheep farming households nationwide. Many thanks also to Teagasc for their partnership and collaboration throughout the year on the ‘Shear Success’ leaflet and videos which have been designed to offer clear and practical advice that can be easily implemented, helping farmers to maximise the value of their wool.”
An all-island initiative, the objective of the Irish Grown Wool Council is to transform Irish-grown wool; an underutilised and undervalued resource, into a branded, value-added product for the benefit of farmers and the wider supply chain. A voluntary body with an all island approach IGWC was established in April 2023 based on the recommendations of a Department of Agriculture Food & Marine (DAFM) sponsored report ‘Review Of Market Opportunities For Irish-Grown Wool Based Products’.
Alison Gault added “Throughout 2024 the Irish Grown Wool Council has collaborated on many different industry, educational and consumer events, nationally and internationally to raise awareness about the challenges and opportunities for Irish grown wool. We are planning further developments for 2025.
“Currently we are inviting applications for our Chairperson role vacancy, further information is available on our website www.irishgrownwoolcouncil.ie and www.boardmatch.ie.
Alison Gault, Interim Chair, Irish Grown Wool Council
Also in 2025 we will be developing a membership plan to enable individuals and organisations to apply for IGWC membership, interested applicants should check our website for more details throughout the coming year”.
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