Wool – fighting back from the brink!

Back in the Middle Ages, fortunes were made on the back of the wool trade.

Back then, it was recognised for what it still is: the world’s most natural fibre that can be used in so many ways. Indeed, many would argue that wool encapsulates the very essence of the term ‘sustainability’.

Wool ticks every box, so why have the last 11 months seen the wool industry brought to its knees? Farming Life’s Richard Halleron sought an answer to this fundamental question courtesy of a recent chat he had with Brendan Kelly, the man who represents Northern Ireland producers as Chairman of Ulster Wool.

Recent weeks have seen the Co Antrim man re-elected, unopposed, to the Board for a second three-year term.

Richard started by asking Brendan a little bit about his background.

“I was born into a traditional beef and sheep farming family. Our land is located between Ballymena and Randalstown. I have two brothers: Gerard and Seamus. We farm in partnership today.

“We farm off 550 acres. In my father’s time breeding sheep and finishing cattle were the two enterprises on the farm. Over the years, we invested in suckler cows and bought 110 acres of additional land as it became available to us.

“Today the farm is home to 100 late spring/early summer calving cows and 900 breeding ewes. The flock comprises a mix of Romney and Mule breed types.

“We breed all our herd replacements with the reminder of the calves brought through to finishing weights.

“All the lambs are also finished on the farms: replacement mule ewes are bought in. So there always something happening to keep us busy.”

Did you enjoy school?

“I attended Carnaghts primary school, which was located at the bottom of our lane. I then moved to St Patrick’s in Ballymena.

“To be honest, homework was never that big a priority for me. As soon as I got home from school, I got my overalls on and headed for the yard. Home work would have been looked at only when all the work of the day had been cleared up.

“And on many occasions, the home work might have been left until I was on the school bus the following morning.

“I really enjoyed sport. Gaelic football and soccer were my two loves. I played full forward for Glenravel up to minor level and, a decade later went on to play at full back for the All Saints club in Ballymena.”

Why did you take the break from football?

“Shearing took over my life for a full 10 years. I loved it – and still do. My father had always encouraged my brothers and I to look at other enterprise options beyond the farm. Shearing provided us with this very opportunity.

“By the early 1990’s we had developed the largest contract shearing on the island of Ireland. Throughout the clipping season we would have been working with flock owners along the entire eastern sea board.

“It was developed on the basis of two brothers shearing at any one time while the other looked after the farm.

“The system worked well and we all derived great satisfaction from the opportunity of travelling to different places and meeting new people.”

But in Brendan’s case the island of Ireland wasn’t large enough. He had the travelling bug and, in his late-twenties, spent a year shearing sheep in New Zealand.

“That was a steep learning curve. Before leaving home, I could shear 170 sheep a day.

“I thought I was a top man. But the bottom line entry point for anyone wanting to hold down a position within a New Zealand shearing stand is to be able to clip a minimum of 200 sheep in an eight-hour period.

“So it was tough from the get-go. Some of the top shearers in New Zealand can clip up to 300 sheep per day.

“When I got home, I took up football again. I found that I could hardly run a yard but had tremendous stamina. Shearing develops a different set of muscles than those required by a footballer or a track athlete.”

Brendan went on to point out that sheep found here in Northern Ireland will produce a fleece weighing around two kilos while pure bred New Zealand Romneys can produce a fleece weight of three kilos. But wait for it: the average fleece produced by an Australian Merino ewe will hit the scale at a massive 10 kilos.

Shearing also provided Brendan with the opportunity to mix business and the thrill of competition.

“I set myself three goals as a competitive shearer: to win the Ringer Trophy at Balmoral Show; to represent Northern Ireland and to compete in open shearing competitions.

“I was able to tick two of the three boxes: the Ringer Trophy always eluded me.

“That said, I enjoyed every minute of it all. My competitive shearing days are a fading memory now. However, I still have strong links with the sport in my capacity as a judge. Prior to Covid, I had the honour of judging at the World Shearing Championships in Norway.”

Given his life-long association with sheep production and shearing, Brendan as always had a strong interest in wool. He was elected to the Ulster Wool in 2018. January of this year saw him re-elected unopposed for a second three-year term.

“I have always recognised the benefits of marketing and selling wool on a co-operative basis. Over many years, this has been achieved through the activity of Ulster Wool at Muckamore in Co Antrim and its links with British Wool, which is headquartered in Bradford. The members of the Board oversee the activities of British Wool.

“Had these structures not been in place, the vast majority of local sheep producers would have had no other option but to dump the wool they produced down through the years.

“Yes, individual wool buyers would have cherry picked the largest flocks. But everyone else would have been forgotten about.

“The presence of Ulster Wool ensures that everyone, from the smallest flock owner to the largest sheep producer, gets treated on an equal basis.

“At the heart of all this is a wool grading system, which works to ensure that wools of similar qualities from flocks around the UK can be grouped and then sold as economically viable entities.

“This principle has worked well over many years and can continue to do so into the future.

“Ulster Wool is a farmer co-operative, fully owned by the thousands of local sheep producers who supply it.

“Each wool consignment reaching the Muckamore depot is recorded and then graded on site.

“The wool is then submitted for sale, courtesy of the regular auctions hosted in Bradford.”

Does Ulster Wool buy wool?

“No, we sell it. Subsequent to producers’ wool arriving at Muckamore, they will receive a forward payment based on the weight and the quality of the wool submitted. They will receive a top-up payment for a specific year’s wool on receipt of the following year’s clip.

“Payments are based on the price received at auction, less the handling, transport and grading charged incurred by Ulster Wool.”

So why has the wool sector been hit so badly over the past 12 months?

“Most of the wool produced in the UK is destined for carpet production. Woollen carpets are amongst the world’s most hard wearing and enduring floor coverings. As a result, they are in strong demand within the hotel sector, on cruise liners, in casinos and restaurants, basically any location dealing with a large footfall of people on a regular basis.

“Unfortunately, these are the very same sectors that have been hardest hit by the Covid pandemic. Hotels have stopped all new build and refurbishment projects. The same can be said for casinos and cruise line operators.

“As a result, the market for wool crashed in the wake of the first lockdown introduced last March.

“We responded by halting all auctions between February and June last year. By the time they re-commenced an 11m kilos stock pile of wool had built up in stores around the UK, including here in Northern Ireland.

“Most of this wool has now been sold but at prices that were 50% below where the market was at the beginning of 2020.

“And, of course, there was also the challenge of dealing with new season wool coming into depots as the summer and autumn of last year progressed. The current stock pile of wool has been reduced to 4m tonnes. But this is still a heck of a lot of product that is overhanging the market.”

Brendan went on to explain that Ulster Wool’s costs per kg to process the wool had increased due to a lower wool intake. Meanwhile, average wool prices have fallen sharply.  The average price achieved for Ulster Wool at auction has been 46p/kg through for the 2020 season – this compares to 92p/kg pre Covid.

“We have continued to accept and grade every consignment of wool delivered to Muckamore. And we want producers to keep on sending their wool to Ulster Wool.

“But the market crash of 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the Ulster Wool operation.

“First off, the business has incurred a loss on every kilo of wool it has handled over the past 12 months, this will have a direct impact on producers wool cheques for their 2020 wool. This is not a sustainable position to be in, from both an Ulster Wool perspective and its individual farmer-shareholders.”

Why has government not supported wool up to this point?

“Farmers supplying lambs at the very heart of the Covid crisis were compensated by government for the drop in prices they suffered at that time. And rightly so! But nothing has done to support wool and primary sheep producers.

“But I strongly believe there is an even stronger issue of principle coming into play here. Government must support the co-ordinated marketing of wool. Otherwise, the industry as we know it will disappear off the map.

“Ulster Wool must be supported to the extent that it can cover its losses for 2020 while also being allowed to make some form of payment commitment to sheep farmers for the wool they supplied in 2020.

“And, given current market conditions the same level of commitment will be required for 2021.”

Monday next (February 15th) will see a deputation from Ulster Wool, the Ulster Farmers’ Union and the National Sheep Association meeting with Northern Ireland’s Farm Minister Gordon Lyons to discuss the perfect storm that was 2020 and the prospects for wool during the year ahead. Brendan feels that the Stormont Executive must act decisively to instill confidence amongst sheep producers in the work carried out by Ulster Wool.

“We estimate the shortfall for 2020 to be in the region of £721,000 with a similar amount required for 2021 if producers are going to be able to cover their shearing costs.

“In relative terms, this is a very small price to pay, given the traditional importance of wool to agriculture in Northern Ireland.”

Is there a future for wool?

“Of course there is. It would be an absolute tragedy if such a versatile and natural product were to be rendered, essentially, valueless. And everyone; particularly government has a role to play in making sure this doesn’t happen.

“A perfect example of what could be done links to the commitment by Westminster to plant millions of trees across the UK over the coming years. There is nothing to stop those driving this project to stipulate that all the tree covers used contain a high percentage of wool.

“The R&D work has already been carried out to verify the relevance of wool in this context. And this is only one example of how wool can be incorporated into so many new products. It just takes organisations like government departments to champion their use!”