The story of wool is almost as old as recorded history.
Wool has been used from 10,000BC and was recognised even then as a most remarkable fibre. It still is.
The demise of the crossbred (xbd) wool industry therefore is hard to fathom given the qualities wool possesses that today xbd wool is almost worthless.
There was a time when wool was worth £1 for a pound in fibre weight. But in the meantime wool’s great qualities have been captured by the synthetic (oil) industry using the word polar to promote warmth and fleece to allude to sheep who produce a fleece annually.
During World War 2, wool was the only material our soldiers could wear in the Middle East, where extremes of heat and cold were a constant. Wool kept you warm when needed at night and cool during hot summer days when other materials next to the skin became sticky and unpleasantly odorous.
In the early 1970s another natural fibre, cotton, was having similar problems as wool in competing with synthetics.
Unlike wool, cotton began its mission to improve its demand for, and the profitability of cotton.
Fifty years on, Cotton Incorporated continues to fulfil that promise through research and marketing activities.
Wool? Well we developed a symbol, the wool mark, that most will now not recognise.
The difficulties of the sheep/wool industry therefore was never due to a desire to start work at 4am every day and milk cows.
A sheep farm, converted to dairying, may well support three families instead of one with sheep, so it’s pure economics.
These days, carpet is the main use for xbd wool, yet nobody knows whether a floor covering is natural, free-range product or an amalgam of micro plastics, once nailed to the floor. No brand is ever shown on the visual side of the carpet laid on the floor of a house.
We all blithesomely admire the floor covering without knowing what it is made from, which hardly adds to any differentiation between the competing fibres.
Carpet is, well, carpet; yet in the unfortunate event of a fire or even just a hot ember or two, wool is resistant, whereas the product from the petrochemical industry positively welcomes the chance to spread its properties and quickly.
Despite this obvious advantage of safety within houses, hotels, airlines, et al, wool’s properties in this aspect are rarely promoted.
Given the warming and breathing properties of wool, it became obvious the difference wool can make to a person’s health with poor blood vessel circulation. Woollen socks are not just helpful but an essential item of clothing to warm a foot with sciatica.
It is rare to see any promotion of this wonderful property of wool yet those of us who fully value wool for this wellbeing attribute can only wonder why this aspect is not just promoted, but shouted from the roof tops.
Instead of the sheep farmer looking forward to receiving what was once called a wool cheque where at least half their income was derived, he/she now receives a substantial invoice from the shearing contractor. Xbd wool therefore is now a liability and not an asset despite being one of the most sustainable items known to humankind.
A deep dive into wool’s history would likely provide so many answers to why this great fibre cannot compete. It likely comes down to what cotton did and what wool didn’t do 50 years ago.
Perhaps one of the main reasons for this situation was a telling comment made quite some years ago at a wool industry meeting by the Wool Board chairman in response to this question.
Me: "Chairman, why do we still dump our wool on the auction room floor and hope like hell some buyers might turn up and buy?".
Chairman: "It’s still the best way to get rid of the stuff".
I guess sometimes the problems of the industry are sometimes represented by our own false prophets.
- Gerard Eckhoff is a farmer and former politician.
