Happy Sheeps markets wool direct to the UK

His wool stencil and trading name is Happy Sheeps - he direct markets some wool to United Kingdom woollen mills under his Happy Sheeps banner - and his sheep have produced exceptional length wools this season with just 10 months between shearings.

Mr Sprigg is an advocate for the late Jim Watt, pioneer of soft rolling skin and the genetics and science that he believed made mulesing redundant as a protection against fly strike.

Happy Sheeps, Wialki, have not been mulesed for 13 or 14 years, with Mr Sprigg relying on genetic improvement to protect his 2500 ewes - about 120 of those are breeding stock for his family's Ebenezer Poll Merino stud.

The stud was registered in 2020 to provide sires for his commercial flock and was founded with the purchase of three rams and 65 ewes from Well Gully Poll Merino stud, in central Queensland.

"Jim Watts did a lot of work with Well Gully in the early days and he was of the opinion they had arguably the best wool in Australia - it wasn't just the micron, it was the whole wool biology," said Mr Sprigg last week during his first visit to the Western Wool Centre to watch his Happy Sheeps clip sold.

A late October shearing produced 91 bales of soft-to-the-touch, bright white, stylish wool with a well-defined crimp.

His broker AWN put 85 bales of fleece, pieces and belly wools up for auction, with lambs' wool to be sold later.

READ MORE:

The top greasy price of 1141 cents per kilogram (1612c/kg clean) was paid by PJ Morris Wools for a two-bale specialty line of Happy Sheeps' fleece wool from ewes either purchased from Well Gully stud or direct progeny from the Well Gully purchases.

The top-priced lot had wool test specifications of 17.9 microns, 1.2 per cent vegetable matter (VM), a yield of 70.8pc, a staple length (SL) of 112 millimetres from 10 months' growth on the edge of the Wheatbelt, a coefficient of variation (CoV) of 13pc and 28N/kt staple strength (SS).

A 13-bale main fleece line of 19.6 micron wool yielding 67pc, with 0.8 VM, 103mm SL, 19pc CoV and 34N/kt SS, sold for 970c/kg greasy (1448c/kg clean).

Five lots were passed in just shy of their appraisal estimate in a wool market that suddenly went backwards on news the Chinese city of Shanghai was back in COVID lockdown.

Those lots were sold privately after the auction.

Largely stemming from Mr Sprigg's research of the UK wool market for his 2015 Happy Sheeps initial entry there, its wool and its wool enterprise are certified under three separate ethical and integrity schemes.

Mr Sprigg said he had been astounded to see some UK woollen mills advertising on their websites they did not buy Australian wool.

"That can only be because of the perceptions about animal welfare and mulesing and we have to correct that," he said.

So Mr Sprigg was the first local woolgrower accredited under the original SustainaWOOL integrity program now administered by Australian Wool Exchange.

Last year's clip was Happy Sheeps' first under the SustainaWOOL Gold raised level of scrutiny.

Happy Sheeps is also accredited under the Authentico integrity scheme launched by Schneider Group - a 100-year-old Italian-based company that specialises in ethically and sustainably produced, fully traceable quality wools - and also ZQ Natural Fibre, one of the first ethical platforms tied to non-mulesing.

So it was no surprise Schneider and Tianyu Wools, one of the world's largest wool top makers, were the main buyers of the Happy Sheeps' clip last week.

AWN State wool and livestock manager Greg Tilbrook said the 11 lines of Happy Sheeps wool that sold at auction had sold "well above appraisal" despite adverse market conditions.

"(Due to the ethical and sustainability certifications) I would say there was probably a 40 to 50 cent greasy premium for the fleece we sold," Mr Tilbrook said.

"It's a good result and the premium carried through to the oddments."

Mr Sprigg said he was very happy with the clip this season.

"I thought it came off the sheep very, very nicely (and Mukinbudin shearing contractor Steve Paterson) is very supportive of what we do," he said.

"Initially I was a bit disappointed with the tensile strength - I though it might have been better - but then the lambing rate was 130pc, so each sheep has had a lamb sucking on it which makes the nutritional requirement more intense."

Mr Sprigg said he and his family have a "wholistic approach" to farming their 16,000 hectares.

They have planted almost one million native trees and shrubs in shelter belts over the years to provide protection for lambing ewes and as native wildlife corridors.

They use low-stress flock management techniques - leading flocks rather than driving them.

"Our approach is not only to animal husbandry and welfare, but also to the environment and to the human resources systems," Mr Sprigg said.

"We're pretty careful about how we manage our people, as well as our environment and our sheep."

He said he inherited his wholistic approach to farming from his mother, a Bonnie Rock school teacher who was an early environmentalist.

Mr Sprigg said "the key" to direct marketing wool into the UK had been "providing a story as well as the product".

That message had implications for other markets, but Happy Sheeps' story was a good one, whatever the market, he said.

An AWN woolgrower client, who wanted to remain anonymous, donated four bales of wool which sold last week for 670c/kg greasy, raising about $5000 for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.