UK's flagging wool industry wants to copy Aussie success with finer wools

The UK's sheep industry has launched a research project "Fabulous Fibre" aiming to build a higher value fine wool industry.

The 12-month project wants to increase the value of home-grown wool through breeding and genetics..

A study to "evaluate the potential" of reducing micron sizes of UK sheep breeds wants to boost its flagging wool industry.

The project's partners are the National Sheep Association, British Wool, Centre for Excellence in Livestock, Langrish Farmers and the Wool Testing Authority Europe.

The project was launched as UK farmers battle a worsening outbreak of bluetongue disease with 52 cases in sheep and cattle on 29 farms, centred north of Kent in England's south-east.

The last outbreak of bluetongue in the UK was in 2007, meaning the country had been officially free of the virus since 2011.

British Wool has this year announced its first sustained price recovery since the pandemic, with a general rise of 20 per cent across recent auctions.

There were 22.4 million sheep recorded across the UK in 2022, producing 70,450 tonnes of mainly medium and strong wool types.

Australia is home to about 70 million sheep and is the world's biggest wool grower producing around 403,300 tonnes on the latest estimates.

The British project says a possible industry-wide move to lower micron wools would increase the value of the national clip.

NSA chief executive Phil Stocker said: "If farmers can differentiate wool based on micron, they can produce consistent lines for sale, commanding price-premiums, or genetically improve wool quality.

"Wool traits are highly heritable so genetic gain can be fast once protocols for measurement and genetic evaluation are in place.

"Benefits will be delivered to farmers in terms of profitability and sustainability ..."

The NSA says there is currently a lack of data on UK wool microns "and no UK on-farm, objective measurement tool exists".

Current testing is for aggregated lots from multiple farms, with no routine testing for farms or individual sheep.

British Wool chief executive Andrew Hogley said: "When you look at the wool currently produced in the UK there is very little that falls into the lower micron categories.

"If we can produce lower micron wool in the UK it should command a significant premium and will also potentially open up new product opportunities for British wool."

The search is based on measuring microns on one farm's flock.

A portable wool-testing device will identify finer wooled sheep within that flock.

Superior quality breeding stock will be identified and future lambs will be tested "allowing an estimation of the degree to which micron is genetically controlled (as heritability)."