Maximise your fleece value a guide to presenting your fleeces for grading

With many of you already into the shearing season we thought it would be appropriate to highlight the best way to achieve the highest value for your fleece.

If you have suitable buildings, it’s always worthwhile keeping sheep under cover the night before shearing as sheep should never be shorn when the fleece is wet.

Always shear on a clean wooden surface so your fleeces do not become contaminated. If you must shear outside, use a canvas or tarpaulin sheet.

Avoid double cuts or the tearing of the fleece and remove all claggs and daggings.

Keep your coloured wool separate from white wool and your hog wool separate from the ewes and wethers.

Roll fleeces on a clean surface and pack them into the British Wool sheets provided by your depot.

For further information on fleece presentation, please follow the link below https://www.britishwool.org.uk/fleece-presentation

Packing & Storing your wool:

Do not over pack your wool sheet.

Start with a single fleece width across the bottom of the sheet, then stack the fleeces on top of each other until the sheet is full. Don’t be tempted to pack extra fleeces into the sheet - it is easier to handle, transport and unpack eleven correctly filled sheets than ten overfilled sheets.

Label each sheet inside and out with your name, address and membership number.

Fasten the sheets with the string provided, do not use binder, bale or polypropylene twine as the fibres can mix with the wool and lower its value.

Store your wool sheets in a clean, dry building and if this is over a period of time, ensure they’re stored off the floor, such as on a pallet.

Please ensure your wool is delivered to us in good condition to help maximise your value. The main aspect is avoiding faults that would potentially devalue your fleece. Please follow the link for more details https://www.britishwool.org.uk/maximise-your-clip-value

Another area of concern is the use of non-licenced marker sprays. Although, for management purposes, marking sheep is unavoidable, excessive marking can devalue your fleece and using non-licensed markers can result in the fleece being rejected by the processor. A full full list of licensed markers is available here https://www.britishwool.org.uk/ksupload/userfiles/Licensed%20marking%20fluids%20rev%203.pdf