The Sustainability of Wool for Sustainable Sheep Farming
, 12 March 2024
As we welcome our new lambs at Llwyn yr Eos farm into the world, I’ve been watching the Welsh farmers’ protests and thinking about their future.
A significant and contentious part of the Welsh Government’s current proposals for the future of agriculture in Wales are measures to promote environmental sustainability and the restoration of biodiversity. This could mean that in the future there might be far fewer sheep kept in Wales. Sustainable sheep farming using environmentally sensitive methods, producing high value products might be the way. How to create added value would be the challenge, though.
One current aspect of sheep farming that has been the cause of frustration for farmers for many years is the low price of wool. The price of a fleece is often not enough to pay the cost of the shearer to shear it. Some farmers have been known to burn or bury their wool rather than pay to have it collected from the wool depot. St Fagans’s wool goes to the British Wool depot in Brecon, whose mission is to drive demand for the product. There is a real need to find additional value from Welsh wool beyond its conventional use for clothing and textiles. This has led to new research into its possible uses in innovative, and sometimes surprising, new products.
Wool as an alternative insulation material in houses is becoming more widely known, but the range of new products and uses being developed include interior fittings for cars, a specialist ingredient for cosmetics, and insulated covers. Other products have been more ‘home-grown’, developed in gardens and on farms, as a means of finding alternative uses for wool and additional income.
Bangor University’s Biocomposite Centre has been working in partnership with Menter Môn’s ‘Gwnaed â Gwlân - Made with Wool’ project to develop new ideas. They have identified five products with the potential for creating high value. The number one product with the highest potential earnings is Keratin, a fibrous protein which can be used in cosmetics, hair products, medicines. Keratin from wool is a viable alternative to conventional sources such as human hair and feathers, now ethically debateable, or using petroleum-based products.
Wool’s insulation properties and natural moisture and temperature controls could also be used in covers for trolleys carrying refrigeration products in supermarkets. They could be a sustainable alternative to using foam materials such as polyurethane.
The Product Design course at Bangor University has produced prototypes for gym equipment handles, and mouldings for car interiors, as sustainable alternatives to foams and plastics. Wool is used with bio-resins made from renewable and biodegradable sources such as plants and wood pulp.
The ‘Solid Wool Company’ is already using the method to produce their ‘Hembury’ solidwool chairs using Welsh Mountain wool, described as creating ‘a striking marbled effect, showcasing the unique layering of textures and tones found in this incredible wool’.
At Gwinllan Conwy Vineyard, Conwy County, mats of wool are laid on the ground at the foot of the vines, deterring pests and weeds, reducing the need to spray chemicals. The fleeces also reflect the sunlight on to the grapes. Significantly, the quality of the wine has also improved.
In a similar way, wool mats are also effective in vegetable gardens. Repairing footpaths using wool as a base is being tried on Anglesey. It’s a way of trying to find a more sustainable method using a locally produced product, instead of a man-made membrane.
With such a range of new and sustainable uses, l hope the lambs we see being born today will have their fleeces put to good use in the future in sustainable sheep farming, in a sustainable environment.
For more information about the story of wool, visit our National Wool Museum in Dre-fach Felindre, Carmarthenshire.
