Farmer focuses on fleece quality

While he would welcome a higher return for his wool he believes the prime benefactor of a good fleece is the sheep itself.

"Wool is fundamental to sheep and obviously has an important contribution to make to its general well-being and ultimately its profitability - not from the value of the wool to me but to the sheep," says Ian Grisedale of Milton, near Kendal.

He's no newcomer to appreciating a good fleece and has been a long-time supporter of fleece classes at agricultural shows where he's enjoyed considerable success over the years.

With his wife Angela he runs a flock of 300 breeding ewes which include pure-bred Herdwick, Texel and Lleyn ewes as well as a proportion of Texel and Lleyn crosses used for prime lamb production.

"We show fleeces at the summer shows wherever there are classes - although this hasn't been a normal year for anyone. We always have fleeces at the Great Yorkshire and at Westmorland County," says Ian Grisedale.

He's been showing fleeces for over 20 years and says he'd like to see more sheep producers take a real pride in their wool and to get involved in showing it.

"I don't think there's as much pride in wool as there used to be and in the hill breeds in particular wool quality has deteriorated as a result."

Although a devout Herdwick supporter, he reckons the breed now has sheep that show two distinct fleece types - "razor backs" and "woolly backs".

"In my book the razor back has a jacket on it that's about an inch long and is like a wire brush. It's a fleece that has little value either as a commodity or to the sheep that's carrying it.

"The woolly back Herdwick has a staple of four to six inches and that's the wool that's wanted and is the type we should be aiming for as breeders."

Ian Grisedale says that in his experience the "woolly back" Herdwick is superior having a broader back and better carcase.

"This year the price of the wool hasn't paid for the clipping; as producers our wool should at least pay for that and to make sure it happens we need to continue to pay attention to wool quality."

When selecting Herdwick tups Ian Grisedale says it's the quality of the wool that comes in for close inspection along with the sheep's other characteristics.

"The wool needs to be fairly hard but not too short. I always check the wool right through to what we term as the waistcoat and down to the skin. I want a solid fleece so that when I feel it I get a handful of wool and not a handful of meat.

"I want a handful to feel as solid as a cricket ball and that tells me the sheep has the density of fleece I'm looking for. There's no doubt that the "razor back" type of Herdwicks are producing the lowest value wool. The short, wiry fleeces just fall apart when they come off the sheep so how can you expect to get much of a return from something that no one can do anything with?"

While it may seem unimportant when hill farming is under such financial pressure, Ian Grisedale believes that a good fleece on the back of a horned sheep has never been more important.

"Fell flocks have been the hardest hit during this crisis and we need to look at anything we can to make sure that our sheep are as thrifty as possible. A good fleece is like putting a slate roof over the back of every sheep and fleeces that have a long staple shed off the rain. The wool underneath is barely damp."

And even when selecting Texel and Lleyn tups, Ian Grisedale is just as particular about wool quality. "I want rams with a really tight skin so that when you run your hand through the wool it flicks' back almost like the pages of a book. And when the sheep walks the fleece should be so tight that it almost ripples - like a caterpillar on the move."

Lambing-time in his flock runs from mid-February to April with all ewes lambing outside: "Ewes with good fleeces are able to withstand the weather that much better and to hold their body condition. I'm sure that by trying to maintain fleece quality gives us ewes that winter well and don't need any molly-coddling at lambing time.

"A good fleece protects the ewe and that means she's in good condition when she lambs. She's able to put more into rearing her lamb."

Ian Grisedale has been a big winner over the years with a wide range of fleece types. He's taken the reserve overall championship with a Texel x Lleyn fleece at the Great Yorkshire Show and this year took a fistful of class awards including the first three places in the Herdwick section.

In 2003 he won the Golden Fleece award at the Great Yorkshire Show for the supreme fleece championship in the show - an award he won with a fleece from a three-shear Texel ewe.