Shearing, wool handling and grading

Here at Fernhill Farm we take great pride in the care we put into harvesting, sorting and processing our wool. We have a purpose-built shearing shed with stands for four shearers, grading tables, and clear space for wool handlers to throw, skirt, sort and pack the shorn fleeces.

Shearing

We shear the majority of our sheep with blade shears rather than machines – you can read a bit more about this in our blog post. We bring in some of the best shearers worldwide to remove the fleeces with the best care for the sheep and fibre. We work to select sheep to be shorn at the optimal time for their wellbeing and quality of wool.

Wool handling

Wool handling is a a skill in itself. Handlers ensure fleeces are taken out of the shearer's way as soon as they're ready and thrown onto the grading table so that the fleece lies flat with no folds or twists. This enables the fleece to be skirted and sorted. The grading tables have holes or slats that allow shorter fibres to fall through as these are rarely useful for processing.

Once the fleece has been sorted, it is rolled up with the sides folded in, cut side outwards. This protects the fleece and ensures the fibres don't get tangled.

Grading and sorting

We put a lot of work into our fleeces before they are packed – each fleece is carefully tested for strength and skirted (soiled areas removed) to spearate out the dirtier and lower-quality fibre from the premium stuff. Wool is sorted by quality and colour, with the majority going into large wool 'sheets' of approximately 60kg each. This wool is the ready for us to either send to manufacturers for processing into rovings, yarn, fabric and so on, or to sell in bulk directly to those wishing to develop their own wool products.

The very best fleeces are selected for hand-spinners – these receive extra attention with most vegetable matter being removed and more rigorous skirting. They are then packed individually into fabric bags and weighed and labelled for sale.

The dirty skirts that are removed are not thrown away, and lovely lustre curls are available as dirty 'skirts' on our website, just in need of a good wash. Most others are scoured (industrially cleaned) and can then be used to make our heavy-duty felt and other products. Fibre that is too short or filthy to process is used in the garden and polytunnel as fertilising mulch – nothing goes to waste!

Resources

How to Blade Shear a Sheep – video by Allan Oldfield

Sharpening Blade Shears – video by Allan Oldfield

Profile on wool handler Gwenan Paewai – Article by the British Wool Marketing Board

Blade Shear Gear UK – Shearing equipment and services