Where does all the wool go....

Living in the countryside I'm surrounded by fields of sheep. At this time of year they all get gathered up, then go back out in to the fields looking somewhat smaller, cooler and missing their fleece!
I helped with shearing the first year I moved here, and regularly see the wool sacks going from farms to our local depot, but the step after that was still a bit of a mystery.

It's worth noting that in the UK we have a body called the Wool Marketing Board.  They are a non-profit organisation, and all sheep farmers in the UK are required to send their wool to market via the Marketing Board. This makes the whole process very efficient, and allows British wool to sold on a global scale. The Wool Marketing Board also promote the use of wool. Not every farmer has to sell their fleece to the board, but if they don't they have to apply for an exemption. The prices farmers get for the wool each year depends on the market price achieved at auction.

A couple of weeks ago Wrigglefingers and I called in at our local sorting depot to source some fleeces to display at Newtown Textile Museum, and were shown round by the depot manager. 

 Each and every single fleece is graded by a specialist. It takes 5 years to train how to sort wool to the standard required. ​Once the wool sheets have been unpacked and graded the fleeces are stacked in to these blue bins. When a bin is full it's loaded up in to the red machines in the background, and they compress the wool in to the giant green bales in the background. It's these that are sold in the global auctions, each containing a huge number of fleeces. 

We're a hill farming area, so unsurprisingly there were a lot of coarser fleeces, but mixed in were some real treasures. Our fleeces were donations, so  we were quickly ushered past the BFL bins, they're too valuable to give away. I don't think we did too badly though...

This was a bit full of beautiful Welsh Mule Hogg fleeces (i.e. the first shearing of last years lambs). A mule is a sheep from crossing a BFL Ram with a Hill Breed Ewe, and if you can get a fleece from a young sheep like these then the fibre is really stunning.
We also collected  a few more breeds that are typical of the area. These are now all washed, and displayed so that people can handle real wool, and see what it feels like.

The depots are open to the general public, and if you go for a visit explaining you're a hand spinner you're in for a real treat. Probably best to ring first and check it's a convenient time, and if you get a group together you can often get a guided tour. 
In the Newtown depot there was even a bin of coloured Shetland pulled to one side specifically to sell to hand spinners who call in, as the depot manager knows he can get a better price that way, because coloured wool isn't generally wanted by the large scale commercial buyers at auction.