Wool producers gather for competitive day

Most wool in the UK goes into the carpet industry and the price of modern carpet is set largely by the price of synthetics like nylon – made from oil, and still cheap compared with farmed products.

The Swaledale is a natural carpet sheep but the Wool on the Hoof competition is a reminder that there is a fleece for all purposes.

Wool is measured in microns – thousandths of a millimetre. Some British sheep wool is as fine as 24 microns and some as coarse as 40-plus.

One of the stewards, Peter Booth, recalled an Australian visitor who said he produced the finest wool in the world – at 11.5 microns – and sold it for 1,000 a kilo.

Part of the art of making champion wool is selective breeding and in the UK market not many people can afford to select for wool nowadays. This gives the hobbyists an advantage.

Ann Aconley and Gillian Shipley, mother and daughter from the Driffield area, picked up a third prize in the Lustre Longwool section with a Leicester ewe from the small flock Alan Aconley left them when he died recently. This would have been his 35th Yorkshire Show. Leicester wool is in competition with imported Merino.

Reserve overall champion was a Wensleydale from retired vet Jack Watkinson of Leyburn.

Best in the mountain breeds was a Rough Fell from Brian and Jane Knowles of Selside, near Kendal. They run hundreds because the breed suits their farm, but it also has a niche in the wool market, in Italy, where a mattress stuffed with it is a traditional wedding present.

The winner was a Jacob shown by business partners Gordon O'Connor and Scott Dalrymple of Bridgend, near Linlithgow, Scotland.