31 May 2025

A guide to maximising the value of your wool

Produced by the Irish Grown Wool Council (IGWC), in partnership with Teagasc, the ‘Shear Success’ guide is aimed at supporting sheep farmers to maximise the value of their wool.

With shearing now underway, weather permitting, wool quality and presentation are important to ensure that farmers are presenting fleeces in the best possible condition.  

The practical guide, available to download on the Irish Grown Wool Council’s website, offers recommendations to sheep farmers on how best to prepare before, during and after shearing, in order to maximise their wool value and avoid reducing its potential value and use.

The guide emphasises best practices for maintaining fleece quality before and during shearing plus wool handling techniques to ensure that fleeces are rolled and stored correctly post-shearing to preserve their integrity and value.

Download Shear Success – A guide to maximise your wool’s value (PDF) here.

The Irish Wool Council and Teagasc has also produced two videos – available to view below and presented by sheep farmers David Heraty, Irish Sheep Shearers Association, and Jayne Harkness-Bones, Ulster Wool – that outlines best practice for sheep farmers to ensure enhanced wool quality and presentation so that wool is presented in the best possible condition for sale onwards to wool merchants and exporters.

In the below video, Jayne Harkness-Bones provides some tips on how best to think about how you harvest your wool at the time of shearing:

Below, David Heraty provides an overview of the steps that will make the job easier on the sheep, the farmer and the shearer, and will in turn improve the presentation of the wool: