They are counting on the Canadian Co-operative Wool Growers - a national group that markets nearly all the wool produced by Canada’s 9,400 sheep farmers - to arrange for an Island pickup in September. It’s packed in tight burlap sacks sitting between stacks of hay bales in a former chicken barn about a kilometre from their home farm. The Buchanans are storing about 4,500 pounds of wool from their own and other farmers’ animals. “In the old days, a fleece was worth a day?s work ? now it’s less than five minutes,” says John Buchanan, who has been farming sheep since 1969 on the Island. Lorraine Buchanan with ewes and lambs at Parry Bay Sheep Farm. The start of the pandemic in 2019 and the shutdown of factories and mills led to a global oversupply that put wool prices in free fall. The collapsing market for Canadian wool is being blamed on several factors, including a shift to producing polyester and plastic-fibre textiles.Ĭhina - the largest buyer of Canadian wool - also placed embargoes on wool and other goods after the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in late 2018.
“It’s just not worth selling it anymore for the amount of work you’ve got to do to sell it,” said Lorraine Buchanan. Shearers, who take five to eight pounds of wool off each sheep, charge up to $15 per animal. Now winter feed is nearly $200 and the wool isn’t even worth a dollar.” “The farmer I learned from said he would pay for his winter feed from the wool he took off that year, and the lambs were going to be for his wages. “In the old days, a fleece was worth a day’s work … now it’s less than five minutes,” says John, who has been farming sheep since 1969 on the Island. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Manage Print Subscription / Tax Receipt.Vancouver Sun Run: Sign up & event info.
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