DC Dalgliesh

[Troglodyte]

Hard to believe that my trip to Scotland was two years ago now, but I do have a question for you Jock. While riding around on a tour bus, we saw a lot of sheep, too many to estimate their number, (but not as many as I have seen elsewhere,) yet we were told by the guide that the wool used in the mills there comes not from Scotland but from New Zealand. Is this true? If so, why? Different sheep? Different climate?
Thanks,

David

Sheep-farming and therefore wool production in both Australia and New Zealand has been very efficiently and cleverly managed for decades, and a fair proportion of what is marketed here in the UK as 'British' wool is mostly only processed or finished here. It comes from the backs of sheep reared elsewhere.

All the sheep-farmers I know (and hear about) curse the foreign imports, as their own fleeces (which, of course, is a natural and sustainable product, so ecologically very sound) has less than no value - it costs more to sheer the sheep than the fleece is now worth.

Consequently, the fleeces are sent straight to landfill or left to rot somewhere while the Aussie and Kiwi wool travels 12,000 miles to be welcomed by an eager and needy market in the UK. Much of the wool is merino which is luxurious and soft, but has none of the tough and hard-wearing properties of the UK's native breeds that gave tweeds and plaiding their strength, texture and durability. In other words, it is not better wool.

In New Zealand, it used to be said sheep outnumber the human population by a factor of 20 (3 million people and 60 million sheep, but the ratio has changed dramatically in recent years) so the quantity of fleece and wool available is nothing that can now be matched in the UK. Britian's 'national herd' is only a fraction of what it was before idiotic policies were imposed in the wake of the BSE scandal and the foot-and-mouth epidemic with contiguous culling of all animals farmed on land connected to land that is connected to land where a F&M case might have occured.

Consequently, other than for meet, sheep have no value to the farmer, and the old familiar UK breeds are in danger of completely dying-out (as some already have) or are being cross-bred for their ease of management and marketing, than for their wool. Last year, 2024, Britain had the smallest quantity of sheep than at any time in history, according to records.

Australia is a different matter, but the climate and much of the terrain of New Zealand (particularly the South Island) resembles the UK closely, and is ideal sheep-country - hence the success of their industry, but they have no interest in the likes of Dales-bred, Cheviot, Blackface, etc, whose wool gives British cloth its distinctive character. Farming is a commercial enterprise, and products (and breeds) that have no market (let alone make a profit) are rapidly abandoned.

There are a few in the old country who are determined to do what they can to preserve the old native breeds, and make use of the fleece and wool while they can. I am involved with a folk museum that strives to preserve Scottish glen life and culture from a time before mass-production and global enterprise, and our 'Flock-to-Sock' project (which makes Gairloch and other forms of kilt-hose) uses only native breeds' fleece to such a precise level that is is possible to identify which individual sheep gave the wool for the pair of finished hose.

The demise of D. C. Dalgleish is only the latest in a long list of weavers and producers that have been forced out of business, and others I know are on the brink. Every time a non-wool kilt, or item of Highland dress made outside Scotland is bought, it is a loss to the genuine Scottish producer. The customer might justify his purchase with the saving of a few dollars, but the price he pays is the loss of an industry and a culture.