The Dismal UK Wool Market

The wool sheep business in the UK is not a terribly good one.

With wool now accounting for only 1 percent of textile fibers sold, most sheep producers are concentrating on meat-producing breeds, with shearing and the resulting wool considered a nuisance. 

The price received for most wool is often not enough to cover the cost of shearing, much less the transportation.

As for fine wool used in high-end sweaters and scarves, that's not the stuff produced in the UK. 

Britain has only 1 Merino sheep producer, and 95 percent of all Merino wool comes from Australia.

And where are those Merino scarves, socks and sweaters made?  Invariably, China.  

There are only two wool scourers left in the UK

So what is the "greasy" sheep wool of the UK used for? Think rugs, insulation, saddle blankets, garden twine, upholstery, and even slug pellets.

What about sheep as meat producers?

Here too, sheep are not terrific. Chickens are far more efficient at converting energy inputs into meat, and chicken is better for you than mutton.

Does that mean sheep have no purpose?  

No.

On land that can grow nothing else, sheep can provide meat, but the economics are not great, leading to a tendency to over-graze, with the result being high lamb mortality and erosion.