Check your wool quality.

TAKING the time to seek out better wooled sheep will pay off in the long-run, since wool from such ewes and their offspring will earn more in future years, the British Wool Marketing Board has advised.

The organisation says the increases in wool prices seen in the last few years have continued to make it a valuable commodity. Better wooled sheep were also likely to cope better with the inclement weather often seen in Britain. However, BWMB's chief operating officer Mark Powell warned that farmers wanted to maximise returns on their wool should avoid buy bloom dipped sheep. "Tinted wool resulting from bloom dipping is worth significantly less than non-bloom dipped wool," he said.

"Based on the current wool price as detailed in the BWMB's 2015 Wool Price Schedule, tinted wool is again worth on average 75p/fleece compared with nonbloom dipped wool at PS3.05/ fleece, a significant difference of PS2.30 a sheep."

"But the buyers are risking losing out on a significant amount of money by buying these bloom dipped sheep as the wool will be worth a lower value once it's been bloom dipped," Mr Powell added.