Punters at the Tinahely Show on Monday gathered to watch Roy Collier shearing sheep with the help of some of his children. Parents from farms and non-farms alike were keen to show their children what happens behind the scenes on a sheep farm.
However, the purpose of the demonstration was to debunk any air of mystery there might be around how the fleece becomes a woolly jumper. Sheep farmer and wool spinner from Carnew, Evelyn Shannon, gathered up the fleece and brought it to the tent next door to sort the wool.
For the purposes of the demonstration, washing was skipped and the wool went straight in to the carding machine. This straightens the fibres.
The wool was then removed from the carding machine and brought over to the spinners.
The ‘1798 Spinners’ as the group is known, meet regularly and give demonstrations in different locations across Wexford. The pedal-operated spinning wheels twist the wool into a strand as it is handfed slowly to the orifice and then it is wrapped around the bobbin.
A normal ball of wool would have two or three of these strands spun together to give it strength, but for the purposes of the demonstration this was the finished ball:
From sheep to scarf - why Irish farmers do not realise the true value of wool