Porter
- Farmer No: 16026
- Breed of sheep: mountain
- KG of wool: 1520
- Flock size: 760
Our environment is best suited to grow wool on mountains, moors and paddocks. We have smaller flock sizes than merino farming. In fact, our geographical wool clip is estimated at 85% less then Australia. Because of this, we group farmers together by fibre quality, breed, animal welfare perspective, as well as farm & land assurance. The Woolkeepers® supply ecology believes in maximum waste recovery. And so, during processing we combine groups together if there is left over wool fibres. These guidelines allow us to process commercial quantities and pay a higher premium to the farmer.
Each time we process wool we create a unique blend, identifiable by the above traits and farm location.
The wool is chosen only from our group of Woolkeepers®.
To keep things simple, we give this a group number.
This number helps us tell you exactly who has helped grow your wool.
Within each group we feature a lead farmer or shepherd to reflect the diversity behind British wool.
Red Tractor is the UK’s biggest farm and food standards scheme, covering the full farm supply chain including animal welfare, food safety, traceability and environmental protection. They are a small, not-for-profit company, set up by the food industry in 2000 after a spate of foodscares. The Red Tractor logo provides a simple signpost for consumers to identify food that has been produced in the UK and comes from a trustworthy and safe source.
While historically Red Tractor has focused on responsible sourcing for British food and drink, over the years they have seen value in sharing their experience of supporting traceable value chains in other farming sectors. As a result in 2019 Red Tractor developed an additional set of standards, in partnership with wool experts H.Dawson, which for the first time tracks the wool journey from Red Tractor assured farms to shop front. H.Dawson and Brannach Olann champion the best of British fibre sourcing and Red Tractors traceable wool assurance has been designed to add real value back into the wool industry, so that there’s a recognisable industry standard which farmers can be benchmarked against and paid a premium for. Together with these new wool traceability standards, the Woolkeepers Initiative aims to nurture relationships between shepherd, flock, wool, community and manufacturer to bring value back into British wool.
The Woolkeepers® initiative has captured both transparency and traceability in a unique wool assurance scheme which traces wool from farm gate to shop front. Our visibility within the supply chain ensures compliance with safety, sustainability and welfare requirements. Each time we process wool, we create a unique identifier which traces the batch back to farm, as well as forward to our customer.
This batch of wool went to Hypnos Wool Origins Range
Hypnos are a long-established family business with an illustrious Royal history to be proud of. And they pour it all back into our design and craft to hand build the most comfortable beds in the world. Hypnos has taken the next step in its commitment to sustainability by partnering with Red Tractor Food and Farming standards in an industry first that has seen the brand create the pioneering Origins Collection. This range of mattresses uses the most responsibly sourced materials possible, including 100% British wool that’s traceable right back to Red Tractor assured farms.