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A family story
My relationship with wool and knitting is quite simply a family affair. My passion for knitting and the yarn arts, but also for creative hobbies in general, is probably in my genes. I learned to knit from my paternal grandmother when I was a child, my maternal grandmother was a seamstress, and my mum passed on to me her taste for colours through painting.
And what about wool? More than thirty years ago, my father, who was a history and geography teacher at the time and very attached to the local heritage, decided to become a breeder and become actively involved in saving the lourdaise, a breed of sheep that is emblematic of the Hautes-Pyrénées and local to the area, but which was on the verge of extinction at the time. So it was that, alongside his work as a teacher, he developed a passion for breeding this very special breed of sheep. By 2023, the lourdaise ewe numbered around 1,300 (whereas the threshold for endangered breed status is set at 6,000), and despite its remarkable efforts, it is still protected by the Unité Pyrénéenne Races Allaitantes (UPRA) ovines from Pyrénées centrales. My father also collaborated with the UPRA following a request from the Institut Technique de l'Élevage Ovin et Caprin (ITOVIC) in a programme to conserve the lourdaise breed by freezing semen from selected rams, including one from his flock. Looking back, I can't help but admire and be proud of his work, and I'm very grateful to him for getting me involved in this adventure.
So, ever since I was born, my father has always taken me with him to the farm. I've always loved the contact with these animals, and the lourdaise ewe is particularly gentle and affectionate. When the births didn't always go according to plan, I was the one who bottle-fed the lambs, and I loved it! I've been immersed in the world of animal husbandry for as long as I can remember, so it was only natural that I should become interested in wool. It's an incredible material with many properties that deserves to be known and used for its virtues.
Pastoral stories
My thoughts on the origins of wool and its processing are undeniably linked to respect for animal welfare. The breeds of sheep reared in the Hautes-Pyrénées live for several months of the year in the high mountain pastures. As a child, I used to accompany my father on the transhumance of his flock in the Hautes-Pyrénées National Park in the Marcadau valley. What unforgettable memories! They will always be engraved in my heart, so much a part of my history.
The lourdaise is also rather special in that, unlike other breeds, it feeds mainly on hay and re-growth, harvested by farmers directly in the valley, which limits the use of cereals and the environmental problems that are unfortunately sometimes associated with them.
For the rest of the year, the sheep graze in the meadows in the lower mountains, and are sheltered in the sheepfold when the weather is difficult in winter. Some flocks even live outdoors all year round. Local sheep are therefore reared in semi-liberty. They are shorn once a year by professionals who have mastered the art of shearing, a prerequisite for the animal's good health.
The challenges for the wool industry
The wool produced in France is very little and poorly valued. Before the COVID crisis in 2019, most French wool was bought from farmers by wholesalers at a derisory price, not even covering the cost of shearing, before being exported to China, where it was processed using industrial methods (with the well-known ecological and social impacts), and then returned to the European market in the form of finished products. In 2021, barely 4% of French wool was being recycled in France, according to the Tricolor collective. Worse still, even though this wool is the fruit of considerable hard work by farmers throughout the year, it is increasingly regarded as bulky waste that is difficult to dispose of. It is not uncommon for farmers to resort to burning it, for want of alternative solutions. What's more, French wool, and more widely European wool, is facing competition from wool from Merino sheep harvested in Oceania. The revival of the French wool industry therefore represents a solution for the future to relocate wool production and processing, highlight the different wools from our regions and revive ancestral know-how.
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