Host shares passion for wool

NSA Welsh Sheep 2025      Host Shares Passion for Wool

NSA Welsh Sheep 2025 is the highlight of the sheep farming calendar. And this year it will have wider appeal, coming on the eve of the nearby world renowned Hay Festival.

For the host farm, just a ten minute drive away, the opportunity to showcase their 1600 ewe flock of High Country Romneys is uppermost.  They also feature regenerative farming and Mum, Penny Chantler, is very keen on promoting the widespread advantages of using wool.

Her artistic flair and university training bring an extra dimension to her passion for the natural fibre. And her sculptures are particularly appropriate, given the proximity to Hay on Wye and link to the Festival.

Hill Top farm, with Tregoyd, is set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Black Mountain in the Welsh Borders and the partnership focuses on breeding the best genetics in a regenerative farming system. Sustainability is key.

Genetic improvement is the priority and everything is recorded. A trait they specifically breed for is worm resistance to improve the sheep's efficiency.

Penny says: "As lambs, we tag them at birth and record their breeding and weights with a stick reader, then send them to the Sheep Improvement Limited (SIL) [database in] NZ.

“We record the figures to align with a New Zealand system and although they are not in their tables or Signet's, this still allows us to compare data.

"We have been recording since the early 1990s, but we were able to breed using figures from the breed before this.”

Sons Sam and Will Sawday farm with their mother, Penny Chantler, and are taking on the vision she first shared with her late husband, Richard Chantler. They came to Wales 30 years ago with just 350 ewes and began breeding ‘designer’ rams capable of thriving in upland conditions, while producing quality sustainably produced lamb.

Hill Farm sits at 365 metres (1,200ft) and the family farms blocks of owned land, as well as rented farm business tenancies at Tregoyd. They currently run 600 recorded stud Romney and Romney cross Texel ewes and 1,000 commercial Romneys, which lamb outside during April and May.

Penny is absolutely committed to furthering her husband’s legacy, based on his reputation as one of the world’s leading authorities on scanning and his work in New Zealand. It was there that Richard recognized the Romney’s potential, along with the high standard of flock management and elite breeding.

These days the stud flock is meticulously recorded. Every lamb born is scored for vigour, birth weight, motherability and milkiness.  Penny is proud that her sons are taking forward the vision and remains heavily involved. 

But she is also set on using the NSA Welsh Sheep Event to highlight the importance of wool, in terms of farming but also with a view to a more sustainable approach to clothing, carpets, insulation and construction. Her degree in Textiles at Leeds University has led her to take a particular interest in wool and she represents Southern England on the British Wool Marketing Board, also serving as an Ambassador for the NFU Schools Programme.

She says: “In University we had lectures on the different breeds of sheep in the UK and the different wool qualities.

“We’re very lucky in the UK, we’ve got such an amazing variety of breeds and wool quality. The wool can be used for very different things.

“The price is coming up. People are recognizing more now that wool is an important fibre. It’s a magic fibre really and it ticks all the boxes environmentally and we should be using it more and more.

“It’s quite a slow burner in that changing peoples’ habits is slow, encouraging them to wear more woollen products. Wool lasts, but it’s more expensive obviously to buy.”

Penny is convinced that despite the attractions and expensive marketing of oil-based options, the message is getting through. A recent visit organized by the BWMB to the London School of Fashion had prompted hugely encouraging enthusiasm during an interchange with the students.

And she says that the younger generation is so much more environmentally conscious. Education is needed to improve understanding that a wool garment can be sponged clean and dries very quickly, rather than ‘bunged in the washing machine’.

Similarly, people are becoming more aware of the advantages of wool mattresses and wool duvets. She has both and says research has shown that they provide for a much better night’s sleep. An expensive investment, it does last, and a duvet can be simply hung out to air as it doesn’t need repeated washing.

Insulation made of wool and construction materials are gradually becoming more popular. The sixty plus grades of wool offered for sale following screening and scouring by the BWMB mean it’s available for a range of outlets, from the finest wool garments, through carpets to construction. 

Penny stresses that everyone in the British Wool Marketing Board is working very hard to try and improve prices and to encourage manufacturers to buy their wool through the British Wool auction, rather than from abroad. Competition, she says, isn’t a bad thing and she’s happy that individual producers can now sell their wool outside the confines of the BWMB.

A Wool Hub at Welsh Sheep will reflect Penny’s passion for wool and her role with the British Wool Market Board, showcasing innovative products and the sustainability of wool. These include insulation, fibre boards and a unique range of clothing, jackets she had made from their own fleece.

It’s a very busy life, with her work with the BWMB and her day to day hands on involvement in the farm work, especially with lambing and recording. But another important element to her life is her art and sculpture.

Penny’s home and her farmyard is decorated with various sculptures, including a diver inspired by the UK Olympics. There is even her statue of the ‘King of Hay’ book shop founder, Richard Booth, in Hay Castle, commissioned for its re-opening in 2022.

Could there be a more fitting alignment of Penny’s talents, given the efforts to restore the reputation of wool in our national psyche?

NOTE: NSA Welsh Sheep 2025 takes place on Wednesday 21st May 2025. Please contact Helen Roberts for press tickets

[email protected]