The Woolmark Company’s Wool Week runs from May 20 to 26, championing the best wool and wool-rich apparel and home textiles in time for winter. So with all this woolly attention we wanted to know what our Wool Young Farming Champions were up to for Wool Week.

For Sam Wan wool has taken her around Australia and around the world. This time last year she was in Hong Kong as part of the International Wool Textile Organisation’s (IWTO) Young Professionals Program and this week she flies off to Italy for a study tour in conjunction with her Elders Employee of the Year 2018 award. But before she jumps on a plane this is what Sam is doing for wool:

• Preparing for this (and next) week’s wool sale
• Zooming in with the Western Sydney University team who are participating in this weekend’s National Merino Challenge
• Organising presentations for her three Archibull Schools – Irrawang High School, Northern Beaches Secondary College and Burwood Girls High School
• Attending an interview with WoolProducers for their Wool Ambassador Program
• Wool sale day on Thursday
• Promoting wool everyday through her blog: Wool for Every Day

Phew! This girl really loves her wool.

But Sam in not our only woolly.  Another YFC gearing up for a year of spreading the wool love into schools with The Archibull Prize is Lucy Collingridge. This week Lucy is organising google hang-outs and school visits for Greystanes High School and St Johns Park High School. That’s in her spare time. At work as a biosecurity officer with Local Land Services Lucy will be meeting with a wild dog baiting group to help wool producers to sustainably improve on-farm productivity and profitability.

YFC Peta Bradley lives and works in Armidale and will be wearing wool, especially as the temperatures start to drop. Around her neck will be her favourite Merino Wool Scarf, which is a divine blend of wool and possum fur. On the weekend she will be stewarding in the wool shed at the Dubbo Show and as that means standing around on concrete floors she will have Woolmark woollen socks on her feet. During her working week with Merinolink Peta will be assisting wool producers breed the best sheep.

YFC Bessie Thomas from Burragan Station in western NSW is recovering from last week when she took on the position of shearer’s cook at Burragan, where pulled lamb and gravy rolls were on the menu (along with quiche, fruit and chocolate muffins). According to Bessie the lamb and gravy pan was nearly licked clean! Not that life is going to slow down for Bessie – there are still 5000 merinos who need crutching and plenty of ewes to be pregnancy tested. Then Bessie needs to prepare for her own school visit with The Archibull Prize to Hurlstone Agricultural High School.

Showing our woollies come from all backgrounds we have YFC Chloe Dutschke who hails from the wine regions of South Australia and who is this week mustering sheep around the Hay plains. She is moving ewes to sheltered paddocks in preparation for lambing and classing young rams. YFC Adele Offley was born and raised on a sheep property near Crookwell on the southern highlands and today wool is still in her blood. She will be spending wool week working with wool growers in her job as a wool technical officer. And she is promoting this fabulous fibre across social media.

Dr Danila Marini is enjoying a Pint of Science , a global event that began in the United Kingdom six years ago, featuring University of New England’s scientists talking about their latest research and findings.

YFC Dione Howard is a woolly working as a veterinarian with Local Land Services and on a daily basis conducts disease investigations for wool producers. But adding to Wool Week, in her position as WoolProducers Youth Ambassador, she will be travelling to Melbourne to attend the Animal Health and Welfare Advisory Committee and the WoolProducers board meeting.

Wow. It may be Woolmark’s Wool Week with an emphasis on fashion but our woolly YFCs are all contributing to ensuring this remarkable fibre is grown in the best of conditions on the happiest of sheep, and sharing their stories in schools and across social media.

Our favourite woolimation

Happy Wool Week Woollies.

#LoveWool #WearWool #Thisflockinglyfe