Summer weather 'challenging' but did help with wool quality, says Herefordshire farmer
Provisional Met Office statistics at the start of September confirmed summer 2025 as officially the warmest summer on record for the UK
Despite the dry weather making it a 'challenging' summer, the quality of sheep's wool has improved as a result of the warmer temperatures says a Herefordshire farmer.
The Met Office confirmed earlier this month its provisional statistics had shown summer 2025 was the hottest on record for the UK and England's driest January to July period since 1929.
Data also shows rainfall for this summer is below average, with just 84% of the long-term seasonal average recorded.
It also follows England's driest spring in more than 100 years , Penny Chantler runs a farm in Hay-on-Wye with her two sons and has around 1,500 New Zealand Romney sheep, she says the lack of rain has made things difficult but they've had one positive from it all.
"As far as managing the flock is concerned, it has been really quite challenging because we've had to cart water to a lot of our fields because we normally rely on streams for their access to water and obviously they'd dried up," she said.
"We've had to supplement it by filling out water tanks and and taking it to them, but as far as the wool's concerned, it's been really quite good because we've had good quality fleeces off our sheep with it being hotter and drier.
"In 2024, we had a lot of very wet fleeces coming off, all damaged from the weather, they were discoloured whereas this year quality has been improved by the weather."
Penny has been farming in the county for thirty years and is also a board member for British Wool - an organisation which is celebrating it's 75th anniversary this year and represents around 30,000 registered wool producers across the UK.
She says as part of the anniversary she wants to help people learn more about farming and the role farms like hers play in the industry.
"I think education for the next generation is paramount, it doesn't matter whether you're in agricultural or whatever walk of life you're in," she said.
"Educating our children of where our food and and fibre products come from is hugely important and I'm very passionate about it.
"We need to keep in touch with our young people and show them exactly how it's done and where these products come from."