THE LAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 248, 18 October 1924, Page 20

THE LAND.

HANDLING THE WOOL-CLIP. CLASSING THE WOOL. IS]N"NTNCJ AXD GROUPING.

(By "ANCHORITE." , )

A distinct modern innovation lor th bo.nefit of the small sheep farmer is lha recently introduced by what is know: as tbe "grouping" and binning systems "Grouping" is a term applied to an; number of bales of wool which havi been baled as one line for sale by woo auctioneers or broken. For instance, the wool producer ma; have one or two bales of line qualit; fleece-wool, which he classes as first grade—of his particular clip; the sann number of bales of coarser wool, whicl he classes as second-grade; say one ball of dingy wool; and one each of locks l>elly wool, pieces, and stained wool. When these bales arrive at tho woo stores they are opened up by th< broker, who then groups them witl uther bales of the same quality. Th« term '"binning" is applied to any woo which has been consigned by the grower for his selling agents to eithei skirt or class or class only. Upon th( arrival of such a consignment at the wool stores the fleeces are removed from the original bales, and are ther skirted and classed in the bins accord ing to quality, strength, yield, colour and general condition. When tho skirting has been done correctly at the shearing shed (where this work should always be done) the broker lias merely to class and rebale the clip, By this method the clip is properly got up into even lines prior to its being offered at auction, and if a grower has only a small number of sheep, consisting of mixed breeds and cross-breeds, theso fleeces are weighed out, classed into their respective bins and then baled from those particular bins as a uniform grade. Although a flock owner may have, say, only half a dozen Southdown fleeces in his clip, these fleeces are classed with Southdown wool from other consignments, after which each line iG gTouped in preparation for the auction at the wool sales. Small farmers would be well advised to have their clips treated by this method, as it is to their very distinct advantage to do. so, because the grouped lines of wool are even in condition and quality, and the wool buyers can make their calculations and valuations easily, and will invariably hid for such offerings with a greater degree of confidence than if all the various qualities of a farmer's consignment were contained in each bale. Uniform Flocks Desirable. Flock owners could save a great deal of this extra classing of their clips if they would breed and keep to only one or two classes of sheep, thus reducing the number of classes to a minimum and enabling the clip to be put up in more generous lines. Frequently wool growers are puzzled as to why their clothing wool realises almost the same prices as combing grades. The answer is that each class of wool has its own individual buyers. Buyers for worsted manufacturers require a wool with character and strength—character to give it elasticity and strength in order that it will stand the pull of the combing machine. Tender-fibred or weak wool is of no use to a worsted manufacturer. Buyers for other purposes are more "free and easy," as their manufacturers can work up various classes of wool which will come under the name of "clothing" wool. Dingy Wool. In unfavourable wool-growiug seaeons a farmer's whole clip may be classed as "dingy," and in such a case, where there is a uniform class of sheep on the holding-, two classes should be made of the fleece wool. One class should be made of the weakest and tenderest fleeces, and the other should embody all the strong fleeces which will stand the tension of the combing machines of the manufacturers. The former would be classed as "dingy clothing" and the latter as "dingy combing." , where tne flock is a mixed one of "dingy wool" each line should be kept wparate, and marked in the following manner on bales:—''Crossbred dingy,-' "halfbred dingy," "Merino dingy," am similar markings, according to th various breeds on the property. Seedy Wool. All seedy wool should be kept dis tinctly apart from clean fleeces, o: indeed any clean class of wool. Whei sheep are shorn late in the season i frequently happens that the whole of thi olip is seedy, and when there is only om breed of sheep to be dealt with twe classes should be made, one containing the fleeces which are only slightlj affected, and the other those which ar( impregnated with seed (burr or huti wai, or whatever particular seed-weet the sheep have been in contact with The former should be entered in tht wool book as "slightly seedy," and the latter as "very seedy." When the sheep are of mixed breeds, and all the wool badly affected with seed, each breed should be kept separate from the others, and entered according to whichever line it such as "seedy merino," "sefdy Lincoln cross," "seedy Romney Marsh," "seedy Romney cross," and so forth. The skirtings should be classed as "seedy belly wool," "seedy stained pieces," "seedy locks" and "seedy fleece," respectively. _. Farmers can, however, avoid the loss and annoyance of seedy wool if they take the precaution of shearing their flocks before the seeds ripen. On badly infected country sheep should be shorn early in November, before the hutiwai (or burr) is provided With its clinging spikes. Sheep shorn at this period will carry little or any seedy wool. Pressing the Wool. In cases where there are not enough fleeces to make a lightweight bale, the farmer should skirt tbe fleeces andT'class them in two grades—the coarser-fibred wool into one lot and £he finer fibred flleeces into the other lot. The coarse fleeces should then be put at the bottom of the bale and a piece of sacking placed on top of them. The fined wool may be then placed on top of these and the bale sewed up. In branding bales a distinct mark must be made on each side of the bale, at the spot where the

division comes between the two samples, and each class marked correctly. The shearing season of 1923-24 made a record as regards the number of woolgrowcrs who had their clips properly classed for auction, with handsome ultimate profit to themselves. There is, however, still much to be done in this respect, and the aim of all sheep-owners should be to skirt and class their wool to the very best ndvantage. There are several ways in which this may be done —by the wool-broking firms, the empToymcnt of a wool classer, or the younger farmers could make a careful study of the suhject, and thus learn to do the work fairly correctly themselves. On present indications wool is a promising proposition, and high prices may be expected from this product for some years to come, which should hearten farmers to prepare their clips for sale in the most attractive manner.