SHEARING DATE WILL INFLUENCE VALUE OF WOOL

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 43, 26 September 1949, Page 7

SHEARING DATE WILL INFLUENCE VALUE OF WOOL

The value of wool, apart from type and quality, can be markedly length—characters which are sub - ject to some degree of control by variation of the shearing date. With few exceptions, such as in the case of hoggets, shearing usually occurs at approximately 12, monthly intervals. Variations in the times between shearings occur owing to weather, availability of shearers, etc., but it is obviously impracticable for the time to be deliberately altered either to increase or decrease length of staple, since such alterations would need to be cumulative year by yeay to be effective. Condition in wool is governed largely by the quality and quantity of yolk produced, and is influenced considerably by feed and climatic conditions, especially humidity and temperature. Some little attention is paid to the condition of the wool in respect to the shearing date, but mainly with reference to ease of shearing (in “rise” of the yolk) and freedom from seed, burr, windborne dust, etc., which may cpnsiderably lower the value, and which are a hazard in some districts if shearing is late. As a general rule, the wool is in its most satisfactory condition for shearing during October and November in the JvTorth Island, and November and December in the colder South Island. The problems of farm management which affect the date of shearing are often such that the wool producer cannot study only the wool clip, and it is often impossible to shear at a time which is best for both the sheep and the fleece.