SELLING WOOL ODDMENTS

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26633, 19 January 1952, Page 5

SELLING WOOL ODDMENTS

Common Sense In Handling GROWER’S CONTRIBUTION This is the second, and concluding, portion of a Chamber of Commerce agricultural bulletin on preparation of wool oddments, written by Dr. A. E. Henderson, of Lincoln College. In the main bellies are not sorted in any way, partly through the assumption that nothing can be done to improve them and partly through lack of adequate facilities. Where rams and wethers are being shorn all pizzle stains should be removed from the belly wool. This rule should never be departed from, no matter how many bellies there are, nor where they are going to. Clean wool may be stained by contact and in cases where wet pizzle-stained bellies are packed the whole line may be classed as stains. On bellies there is usually a small portion of deeply stained wool shorn from the brisket. In contrast to the bulk of the belly wool, such wool cannot be scoured white. Although belly wool is usually superfiicially unattractive because of dirt and yolk, staple length and soundness is usually good and a well prepared line of bellies meets with a ready demand. It is an advantage therefore to remove brisket pieces in the shearing shed and separate belly wool into firsts and seconds —the firsts free of stain and the seconds stained and short. This can be easily done as bellies are carried from the board.

Every year nearly 10 per cent, of the bellies and bulky pieces are sold as mixed lines—that is, bellies and pieces are mixed in the one bale. This cannot be regarded as a good practice because the two wools are quite different, and when mixed, they are hard to value properly. A further wasteful practice is tearing up bellies and blending with pieces, the whole being sold as pieces. Any such procedure is time and labour wasted. Whatever the disguise they can be recognised. In the majority of cases pizzle stains and dag clippings are bulked together m one line. However, it is advisable to keep pizzle separate because this kind of stain is not removable in the usual wool scour. Dung stains, on the other hand, are only superficial and are almost completely removed during scouring. Particular care should be taken to see that all stains are thoroughly dried before being baled.

Crutchings Crutchings appear to be more neglected than any other type of wool. One often sees the whole crutching clip, some times containing a large proportion of dags, stains, and bidi bidi or burr, baled up as it comes from the sheep. Such bales, when opened for sale, stand every chance of being typed as stained crutchings. This is bad enough in a line put up under the owner's brand, but it is more serious when the broker tries to group whole bales into lots. If the wool is in really bad condition he has no option but to sell them as star bales and as such, they command very little attention. Alternatively, if the wool is to be binned there is a possibility that very little can be done except pick the best wools out and consign the balance to the stains and dags. This is because much of the good wool has been spoiled by contact with wet stains. Slight heating after pressing further accentuates damage. A fairly simple and convenient method of handling crutchings is to sort them into the following grades using a covered table. First take out the topr.ots, stains and dags, then divide the remainder into a line of firsts comprising the bulky bright and well-growm wool of fairly even count; and a line of seconds, consisting of short heavy-conditioned and probably off-colour wool. Quite often, with cross-bred wools in particular, the grades may be improved by taking out any very coarse britch wool. In a small clip or where labour is short, crutchings may be left in one line, but only after removing any wool which is liable to cause damage or prove detrimental to the line. Crutching stains should be kept separate from main shearing stains because of the shortness of staple. It is profitable to sell eyeclips as a separate line. This wool has special uses and although it sells equally as well as crutchings when separate, if the two sorts are mixed, prices may be lower.

Lambs' crutchings form a separate type within crutchings as a whole, but, owing to their length, very little beyond removing stains and dags can be attempted, except where there is a bis line to work on. Crutchings open up more attractively if the weight of the bales is restricted to about 300 pounds. Carelessness and lack of attention to dead wool often spoil what can be made a reasonably profitable line. If sheep are plucked as soon as possible, very little fell or brown skin appears on the wool. A further precaution in handling is to ensure that the wool is plucked into clean bags and is dry before it is baled. Staple length of dead wool is one of the most important characteristics. Black Wool Fundamentally the New Zealand wool clip is white, that is. we have insignificant numbers of sheep growing coloured wools. We are indeed fortunate that this is so and should take every precaution to ensure that the few black or brown woolled sheep shorn do not seriously affect the “white” wool clip. Very few black fibres can seriously affect the value of much manufactured cloth. Black sheep should invariably be shorn at the end of a run, the fleeces skirted on the board, and fleeces, and sweepings bagged where the sheep are shorn. With many small flocks there will be only small quantities of some oddments, and a number of such will be packed in one bale. When this is done it is good practice to use paper to divide off one from another.

Table I gives the approximate number of sheep which must b’ shorn to make up an average bale of the various classes of oddments. It must be emphasised that the figures can only be approximate. They will vary with light or heavy fleece weights, with light or heavy crutching or skirting and also with fine or coarse woolled sheep.

It is true that during manufacture many types of wool are often blended together, but it is essential that this blending be done according to a carefully thought out plan. It is therefore necessary for the manufacturer to have his component tynes in separate lines to beein with. Because of this necessity he is naturally attracted most bv offerings of wool which are in carefully prepared lin-s. For various reasons either to do with valuation or utilisation, one should take care not to mix the following wools: 1. Locks with crutchings. 2. Bellies with pieces. 3. Urinestained wool with dung-stained wool. 4. Lambs' wool with pieces. 5. Dead wool with crutchings or pieces. 6. Dingy and cotted pieces with other pieces 7. Bulky coarse pieces with short fine wool. 8. Anv black wool with white wool. 9. Anv seedv or burry wool with clear wool. 10. Eyeclios with crutchings. It needs onlv common sense to know that wool which has been properly handled in the initial stages can be more efficiently handled during later marketing and processing. With available methods of marketing, a few pounds of wool can be marketed as

easily and efficiently as lots of manv bales. While this is so it nevertheless requires co-operation between grower and broker. The purpose of tfiis bulletin will be well served if the grower, as his contribution to efficient marketing, acts on the recommendations given here. There is no agricultural product with such complex characteristics as a national wool clip. It therefore requires an equally complex classification system, the operation of which is the responsibility of all who handle any part of the clip.

Table I Class of Wool. No. of She°r>. Necks 800 - 1000 First Pieces 350 - 400 Second Pieces loon - 1200 Bellies 350 - 450 locks lono - 1200 Crutchin B s aoq - 600 Lambs’ Crutchings 1000 Table II gives :he approximate number of bales which would occur in the various classes when handling oddments from different sized flocks. Table II Class of Wool. Number of Sheen. 8001000 1500- - 800 1000 1500 2000 Necks 1 1 2 2 1st Pieces 2 3-4 4 6 2nd Pieces J 1 1 2 1st Bellies 2 3 4 6 2nd Bellies * l-l 1 Locks 1 1 1 2 1st Crutchings 2 2 3 4 2nd Crutchings i i 1