Some Aspects Of Recent Wool Research

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29222, 4 June 1960, Page 9

Some Aspects Of Recent Wool Research

rpHE fleece was a complex conglomeration of fibres of different sizes arranged in different crimp and staple patterns. The outside was exposed for approximately a year to the damaging effects of the weather and the inside formed an ideal environment for micro-organisms, Dr. A. E. Henderson, head of the wool department at Canterbury Agricultural College, said at the Lincoln farmers’ conference.

To produce. In quantity, an orderly arrangement of fibres that would not deteriorate while on the sheep, the research worker had tou study fleece development, fibre numbers, length and thickness, the preservation of the fleece and the efficiency of the sheep in converting food materials to wool.

A strong heriditary basis for hairiness of lamb and adult fleeces had been shown and the nature of many of the interacting factors that affected th structure of the fleece had been established. It had been shown that the more variable fleece was not only of lower grade because of its variability but was also a poor risk for fleece preservation during the wool growing year. Under even slightly critical conditions for growth the variable fleece loses its staple crimp, may shed many fibres, was liable to cotting and subsequent staining and weathering of the tip."

Lambs which had a noticeably large number of coarse stiff hairs in the birth coat and over the hind legs, rump and tail would eventually have the most variable fleeces with a high fault risk. “In stud and breeding flocks, you can therefore do some effective marking for subsequent culling when the lambs are two to three weeks old,” he said. “This is most important in fine breeds like the Corriedale, halfbred and Merino.”

Contrary to what was generally thought, fibre length generally is independent of fibre density and fineness if considered on a breed basis. In the Merino, variation in density is responsible for most of the variation in fleece weight, while in the Romney the variation in fleece weight is most affected by variation in fibre length. Research Project A research project into the mechanism of the follicle bulb where the fibre was actually built has been started and it is hoped this will produce much information of the forces which decide diameter on the one hand and length of fibre on the other. There is • increasing evidence that the most efficient sheep in one set of circumstances is the most efficient in other circumstances—the circumstances being largely ones of feeding. The ageold contention that sheep should

be selected in the environment in which they have to produce needs to be looked at more carefully. A qualification to this, however, was that there was the ability to face up to the other conditions.

Sheep can eventually use stored body tissue just as effectively for wool growth as if the same materials were used directly. This, in part, explained the rather remarkable wool production levels attained? during the recent drought conditions. Short Rations Linking this with the seasonal peak of wool growth in January, February and March, it appeared that sheep could be on very short rations in these months and yet come to little, if any, harm from a production point of view. The best practical measure of efficiency in wool production is the amount of wool produced per unit of body weight. Greater production is usually associated with greater appetite, although the maintenance requirement was proportional to body weight. The main point was what the sheep did with the materials surplus to maintenance requirements. The sheep can divide these two ways, to wool growth or to other purposes. Existing work had been concerned with the" Merino, a breed in which a heavy bias towards wool growth was acceptably, and the college was working with Romneys and other dualpurpose breeds to see if the same principle applied, he said.