Stockpile Wools To Be Offered

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31802, 5 October 1968, Page 8

Stockpile Wools To Be Offered

More than 5000 bales of mainly crossbred wools from the Wool Commission’s stockpile will be offered at the second Christchurch wool sale of the season on Monday.

The selection, drawn mainly from wools bought by the commission at the March sale last year, but also from the May sale, has opened up fairly well, according to brokers, and does not appear to have lost much from its storage for up to 18 months. According to the spokesman for one firm, pieces and bellies, which form a proportion of the commission’s offering, seemed to have held their style better than other wools. This same man said that fleece wools had taken on a golden tinge that they had not had originally. The representative of another firm, who also noted a slight discoloration, said that B grade wools had opened up better than might have been expected. An odd grower will have the distinction of having two seasons’ wool in this sale—his current season’s wool and wool that was also bought last year from his offering by the Wool Commission and which is now being offered under the name of the commission. Some stockpile wool is being sold by each firm of brokers and it will be offered at the end of each catalogue. The offering of current season’s wool totalling 20,040 bales conjpared with 19,607 bales at Y'e corresponding

sale last year, is drawn from Marlborough, North Canterbury and Mid-Canterbury, with a small representation from the West Coast and Nelson. This is again largely an offering of hill country prelamb shorn fine wools. These wools are at least as good as last year and, in the view of some observers, of slightly better style. They are generally well grown and sound but still showing some discoloration due to the wet winter conditions. There is also some vegetable fault and dust.

The spokesman for one firm said that a feature of the fine wool offering was that there was a continuing trend for this wool to become coarser. In part this was attributable to the favourable feed conditions in some areas, and also to past breeding policies, the effects of which had not yet had time to be reversed in spite of the move away from coarser wool. There is a sprinkling of Merino wool, particularly

from Marlborough, which is well grown, although again showing some vegetable fault While no marked change in shearing policies has been noted in the offering for this sale, one firm has reported that there appears to be a rather higher proportion of woolly hogget wools —where hoggets were not shorn as lambs. These wools also tend to be of better colour f an the shorn hogget wools which have been more affected by weather. One spokesman also commented that there was a tendency for hogget wools to be rather too lightly skirted. In wool that has come in for reclassing out of farmers’ lines, classers have noticed a few fleeces that have been subject to intense bacterial staining in blue, green and brown colours. Among oddments, which are up to the usual standard, there is rather less mud in evidence in the belly wools than at the August sale. With the sharp recovery in the market in Dunedin earlier in the week when values rose by 71 per cent to 12} per cent, the sale will open on a more optimistic note than there has been for about two years.

Details of catalogues in order of sale are:—

Current clip ForW/C Pyne, Gould, Guinness, Ltd. 6642 999 National Mortgage 4113 1404 New Zealand Farmers 2174 1232 Dalgety and N-Z. Loan 7111 1409 Totals . 20,040 5044 The current season's offering is in 2594 lots the commission wools are id 420 lots.