Hairy wool for bounce

Press, 13 April 1982, Page 7

Hairy wool for bounce

Nearly all the wool used in Bremworth carpet comes from Drysdale sheep, developed in New Zealand by Dr F. W. Dry. He arrived at Massey College in the 1920 s to develop a breed of less hairy sheep for the clothing industry. . . and he ended up by producing a type of hairy fibre ideal for carpets.

After discovering a ram lamb with extremely hairy fleece in a flock near Palmerston North, Dr Dry was eventually successful with Romney sheep in isolating the gene responsible. The hair was first grown only round the feet but was developed to cover the whole body and found to be ideal for carpet use.

The remarkable resilience of Drysdale wool comes from the fibre’s hollow structure which makes it much more flexible and able to bounce back under pressure. It is also capable of pro-

during brighter, more natural colours when dyed. Bremworth followed up on Dr Dry’s work by establishing research and breeding programmes on its own farm.

Drysdale wool is now contained in every Bremworth carpet sold, sometimes in combination with blends of specially-selected pure and crossbred wools.

The success of Dr Dry’s sheep is a result of the ideal year-round grazing conditions in New Zealand, and attempts to raise the sheep in other countries have failed to produce carpet wool of such consistent quality. The sheep now known as Drysdales are also known as "The Million Dollar Mistake.”