Yield confusing says Board

Press, 7 October 1988, Page 19

Yield confusing says Board

Yield was the most confusing factor when discussing wool prices with growers, according to Wool Board staff. While clean prices were gradually taking over, growers would always have difficulty in reconciling a heavier fleece with a lower clean yield — or the other way about. Yield was the percentage of wool left after the grease, dirt, sand and other impurities are removed. They returned nothing to the grower who was paid for the remaining clean wool at a standard moisture level.

Estimating the clean fibre yield by hand and eye was a skill that took long to learn. Even then errors of two or three per cent could occur. Comparing greasy prices was a fast track to confusion, said the Board. Depending on the yield they could mean anything at all. For example: Farmer Kerehi grows his wool well and prepares it carefully. The test shows it has an 80 per cent yield and the auction buyer takes it with a bid of 472 cents — equal to 590 cents clean. Next door, Farmer O’Malley’s clip is not quite

so attractive but his sheep have been more exposed to wind and rain. His wool is yielding 83 per cent. The auction buyer will only pay 575 cents clean for it, and he gets it with a bid of 481 cents.

Farmer O’Malley meets Kerehi at the saleyards. “Beat you this year, Tom,” he says. “Got 481 for my main line.” Neither of them can tell a 3 per cent yield difference by hand or eye.

Here a less attractive clip had earned a higher greasy price, but the greasy figures could equally well place Tom Kerehi ahead or set the two friends side by side.

Growers were often deceived about the value of oddments, said Mr Hutchinson. Because bellies and pieces, locks and crutchings may yield 10 to 15 per cent lower than fleece, their greasy price was substantially down. The clean price gap was much smaller. "When all wool is traded on a clean basis, this most confusing factor should be a thing of the past, said Mr Hutchinson. "Meantime, if a grower is to know what he is talking about, he should use the clean price.”