FARMER'S WOOL CLIPS.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2660, 19 May 1908, Page 7

FARMER'S WOOL CLIPS.

H. W. Ham. Sheep Expert.

The disposal to disadvantage of small and medium sized farmers' iliiS has given for years a dead of trouble and extra work to our woolstlling firms, who show at all times a genuine desire to obtain the highest possible returns for such clips. Such a number of conditions and influences operate that it is impossible to say that what is done by one farmer and the price obtained by him for his various sorts must hold good for another farmer, even if the breed of sheep is identical and the I arms adjoin. The desire with a large clip is to a -oid star lots, that is, lots of less than four bales. In a small grower's clip, this is impracticable, but sorts should be kej»t distinct and even lint's made of as many bales as possible. The aim should be to give confidence. If cver>- sort is separate one knows exactly how much there is of »*ach, and if each sort can be seen, an< is proportionate to the size of t lie clip, then it is taken for granted that all sorts are even and not mixed : so little of a clip can be Seen without undue cutting of bales*, that a buyer must judge by this • means. If he has an order for say medium grade crossbred, and he sees the fine

fleeces in one lot. and the coarser

ones in another, and the pieces, belv firs, etc., in other separate lots, then he naturally concludes that the medium grade he has orders for, is even and like the sample shown. The gi neral impression with small farmers is that "wool is wool." and that a wool buyer takes all and every sort that the. broker in an unwary moment, puts too low a value on. What would interest and causo many snail farmers to do this work better, is to know that Various grades and sorts have different uses, and that whilst many mills have machinery to work some wools, they are not buyers ior other sorts. Sheep owners should never forget that wool can be kept separate at a fractional cost in the shed at shearing time, and that it costs ten times as much, and is sonietipies impossible of separation, when once mixed and pressed up. It cannot lessen the value of a small grower's clip to ha\e all sorts well separated. If

the broker finds it advisable to soil the sorts separately he can do so, but if he decides to interlot them, it is then possible for him to adopt that course. In the cast' of nierinoes, when wool is plentiful and buyers bjt; paving most attention to lines, it is often advisable, in order to obtain best net results, to catalogue two classes together, for when dean scoured thny arc l»oth suitable for the one purpose, yet in the grease, owing to difference of yield in clenn wool, it is necessary to know exactly how much of each there is. In cleaning up after shearing, lambraisers. with 100 to 200 sheep, find thai they have a little of each sort, which they put into bags. This practice is wrong. It is usually done to save a. pack, but at the usual price of bags, assuming a farmer uses four or five, it comes to nearly the price of a pack, which is al>out three shillings. Hag lots are sold at l.ag sales, and lose the competition of the better class of buyers. On the other hand if each lot is put in the pack in order of merit, and divided with a piece of hessian. one IhicJ-Jiess between each sort, it is offered nt the main sales. A line should lie drawn on the outside of the l al\ opposite-where the division i"=. by placing two stencil plates about half an inch apart. Supposing the wool is bought'by a local wwdscourer. it is more valuable *lo him this way. than ii mixed. for when he o|>ens the bale, each lot beinj* separated by the hessian, the wool can I c placed and matched with other sorts bought similarly, and dues not cost anything for re-sort-ing. As stated before, keeping sorts se| arate can be done muchj more cheaply at the outset than ufterwards. when mixed and pressed ®r banged* up. However little of a different sort there may be, keep It together, hut never forget to mark on the outside of the bale exactly where it is. ,

In s'xirting there is no hard and fast rale as to how much to take oil, neither iu individual fleeces or in flocks. Burrs, thistles, coarse brc*4rhes, neck folds, all have to be reckoned with ; and unevenness of covet ing in many flocks also causes thin and locky skirts. All these things have an influence on each fleece. but no more should bo taken off than is really necessary. An extr a hand or two at the wool table often saves tearing off good fleece wool the fribbly pieces, especially on the arms and necks. Many owners make unnecessary work for piece pickers by not ha\ing enough hands at wool tables, and besides sustain a loss, not perhaps per pound, but iu total returns.

Too much notice of how a neighbour does his wool is often misleading. CJiven the same breeding of sheep ami wool, and similar country, a little over stocking at this time of the year may cause a break in the staple and shortage of growth. A neighbour may give more room, and ha\e a superior (flip. Again, in the case' of adjoining paddocks, one may he timlwred and another open : the soil of one has a hard surface, and in another there is a class of land that cuts up in summer, and therefore more dusty : some paddocks are not so bad for grass seed and burr as others : whilst stubble land will cause a dusty tip. These and many other matters have more influence on price per pound than even the proper division of sorts : the latter gives a better total result. Farmers should aim at l»est return per head and per acre, and have less sentiment as to price per pound. With regard to price |>er pound and total return, our brokers could give greater satisfaction if farmers would assist by keeping their various sorts separate and being always mindful of the many details connected with wool growing.—Victorian "Journal of Agriculture."