WOOL-GROWING.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 41, 25 March 1914, Page 11

WOOL-GROWING.

HOW TO GROW A GOOD FLEECE. A paper written by a wool expert, specially for New Zealand farmers, is given below: — Every locality produces its variety of wool, quality and type being influenced by soil and climate. The plant growth or vegetation in any district is an indication of its wool-producing properties. Thus rich, low-lying lands growing grass aboundant and rank will yield a wool clip of the same nature; •strong, plain, of lengthy growth but thin, generally lustreless, and, in common with the sappy nature of the grass, lacking in net return of pure wool fibre, while wool from high-lying, light lands will partake of the nature of their grass and herbage, being fine and dense, short and light, of good lustre, and, in common with the pasture, having a quality of ripeness and yielding a high net return of pure fibre. Climate has a similar effect on the growth of plants and wool;' warmth and moisture producing abundance rather than quality, cold and dryness conducive to quality. A ready index to the wool-produeing properties of a farm is the nature of its pasture growth. It is a safe rule that rich lands produce quantity and strength, and lights lands fineness and density. Both types are subject to the fault of extremity, the correctives to which lie in the knowledge and art of the flockmaster. It is claimed that clay is more favourable to quality than soil. A variation in the formation of the land, such as the lay of--the hills, is favourable to wool growth, as it allows the sheep to avoid the force of storms and provides change. Shade and shelter are also beneficial, as they, too, help to regulate climatic variation. It is essential to the health of .the sheep that .the land be well drained. A sheep farm ishould not ibe perfectly flat, but it may pay the possessor of such to provide (artificial variations. Wool, in common with plant life, owing to its sustenance ;and fertilisation to the chemical contstituents <o£ the .soil, varies in quantity ie,nd quality with the variations of the la-vtailable supply of these fertilisers, so aome knowledge of agricultural science lis necessary to judge of the properties iof any land for the purpose of wool (cultivation and to keeping up and imjproving the productive standard of a farm. Pure wool is largely composed of mitrogen. Potash is essential to it's growth, and phosphates and lime, but (the latter in excess has the reputation of producing harshness. As a rule, what is beneficial to the pasture has a like effect on the wool. Clear country is necessary to the production of fine wool. Such wool being closely serrated and comparatively weak, is easily caught on bushes, etc., and tern out. Coarse, plain wool is adapted to rough and bushy country, the plainness or smoothness of the fibre offering less of a hold, and it is strong enough to stand a pull Feeding has only a partial effect on wool, wool being largely the product of climatic and other conditions, but the influence of feeding is perhaps the best understood, and is easily enquired into. Excessive feeding is not conducive to proper wool production, but is responsible for an extra amount of yolk. There is a distinction between the popular "heavy clip" and the return of genuine wool. The former is the gross weight of wool and yolk combined, the latter, the actual wool weight. Yolk may be present in wool in the proportion of from 25 per cent, to 50 per cent, of the total weight of the clip, according to the conditions under which it has been grownthe feeding and weather especially. An excessive amount of yolk is often an indication of a forced mushy growth of wool, lacking true quality. Good maintenance feeding, keeping , the sheep in healthy and strong condition, is the course most favourable to the production of pure wool.

An experiment carried out at the Wisconsin (U.S.A.) Experiment Station is illustrative of the economy of feeding:—Two lots of sheep were separately fed, one on ordinary maintenance rations, and the other lot with an extra supply of grain. The extra fed lot produced at shearing lib per head more unwashed wool than the ordinary fed 7 ot, but on both lots being scoured, the returns of pure wool were equal. True economy consists of keeping the sheep neither too high nor too low in condition. To underfeed is to waste their wool-bearing capabilities; to overfeed is to waste the food. To produce an excessive amount of yolk is bad economy. It is of no value to the manufacturer, and deducts from the value of a clip in proportion to its quantity when the buyer is making allowance for loss of weight, after its removal, estimating cost of scouring, of extra freight and extra labour in handling, etc. As everything in woolbuying is done on the net principle, the margin o"f allowance is often extended on the value of the pure wool to guard against any errors in calculation. Yolk is necessary to the growth and proper development of wool, but under proper conditions its presence will not be excessive. It is often a valuable index to the conditions attendant on the growth of wool. Though most noticeable in warm weather, and on highly-fed sheep, it is present at all times in healthy wool. Warmth increases its secretion, and cold retards. After a spell of hot weather it will be present in such quantities as to give the wool an oily appearance. In cold it will be scarcely noticeable, and its presence only detected by the soft feel of the wool. On poor and unhealthy sheep it is practically absent, leaving the wool dry and harsh. In very hot countries the secretion is so profuse as to be easily noticeable on the outside of the fleece, where it often forms a thin coating of black grease; this is not seen in our temperate climate, except in pampered sheep, and those fed on oily and heating foods. Yolk is sometimes seen in small waxlike flakes on pampered or sickly sheep. In either case it points to an unthrifty state and probably to a faulty .growth of fibre.

Open pasture is the most favourable feeding condition for the production of

wool, especially if the sheep have a long range, exercise being essential to health. Close folding and small paddocks are not favourable to the production of high-class wool, because the fleeces of crowded sheep are usually soiled, and the sheep deprived of their natural exercise. However, it is often economical to farmers to fold and close paddock their sheep on account of feeding facilities, manuring, etc., and especially to those who stock the breeds most adapted to the practice] such as the Downs. Eomneys have not a good reputation for this purpose, being disposed to wander and forage, and merinos are worse.

A condition necessary to the health of sheep and a good wool return is that no rankness be allowed in their pasture.; such feeding is unnatural to sheep, and such a state accumulates rubbish to be gathered in the wool, and is in many cases productive of disease. Salt is essential to sheep and pure water. Sheep drink more than is generally thought, especially when having a supply of salt. Impure water is the eause.of much-disease. Regular feeding is necessary to'regulate growth and development of the wool fibre. This can be accomplished in pasture feeding by judicious balancing of stoek, according to the seasons, by carrying extra during summer to keep down rankness in the pasture, and reducing in autumn to provide for winter. Change of pasture is beneficial to sheep, provided the variation is not too great. In changeable or inclement weather sheep are best left undisturbed.

Dipping has a beneficial effect on wool when it is properly carried out. This beneficial effect is not brought about by any direct fertilising properties of the preparations, but consists' solely of the indirect benefit received from the cleanliness produced by the destruction of parasites, resulting in a healthy stimulation to growtb. It.is held by the best authorities that the direct effect of all dipping preparations" i& slightly .detrimental to wool growth in that any application strong enough to kill parasites -produces something of the same effect on the delicate wool ■fibre, as it were, slightly scorching it »nd checking its growth, and the dulling .effect of a dip on wool for some con : ts:derable time is very noticeable. However, the ultimate benefit received from idipping far outweighs all other temporary effects, and'they should, be considered ondy as a guide to the proper scare and precautions necessary in the Shearing, apart from the alliimportant consideration of harvesting tthe wool, has a great effect on its culture, stimulating and regulating its growth in length, formation, .and , density. Experiments conducted by German agricultural scientists show interesting facts as to the effects of shearing: Two sheep were shorn every second month for a year, and two at the beginning and end of >the year. Both lots received exactly the same care and feeding. x Those .shorn six times .produced at "the end of the year, in total yield of unwashed wool, slightly less than those shorn once; but on both yields being scoured, the former lot produced 22 per cent, more pure wool than the latter. The lot shorn once produced a greater quantity of yolk. The date of shearing should correspond with the coming of the summer, which is the natural term of wool growth. The bloom and approaching ripeness of plant life will be accompanied with full development and lustre in the wool, which will have lost all wintry and and dingy aspects. To shear early in the season is to waste the possibilities of a full perfection in the growth and development of the wool, and to subject the new growth to the effects of cold and hardship. A. growth produced under -such conditions will be poor and attenuated, and most likely pure waste, as it is liable to-run off to Jtur on the ends of the full-grown fleece. Close, even shearing is a requisite condition to producing an even, well-developed fleece. The delicate structure of the wool fibre makes it a certain register of the experience of its growth. Any undue variation in feeding or treatment will leave its record in a measure of faulty growth. True economy means an equable system of feeding and treatment. Provision of feed should be regulated with the least possible variation in quantity and quality. Where shelter j is once provided it should be always j available.

' Critical times such as lambing should be regulated so as to fall when the season is far enough advanced to ensure the severe weather being past, and not entail extra strain on the breeding and wool-bearing sheep. Shearing should fall in with the advent of summer, which naturally means removal of the old growth and uniform beginning of the new. In dipping a reliable dip should be used, and carefully measured and mixed to ensure uniform application. The time for this operation is before the warm weather has ended, to guard against any chill cr cheek to thriving. The best guide to proper dipping is the instructions supplied with the preparations by all reputable manufacturers. All disease has a disastrous effect on the growth of wool. The best safeguard against its introduction are healthv condition, proper feeding, pure water,' allowance of salt, well-drained land, and a system of ! breeding whicli provides additions to the flock, saving the owner from the risk of infection through the medium of strange sheep. Indications as to : the nature, oxotherwise, of the conditions attendant on the growing of wool should be looked for not in the wool itself, but in the carcase or fleshy state of the sheep. Wool is not affected directly by starva : tioh, or weather, or hardship of any kind, but indirectly through the "carcase. ' Such influences will first manifest themselves in loss of condition or signs of unthriftiness before having any. visible effect on the wool. If precautions are not taken before the wool offers evidence it will be too late for remedial measures, and irreparable damage will have been done to the year's growth.