WOOL PRODUCTION.

Wairarapa Age, 28 July 1936, Page 4

WOOL PRODUCTION.

Good Wool. “Good wool is elastic, smooth to the touch, and when you run your thumb down the lock, it is easy to detect the good quality of the staple owing to its smoothness. Good wool has a closely fitting scale running round the fibre and the upper edges lie close to the fibre, there being no serrated edges for the finger to catch aaginst. Wool of this type will show a good lustre and will also be elastic. Good wool is clean opening, just enough binders to hold the fleece together and is fairly compact and solid in the lock, the roundness of the fibre allowing the fibres to lie close together. “Harsh or hard-handling wool usually has a short pointed scale, which catches the finger when you run it down the lock; the single fibre has very little elasticity and is generally easily detected by a heavy yellow yolk. This class of wool is more liable to mat or cot together, the fibres are flatter than in good wool and will have more short cross fibres or binders.

Harsh handling wool will very often have a short right-angled curl, which is very attractive to the amateur, but should be avoided, as it will only lead to trouble in the way of a poor class of product. The short scale on the harsh wool makes it possible for the wool to turn at right angles. On the other hand, good wool has a more gradual curl, which, when the lock is opened up, will appear to run up the lock. Yolk Or Suint. “The ideal yolk, which should have the appearance of thin olive oil, and be very light yellow in colour, will go right to the tip, keeping the staple soft and mellow. This is an indication of a good wool. On the other hand, heavy dark yellow yolk which appears to be coagulated, does not find its way to the tip of the wool and therefore the tip gets dry and wasty. Some sheep have a white yolk. This is not desirable, as it very often is associated with a considerable amount of hair in the fleece.

“It is very important to have a sound, more or less square lock on the back of your sheep to keep the water out and the sheep dry. Small crimpy locks will not keep the water out, they get wasty and spoil the centre of the fleece. The back of the sheep should be thatched with clean-opening, goodsised locks, preferably with a small pointed tip. When heavy rain falls on fleeces of this kind it all runs off. 4 ‘Sheep breeders should cultivate their sense of touch, as it is more dependable than the eye. 4 ‘ln selecting hoggets for a lasting fleece, the wool should appear stronger at the base than at the tip. This is the most sure sign of a good second, third and fourth fleece.

4 * Scientists are bent on showing breeders of sheep how to produce a fleece of wool free from hair. They may be helpful, but after all the stud breeder has to do the job. There has been some wonderful wool produced in the world on the various breeds of sheep without much aid from the scientific man. There are lots of breeders in the world, the speaker among the number, who could soon produce a flock free from kemps or hair without any aid from science or mechanical means, but here comes the difficulty—to keep up robustness and constitution and maintain with it wool absolutely free from hair is the problem. The hair seems to come with robustness. “About 40 years ago when Lincoln sheep were in vogue, the breeders of Hawke’s Bay made it fashionable to grow a beautiful bright, soft handling wool, with the result that on ordinary pasture the sheep died like flies. This action was the death knell of the Lincoln breed. Although I am a strong advocate of wool improvement in the Romney sheep, it can only be brought about by men who know their job and I would warn breeders that if they produce the perfect wool at the expense of robustness on the Romney some other breed will take its place.”

LECTURE BY SIB WILLIAM PBBBY. USEFUL HINTS TO YOUNG FARMERS. Observations of a practical and helpful hind on the production and improvement of wool were made by Sir William Perry in the following lecture delivered recently to members of Young Farmers’ Clubs at a meeting ia. Masterton:— “The study of wool and its growth on the sheep is a most, interesting subject and well worth while for any young sheep farmer to take up. To make use of the scientific books, as well as making a study of the various types of wool, as it grows on the sheep,, is the best way anyone can make a success of sheep breeding. A microscope is very valuable, as one can learn a lot from the use of it in the study of the individual fibres. The benzol' test is valuable in deciding on borderline wools, hut it does not decide whether the wool is a desirable type from the manufacturer’s point of view, or the breeder's either. Wool Structure.

* ‘The outer surface of wool is oarer* ed by scales; these scales are attached to the fibre by about one-third of their length. The lustre and elasticity depend mostly on the type of these scab es. The inside of good wool is composed of nucleated cells corresponding in length to the scales on the outside of the fibre. The cells in good wool are closely packed together and when you stretch a fibre, these cells slip past one another, allowing it to extend, when pulled, up to thirty per cent, and then it will go back to its original length. When good washed wool is examined under the microscope, it appears quite transparent. Medullafcei woof fibre has some dead cells in th# centre of the fibre and they appear black, not transparent, under the microscope. These fibres are brittle; they are not elastic and generally are more flat than good fibres, which am nearly round.