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Does your wool make the grade?By Michael Fisher CSU Golden Plains Area Livestock Extension Agent Typically, sheep are shorn once a year. This means that the wool is clipped from the animal, producing a bundle of wool that is called a fleece. Several fleeces are bundled together, bagged, and then sold on a per pound basis. In addition to weight, the price given for the wool may be dependent on the wool's grade, or quality. The attributes that contribute to the wool's grade are largely dependent on the breed of the sheep; however, other factors, such as climate, diet and geographic location can also play a role. Some of the fleece characteristics that a wool buyer will evaluate to determine quality are grease, length, density, diameter, and variations within body areas. Grease refers to the total sum of impurities that is contained in the fleece. It is the amount of clean wool fiber yielded by a fleece that determines the true commercial value of the wool. Nationally, when evaluating across all wool grades, U.S. shorn grease wool shrinks about 47.2 percent. This has a huge impact upon the wool buyer. Some of this loss can be recouped by utilizing the "grease by-products" in other consumer goods. Some of these include ointments, ropes, leather treatments, rust preventatives, and even cosmetics. The length of the wool is very important in determining how it will be used in manufacturing, as well as contributing greatly to the marketable weight of the fleece. Prior to shearing, one may evaluate length over the shoulder, across the side, and through the britch to determine if there is a consistency to the length. Wool fiber may vary from one to twenty inches in length on an individual sheep. Another factor that feeds into marketable weight is the density of the wool. This refers to how closely compacted individual wool fibers are on the sheep's body. Research has shown that the sheep's breed, genetics, body size, and pure individuality can cause a difference in density ranging from 16 million to 120 million fibers per animal. The variation in the diameter, also referred to as fineness, of the wool can greatly affect the character of the yarn or fabric that it is made into. This fineness is what the main basis of wool sorting relies on and it is how the highest quality classifications are determined. Often times, crimp is considered an index for fineness. The term crimp refers to the number of "waves" that a wool fiber has. In general, the finer wools will present with the most crimp. As pointed out above, while discussing length, any of the indicators of quality wool can vary throughout the body of the sheep. Therefore, if evaluating non-shorn sheep for wool features, be sure to evaluate the whole animal. An additional note should be made towards wool color. Fleeces that are black or multiple colors may yield a premium price in specialty or niche markets, such as in the area of hand crafting. However, they are often heavily discounted in the commercial wool markets. This is because these wools have great difficulty in accepting a coloring dye. If you wish to discuss this subject further, Michael Fisher can be reached through the Yuma County Extension office at 970-332-4151 or by e-mail at mj.fisher@colostate.edu. 5/12/08 Date: 5/8/08 Advertisement
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