New Zealand shearing sheds - plans and construction details

By Lindsay Galloway

Click on the link below to view, or download your own copy of the document in full on Scribd, the web publishing platform.
NZ Shearing Sheds Construction or Renovation 1981

Introduction by Dr Clive Dalton

Getting information to farmers that they could understand and use to improve their profits, was the main driving force for all of us who worked for the New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries (MAF) in the 1970s to 1990. Our ‘Information Services' section was staffed by top agricultural journalists, and we had radio and TV producers the equal of any in the commercial world.

The core for the printed information flow to farmers was a series of fact sheets called 'AgLinks' developed by Geoffrey Moss, a former Farm Adviser, especially well respected in Taranaki, who headed MAF Information Services.

Geoff was awarded an Eisenhower Fellowship to visit America and came back with the AgLink idea, to get research information from scientists to farmers, horticulturalists and their advisers, in brief ‘fact sheets’ that were easy to read, easy to file – and were free! The were an 'information link'.

Geoff appointed Colin Gardner as the first editor – a kiwi Sheep and Wool Instructor who had come back from working in Australia. Other top agricultural journalists, editors and people like me in the different MAF regions, joined the team, which started work in 1969.

We sourced topics for AgLinks and did the first drafts, which our Head Office editors fixed up and got printed for distribution either from the Wellington Head Office or through each MAF local office.

We ended up with well over 1000 topics, and we printed and gave away thousands, from which farmers could build up into sets on different topics. The sheets were colour coded to make this easy.

The aim was that if a farmer had a question – MAF needed to have an AgLink to answer it - and we did. We were farming’s Google before Google! Clearly the concept was well ahead of its time.

Shearing Sheds - plans and construction details

A classic example of the value of AgLinks was the series on Shearing Sheds written

by Lindsay Galloway, who was the highly respected Sheep & Wool officer in the MAF Christchurch office. Lindsay drew all the plans himself and had them checked by building inspectors from the Ministry of Works.

Lindsay says that as he travels around Canterbury and beyond in his retirement, he can see the results of his 40 year's service to the New Zealand sheep and wool industry still standing proudly on farms, many of which don't run sheep now and have been adapted for calf rearing with the change to dairying.

Lindsay also worked to help sheep farmers on the Chatham Islands where many of his sheds were built, and have withstood the challenging climate there.

Linsday Galloway’s Shearing Shed AgLinks are still as relevant today as they were when produced, and are invaluable for anyone wanting to build a new shearing shed, or to repair or modify a facility that has fallen into disrepair.

The death of AgLinks

AgLinks were dumped in 1989 after a failed attempt to charge for them by the ‘new MAF business managers’ who saw the end of MAF’s dedicated service to farmers. All Head Office copies had to go to the Wellington landfill, but some of us in the regions pirated a set. The National Library holds an incomplete set.

Sheep Husbandry - blade shearing method

By Dr Clive Dalton
(Photos by Des Williams)

Shearing a sheep using hand shears.
A blade shearing method.

There are may methods used around the world to shear a sheep using hand shears or blades.

The method shown below is used in the north of England and in Scotland. In parts of Wales the sheep have three legs tied together, and are shorn on a long stool with the shearer sitting on one end.

In New Zealand Merino sheep in the high country are still blade shorn when shorn in winter or pre-lambing to leave more wool on them to protect them from cold weather. To achieve the same result with a shearing machine, combs (called 'snow combs) are used with deeper teeth.

Step 1
Sit the sheep on its rear end in a comfortable position . Keep your toes well in below the sheep with its body leaning against your legs. The sheep will initially slump into a concave position.



Step 2
Take hold of the sheep's ear in your left hand (right handed shearer) and start shearing down the side of it's face, around the back of the head past the mid line, and shear the wool down towards the brisket to open the fleece out.

Step 3
Start shearing down along the back of the neck and keep coming around to the front leg. Notice in the picture how the sheep is now pushed out away from the shearer with the knees.


Step 4
Lift up the front leg and shear along it. Then holding the front leg, continue shearing down the side.


Step 5.
Continue shearing starting near the backbone and then come right around to include the belly.
Go as far across the belly as you can. In males watch out for the sheep's prepuce, and in rams their penis which may protrude with the pressure on the belly.



Step 6
In females, take care not to cut the udder or teats. In young females (hoggets) put your fingers over the small teats to protect them when shearing near them towards the bottom of the belly.




Step 7
Now the job gets easier as you can lay the sheep down. This is especially useful with very large sheep such as rams.

Note that the sheep is kept down, and is lying very comfortably, by kneeling on the neck wool, which is unshorn on the other side of the sheep.

Then you can concentrate on shearing along the length of the sheep, making sure you first shear well over the shoulders, and then along the back.

Note my left hand being used to steady the sheep if she starts to kick. Press down and she'll soon lie quietly.


Step 8
Now change from kneeling on the neck wool to putting your knee right across the sheep's neck. The sheep now cannot move, and allows you to easily reach the rear end of the sheep.


Step 9
In this position, resting on your right knee and with your left foot in the sheep's crutch, it's easy to shear around the tail and the crutch.


Step 10
Now you need to shear as far over the tail as you can reach, as this is where the sheep is going to sit when you sit her up to do the last side. First loosen the wool so it's standing upright and easy to cut. If the sheep is lying on that bit of wool, it's hard to shear with the blades.

To raise the sheep up, pull it over by some skin around its tail dock. This is much easier with UK hill sheep which have long tails - and which have to be shorn by going down one side and up the other.



Step 11
You now want to get the sheep from lying on its side to sitting on its read end again - like when you started. There's a tricky move (shown in the picture) by grabbing a front leg to pull it up from where you ended - but just get it back up as easy as you can.


Step 12
Here you can see I am back on one knee with the sheep held by the nose and its head resting on my other knee. Then start shearing from the brisket up to the nose to start the last side.



Step 13
Continue to open up the neck and down to other front leg.


Step 14
You can keep on shearing while kneeling, but it's much easier to lay the sheep down and hold it there with your knee over its neck. You can then shear from the rear end (which you shore when you did the first side), right up to the neck.




Step 15
Preparing the fleece. Lay the wool out for 'skirting' which is where you remove the belly wool and all the stained and coloured pieces around the edge, short bits of wool and any wool with raddle or plant contamination. The aim is to keep the main 'body wool' with similar length staples in one lot to be marketed.





Step 16
Rolling up the fleece. There's no need to do this in New Zealand but it's used in UK, and is a handy trick to carry a single fleece. Lay the fleece out and fold in both sides. In UK the hill breeds are wrapped with the skin side in, and lowland breeds are folded with the skin side out.

Once the sides are folded in - start rolling the fleece from the tail end. If confused over which end is which after the wool is off - look for the neck wood which is usually shorter and finer.


Step 17
When you get near the neck, start pulling some wool and twisting it into a band.


Step 18
You end up with the fleece wrapped up for easy carrying without it falling apart. In New Zealand, fleeces are put loose into the fadge.

Sheep Farm Husbandry - Meat; Grading; Slaughter; Home kill

Meat from sheep: the law; grading; slaughter; home killing

By Dr Clive Dalton

Sheep meat image problem
Beef producers are fortunate as regardless of age, their animals all produce “beef”. Sadly for sheep farmers where we don’t talk about “sheep meat” as a generic term, there are three products to market - lamb, hogget and mutton.

• Lamb poses no problem as it already has a “young” image that is easily embellished by adding words like “fresh, spring, Canterbury and New Zealand”.
  
• But what about hogget and mutton? Hogget is hidden under “lamb” (see glossary), but so far nobody has come up with an attractive marketing name to improve the image of mutton.
  
• Focus groups of shoppers see mutton as being old, frozen, tough and worst of all – fat! This is unfortunate, as now with modern processing, some very high quality lean meat cuts are produced from carcasses of older sheep.
• The main messages coming back from consumers are that they don’t want fat for health reasons.
• And they don’t want large “joints” of meat – the traditional Sunday roast that Granny cooked has gone. This is the age of small ovens and convenience foods for busy people so now 95% of lamb is cut to specification and exported packaged, labeled and ready for cooking.
  

Meat and the law
After over 100 years in the meat exporting business, a mass of legislation has grown up in New Zealand to protect producers, processors and exporters, so farmers need to be aware of this fact and where necessary comply with it. Remember the customer is always right! So there is:

• The Meat Act 1981
• The Biosecurity Act 1993
• The Animals Product Act 1999
• The Biosecurity (Ruminant Protein) Regulations 1999
• The Biosecurity (Animal Identification Systems) Regulations 1999
  

When are animals ready for slaughter?
This is always a big concern and can be tricky because of the sheep Carcass Classification or Grading System used in New Zealand, and you would be wise to become familiar with it and seek good advice before selling anything. Here are some basic points:

• The grading system places carcasses with similar characteristics into groups or classes.
• It is designed to pay farmers for what the meat company considers the export market wants, and not pay (or even penalise) them for what is not wanted such as over-fat animals.
• It allows meat to be purchased sight-unseen, and provides a channel for consumer requirements to get back to producers so they can change things if needed.
  

Meat fit for human consumption

• After slaughter and processing, every sheep carcass whether for export or the domestic market is checked by a meat inspector from “Asure (New Zealand) Ltd” on behalf of the New Zealand government by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, to make sure it is fit for human consumption.
  
• Any carcass that fails to pass inspection is condemned and rendered down for blood and bone fertiliser.
• After passing inspection, the carcass is weighed while still warm, and graded by a meat grader employed by the meat company and regularly audited by AusMeat.

Lambs off to meat works. Careful handling to avoid bruising and a stress-free journey is important to maximise returns.

Meat grading

• Farmers are paid on carcass weight and grade.
• There are two weights recorded at the meat plant – hot carcass weight (HCW) and cold carcass weight (CCW) after a period in the chiller. Farmers are paid on HCW recorded straight after dressing and CCW is used when export meat is sold.
• Meat graders from the meat company then assesses the maturity, sex, fat cover and muscling of the carcass.
• Fat is assessed by the “GR measurement” and is the fat depth taken at the 12th rib and 11cm from the mid line of the carcass with a sharpened ruler pushed into the meat. In other major meat exporting countries they use an electronic probe to assess fat and meat content which was invented in New Zealand but not used here. The reasons remain a mystery!
• There are 7 fat classes for lamb from devoid of fat at one end, to excessive at the other which has to be trimmed (with added expense) before export. Carcasses that are too thin for export and damaged go into a “manufacturing” grade.
• The general rule is that as carcass weights go up, then so does fat content. The search is always on for animals that confound this rule.
• Beta lamb is a special class of milk-fed lamb less than 7.5kg carcass which is moderately-to-well muscled with an even but not excess fat cover.
• Hoggets. There is a separate “hogget” grade (defined by teeth eruption) for carcasses based on weight and fat cover.
• Rams. There is only one class covering all weight ranges with no GR specifications.
• Muscling is only assessed on a limited range of sheep carcasses.
  

Typical meat schedule prices
Here’s an example of a typical Meat Schedule published by meat companies or available from independent websites, for a particular week for North Island lamb for the Y low-fat grade and the MX1 mutton grade. For South Island stock, take off $1.50/head/lamb.



Key points from the table

• It lets you see what prices are this particular week, and how they have changed.
• The skill is to predict what’s going to happen in the weeks ahead and whether you should buy or sell, taking into account the weather, pasture growth, what’s happening in the US and European economies, changes in the exchange rate, saleyard rumour and downright lies!
  
• There’s a challenge for a smart young IT person to write some software for a pocket PC to predict all this– but it would take a lot of the fun out of it.
  

When to sell?

• This is the hard part or the challenging part - depending on your attitude.
• So knowing all the different criteria involved in each grade, you now have to predict which particular combination will make most return.
• A typical decision would be whether to sell on this week’s schedule, or by looking at recent schedule trends, reading market reports and using stock agent or saleyard information, hang on for a bit longer.
• If you do this, the stock will put on more weight for which you will get paid, but it may also mean they get fatter and could even get overfat and grade T where excess fat has to be trimmed off before export and you would get less per kg.
• But the penalty per kg may not have much effect if you have produced many more kg of carcass. Remember the extra time on the farm and the extra feed eaten would have to be taken into account too.
• So can you see why it would be wise to consult with a meat company meat buyer or farm consultant to seek guidance on all this. It’s very much like the stocks and share market.
  

Killing out or dressing percentage

• The meat company pays you for the weight of the carcass, so now comes the question of how much of the live animal you sent to the meat plant ended up as a carcass.
• From the newly-killed sheep the following are removed or trimmed:
• Pelt
• Head including tongue
• Feet
• Internal organs including all digestive, respiratory, excretory and reproductive organs.
• Mammary system and cods (udder and scrotum)
• Skirts both thick and thin (abdominal wall)
• Tail
• Aorta – all tissue
• Neck trim – removed with pluck (trachea and lungs) and any tissue contaminated by blood or ingesta.
• So you are left with the weight of the animal after its carcass has been “dressed”.
• The terms Killing Out Percentage (KO%) or Dressing Percentage are used and are calculated by dividing the hot carcass weight by the live weight and multiplying this by 100 over 1.
  

[(Hot carcass weight)/(Live weight without fasting)] x [100/1]

• If you want to predict the HCW from liveweight before the animal leaves the farm, use this formula:

• HCW = (Liveweight kg x 0.473 – 1.92) x 1.045

The standard is taken as 43% for a 13.5kg hot carcass.
Here’s a ready reckoner table to help solve this mystery:

• It’s important to remember that if you weigh stock before they leave the farm, they will vary greatly in the amount of “fill’ or gut contents they have, and this may come as a big surprise when you see the KO%.
  
• The longer you empty stock out by leaving them on a bare paddock or yard before slaughter, the less the loss will be. See table below for the factors that can affect KO%.

Warning
These are broad estimates of minimal likely factors which may not all act independently. So watch you don’t double count them, e.g. in dry seasons light lambs may be leaner and also have full fleeces.

• Meat company buyers who come to your farm are very experienced at looking at live animals and predicting their carcass weight. However, having an on-farm live weight is a great help for both them and yourself, and at least reassures you that you are not being ripped off (if you dared to doubt the buyer!).
• The killing sheets from the meat company give you the final true picture including the killing charges. This is always interesting but sometimes frustrating to see on these sheets what defects like bruising and old injection abscesses may have cost you, especially if these were not of your doing!
  

Presentation of sheep for slaughter

• Again because of legal requirements, meat companies have strict standards about stock accepted for slaughter, so they meet the very strict standards set by the overseas markets. As a result the companies require an “Animal Status Declaration” (ASD) form similar to that required for sheep sold at the saleyards or transferred between owners after January 1 2006.
• So in summary:
• One form travels with the stock from the old to the new owner.
• The new owner keeps the form as they own the animals plus 1 year.
• One form is retained by the seller or supplier. It must be kept for 1 year.
• One copy is kept by the organising agent.
• The copy received by the processor must be kept for 4 years.
• If you have any pangs of frustration when filling this in, just remember we have no choice as sheep farmers are in the food business, and red meat is a health food. You’ve got to believe it!
• The question asking if the animals were born on your property and if not have you had them for 60 days or more is very important here. If you have just purchased the stock, you should have obtained an Animal Status Declaration form from the previous owner.
• If you didn’t, then “the worst case situation” applies which means the meat company cannot slaughter them for a 60-day withholding period. This can cost you extra feed and they may also get overfat.
  

Presentation grades
Meat companies also have two or three “presentation grades” for acceptance of stock for slaughter. Here are the key issues on these:

• Dags and dirt. Sheep should have no dags and have clean fleeces. Dags are a big health and hygiene hazard.
• Emptied out. Sheep should be emptied out (in yards or on a bare paddock) for a minimum of 4 hours to reduce the risk of contamination with faeces which can then get on the wool and then the carcass when the pelt is removed.
• Wool blind. Sheep should be able to see so may need to be eye-wigged before acceptance at the meat plant.
• Free of distress and injury. Distress caused by transport and injury can affect meat quality.
• Washing. Stock should be clean and free from dirt prior to slaughter and if they are not, then the meat company will have to wash them. Hopefully they will only require one wash but they can be washed twice if necessary. Then they have to be given time to dry prior to slaughter and this is also stressful for the sheep.
• Wool length. Wool should not be more than 4cm long which equates to approximately 0.7kg. Short wool is preferred in winter as it dries more quickly.
  

Black fibres
This is an interesting processing problem which arises because black sheep have black fibres! Then after processing if any of these black or coloured fibres have adhered to the carcass –they can be easily seen whereas stray white fibres cannot.

So be aware of this if you keep pigmented sheep. It’s still a problem but nothing like what it used to be, thanks to big improvements in processing equipment.

Identifying sheep before sending to the works
When you send sheep for slaughter to a meat plant, it’s important for everyone that they are clearly identified to save time and reduce cost. Here’s the basis of some acceptable and well-understood codes used by farmers and processors. The basis of it is to use standard coloured raddle on standard parts of the sheep shown in the table below.

You can use any combination of these such as BH for blue head and YR for yellow rump. If you have different mobs, use contrasting colours and not yellow and orange for example. Put enough raddle on to last, but not too much as it has to be scoured out of the wool after slaughter.

Transporting sheep to slaughter
Prime lambs for slaughter are a quality export product so remember the following:

• At least a week before transport, draft out stock for slaughter into their new groups to give them time to settle and sort out their new social order.
• This is to avoid stress which affects the pH of the meat, which then reduces shelf life when sold as a higher-value chilled product in supermarkets rather than just frozen.
• Ideally meat should have a pH of around 5.5 and it’s acceptable up to 5.8. This will produce good red meat that will be excellent to eat. In a range from 5.8 to 6.2, the meat begins to be unacceptable and tough. Above 6.2 and up to pH of 7.0, the meat will be relatively tender but will go a dark colour and will spoil quickly and have little flavour on cooking. Dark meat when displayed in a supermarket has little customer appeal and shoppers assume it is “going off”.
• After sorting or any vet treatment, put stock on good pasture to build up their glycogen levels.
• On the day of transport, muster them quietly and let them empty out on a bare paddock or yard with water for at least 8 hours without disturbance. This will keep them cleaner in the truck and reduce the effluent that may contaminate the highway.
• If the transporter is late - don’t let your stock be sacrificed by rushing them, in a bid to make up lost time.
• Load stock quietly without sticks or dogs and only minimal use of an electric probe if needed. Check for any protruding nails or bolts that will damage pelts and bruise meat when loading and fix these before the truck arrives.
• Ensure the loading ramp is safe and the truck can back up squarely to it, leaving no gap for legs to get down and cause injury so they cannot be sent for slaughter.
• By law, animals must be able to take their full weight on all four feet to be acceptable for transport. Any animal that cannot will require a veterinary certificate before the truck operator or meat works will accept it.
• A meat processing plant does not accept defective stock or what used to be known as “mercy kills” such as stock with broken legs. Such animals now have to go for pet food.
• All stock must also be accompanied by the correct documentation before the truck driver will pick them up.
• Only use reliable transport operators who will give your stock a quiet ride to the meat plant. If transport staff are rough with your stock, don’t use them again and tell the company why. You have been preparing a high quality product for perhaps 4-12 months and to have it ruined by poor handling on its last day is unacceptable.
• Make sure the truck is clean before your stock are loaded - it is supposed to be.
  

Home killing on the farm

• It’s very important to have your home killing done by a licensed “home kill service provider” Operators are required to be licensed under the Animal Products Act 1999 and can provide their service on their own licensed premises or on your property.
  
• The welfare standards for home killing must conform to those given under the Animal Welfare (Commercial Slaughter) Code of Welfare 2006.
• Home killing of livestock is subject to legal restrictions because of concerns that home-killed meat (which has not been inspected by an approved government inspector in a licensed slaughtering facility) may get into the export meat trade and threaten market standards.
• Our export markets view this as a risk, and farmers who kill sheep for home consumption need to fully appreciate this. The risk is not so much with those who understand and stick to the law, it’s the illegal operators who are the worry and those who are tempted to buy “cheap meat”, some of which is of very suspect origin and without doubt is a human health risk.
• “Home kill” is the slaughtering and butchering of your own animals, either by yourself or by a licensed home-kill butcher for your own consumption which includes your family and household.
• A “family” normally includes parents, children and grandparents and does not include an extended family living elsewhere.
• A “household” are the normal occupants of a house and does not include an institution or tourist accommodation.
• Only animal owners who are actively engaged in the day-to-day maintenance of an animal, or keep animals of the same kind for a period of 28 days, may use home kill. In other words – someone making a serious attempt to farm them and not just dealing in stock.
• Home killed meat cannot be sold, raffled, or bartered for goods or services. It would not even be wise to give it away.
• You can feed home kill meat to your staff if they are regular employees, and they can feed it to their families. You cannot feed casual workers or contractors or your vet, accountant or bank manager, and you cannot feed home kill to paying guests.
• It’s very important to use a home kill butcher with a good reputation for producing top meat. A freezer full of tough meat is not a good prospect, nor is the nagging concern that you may think you didn’t get all your own sheep back from the butcher!
• It is very important to realise that under the Animal Welfare Act 1999 all animals must be slaughtered in a humane way without causing any pain or stress to them or their flock mates.
• Some operators will bury the offal on your farm or will take it away for disposal in an approved site. This will be part of the charge.
• Anyone offering home-kill services is required to be listed under the Animal Products Act 1999 as a “homekill service provider”. They can provide their service at their own licensed home-kill premises or on the owner’s property. The welfare standards for home kill animals should conform with those given under the Animal Welfare (Commercial Slaughter) Code of Welfare 2006.
• Check with MAF for the latest regulations and for regulations to provide meat for Marae and ethnic and religious groups.
• Realise the potential hazards with home killing of meat. You would do well to consider sending a sheep off the farm to a licensed slaughter facility to be killed and processed. Then at least you have no human safety concerns, animal stress or food safety issues to be concerned about.
• If you kill your own sheep – see information on euthanasia and slaughtering.
• Before you fill the freezer, check to make sure it’s reaching the correct temperature and tape the plugs into the socket. Also lay some rat poison near it as they love the plastic on the cable and you don’t want to come back from holiday and find a freezer full of nice pink water with your meat floating in it!
  

Curing sheep skins
If you want to cure a sheepskin, see the recommended further reading list for a good recent reference. (Martin 2004).

Disclaimer
This material is provided in good faith for information purposes only, and the author does not accept any liability to any person for actions taken as a result of the information or advice (or the use of such information or advice) provided in these pages.

Sheep Farm Husbandry - Preparation for Shearing

Shearing preparation, sheep, facilities, yards, woolshed and plant, pressing, branding, documentation

By Dr Clive Dalton

How to keep shearers and wool handlers happy

• Shearers and wool handlers have never had a great image, and despite the best efforts of their Union and what used to be the NZ Wool Board that championed shearer training and welfare, they are still struggling for full recognition of their skills.
  
• This is now more serious as young people are loathe to enter the industry and can find much easier ways to make a living in other occupations.
• So if you want your sheep shorn, here’s a few suggestion to get your shearers and wool handlers to want to come back next time you need them.
  

Ronney ewes waiting to be second shorn

Preparing for shearing
The key to a trouble-free shearing is good preparation and the thing you must avoid at all costs is to hold the shearers up as you are depriving them of their income and they don’t like that. Here’s a series of check lists for the various parts of the operation.

Yards and shed

• Check all gates are swinging freely and not dragging on the ground.
• All gate and door catches should be working and be reliable.
• Repair all broken rails and broken gratings to prevent broken legs.
• If you have drafted sheep before shearing, tie the gates up with extra twine, especially over night to avoid mix-ups.
  

Woolshed

Shearing plant

• All machines in good working order – greased and oiled.
• Electrical wiring on motors and flexes are safe.
• Have spare guts and other parts available plus the appropriate tools.
  

Grinder

• New emery paper on the grinder.
• Spare paper and glue available.
• Water containers to soak off old emery paper.
• Pendulums hanging in place and adjusted to the right length.
• Plenty of light above the grinder to see what you are doing.
  

Shearing board

• Well ventilated with no drafts.
• Piece of soft pine in place to “finish” combs (saves ripping the studs).
• Floor washed clean and dry.
• Knock in all sticking-up nails.
• Repair all splintered boards.
• Return-spring on catching pen and straps to prevent over-wide opening.
• Working and full oil cans on each stand.
• Bulk supply of correct oil available.
• Wash trays, screwdrivers and brushes all there.
• Wool brooms, sweepers or boards all present along with spares.
  

Lighting

• Leave some lights on in the shed overnight to prevent panic among sheep.
• Replace all blown bulbs with correct wattage to provide good light.
• Windows and skylights cleaned.
• Check no direct sun gets on the shearing board – have a means of blinding off any offending windows.
  

Wool room

• Have the correct recommended lighting above the wool table. Check with your shearing contractor.
• Plenty of wool packs available.
• Correct branding gear available – stencils, ink and brushes.
• Wool press in good working order and safe to use.
• Plenty of space for pressed bales.
• Bale hooks present plus spares.
• Bale trolley for large shed.
• Needles and twine always available and kept in same place.
• Brooms or boards present to keep the place tidy.
• A clearly visible blackboard to show pen tallies and for other shed notes.
  

Tally book

• A new tally book with a new sharp (soft lead) pencil tied to it.
• A spare book and pencil.
  

Washing facilities

• Ensure there is plenty of clean potable water available.
• Check the water heater works.
• Clean the sinks and make sure each one has a plug.
• Clean the showers and check they are working. Place non-slip mats in them.
• Clean the toilet and make sure there are plenty of rolls of paper – soft paper!
• Provide plenty of towels – paper ones are best, and have a rubbish bin for the used ones.
• Have liquid soap in a dispenser rather than a dirty block that gets lost.
• Keep all the ablutions facilities clean during shearing.
  

First aid

• Have a large, clearly-marked first aid box up on the wall.
• Check all the basic materials are present and keep checking them during shearing.
• Have a bottle of disinfectant ready mixed and clearly marked in a prominent place.
• Have a trained designated person to be the first point of contact in case of accident.
• Always have a mobile phone handy with key phone numbers recorded.
  

Sheep

Daggy sheep are a health & safety risk to shearers.
Dag all sheep before the shearers arrive

• Minimise the stress on all sheep to be shorn.
• Dag all sheep before shearing.
• Draft by breed and wool length.
• Treat all flyblown sheep before shearing.
• Draft off any sick or injured sheep to be shorn at the end (by negotiation with the shearers).
• Don’t hold sheep in the catching pen overnight as it will be too slippy for the shearers.
• Do not offer damp sheep for shearing. The wool will mould on pressing and the shearers will get boils.
• Have good feed and shelter for all sheep after shearing.
  

Emptying out sheep
Farmers have always been aware of the need to empty out sheep before shearing to avoid pen stain of wool, but recently this need has been reinforced by OSH guidelines to reduce the risk of handling injuries to shearers, less risk of tripping on slippery floors, and reduced chance of shearers contracting Leptospirosis from urine spray. The recommendations are shown in the table below.



Key points from the table

• Exceeding the maximum times with pregnant ewes may trigger metabolic diseases.
• Where practical, lambs should stay with their mothers until they enter the woolshed for shearing and their separation kept to a minimum.
• Special care is needed when handling pregnant hoggets. Exceeding their maximum could easily trigger metabolic diseases.
• Exceeding the times for lambs could trigger diseases too.
  

Wool preparation

• Have a clear plan on how you want the wool prepared before shearing and give clear instructions to the shed hands.
• If you are not sure about certain aspects, seek the advice of the wool handlers, many of whom now have had formal training.
  

Fleece weighing

• Make sure the scales are working and recording accurate data.
• Check they are in a good position for working and are securely positioned.
• Have extra trays or boxes for the wool on the scales.
• Have plenty tags, tickets and pencils if needed for manual recording.
• Read the sheep’s tag when it causes least disturbance to the shearer so they don’t have to stop.
• This is the advantage of having the brass tag in the left ear so you read the tag when the belly is being shorn and the ear is sticking out behind the shearer’s left arm.

General

• Have you given the contractor or non-contract shearers plenty of notice?
• Will there be plenty of shed hands all with clearly allocated jobs.
• Is the food organised? Diet advice has changed over recent years. Shearers are athletes and need energy foods and not protein. So they don’t need to be fed on endless mutton – they need carbohydrates. Check with Meat & Wool NZ for details of diets.
• Have plenty of clearly marked rubbish bins in visible places.
• Have some coat hooks for clothing.
• Shearers gear is valuable and they often get it stolen so provide some metal lockers for their spare gear.
• As a final check, get someone to go around to test everything is working.
• And if the pet lamb has to be shorn, make sure it’s collar is removed – and have a biscuit ready as a reward for its indignity!
  

Wool bales
Because wool bales are not opened and emptied after packing in the farm woolshed until they reach the mill, it’s very important that the job is done properly.


Preparation
Here are the important points:

• For a single lot or line of wool, use all synthetic packs. Jute packs are now history.
• Recycled packs. If they are used make sure that:
• They don’t show any old brands.
• All rips and tears must be repaired.
• Must not have any unraveled or burst seams, raw edges or loose threads.
• Must not be repaired with patches.
• Must not have any base or seam repairs.
• Must have a sound clean or new cap of the same fibre type as the pack.
• Must have a sewn-on label identifying the rehandling company and date of rehandling.
• Must only be repaired/rehandled by a company prepared to meet the standards of the code of practice for packaging wool.
  

Before pressing
Before starting to press wool, check the press and the equipment needed – packs, clips, permanent marker pens, bale/tally book, newspaper and pen.

• Check the work plan with the farmer or person supervising the shearing.
• Ensure the pressing work area is tidy and free from contamination.
• Load the pack into the press.
• Enter the agreed description of the new bale to be pressed into the bale book.
• Press the wool.
• Close the bale, brand the bale according to the bale book description and tick off as done.
• Remove the bale and store in a place to avoid congestion and need for minimal movement.
• Repeat pressing process for each bale.
  

Pressing

• Press bales to near their maximum weight.
• 200kg is the recommended maximum.
  
• Overweight bales have to be repacked at the grower’s expense.
  
• The minimum bale weight is 100kg.
  

Common faults with pressing
With the downturn in wool profits, there’s always a temptation to cut corners, or only be able to hire staff without the necessary experience. So wool merchants are having to put out information to keep up wool pressing standards. Here are their current concerns:

1. Poor clipping technique. All clips must go straight across. Clips must be at least 25mm (one inch) from the seam edge. Poorly inserted clips can twist and protrude being a danger to handlers.
2. Poor overlap of the flaps. All flaps must have at least 50mm (three finger widths) overlap. This ensures the wool is not contaminated and flaps get caught during handling.
3. Bales not evenly pressed. Ensure that bales are pressed evenly so they stand up straight. Unevenly pressed bales can make truck loads unstable. Place wool evenly in the bale before pressing.
4. Data on the specification form not matching the bales received. Always check off each bale pressed with the bale book with a tick. A major problem is many bales with the same number. Have a good process and stick to it.
   

Branding

• Brand each bale before it leaves the press to avoid errors.
• Brand with the correct information and using the approved ink.
• Complete the tally book before the bale leaves the press.
• Do not use black shoe polish as it fades rapidly.
• Do not use aerosols as they go through the pack and stain the wool under the brand.
• Only use black for branding as the shipper uses red ink.
• The brands placed on the cap and side of the bale differs in the North and South Island of New Zealand, so check with your wool merchant or Stock company.
• A lot of subsequent information has to be added to the cap and you need to leave at least two-thirds of it clear for shipping brands. Wool brokers prefer the shipping brands on the top of the bale next to the farm brand (and not on the base).
• Put the farm brand on the top left corner of the cap, and if the farm has a long name it can extend along the top. In this position there is less chance of it being rubbed off by abrasion between bales during transport.
• Lettering: Height should be 50-75mm with 50mm preferred. Letters should be of adequate thickness. Use a stencil with uniform strokes.
• If wool is not correctly described it will not be offered for sale and will incur a cost to the grower.
  

Documentation
Bale tally book

This is the final part of the process so you have to get it right if you want to avoid problems and delays in payment. Make sure that:

• All bales are branded.
• No numbers are duplicated.
• All descriptions are correct.
• Separate lines are clearly marked.
• All bale fastening is sound.
  

Written specifications
To allow brokers to handle your wool quickly and correctly, your written specifications must be with the wool merchant when the wool arrives. Each load of wool that leaves the farm needs a specification and it must indicate whether lines are complete or not. Here are some important points to check:

• Keep a duplicate specification.
• Check that the number of bales stated agrees with those specified. Let bale numbers run through for the season and don’t start each consignment off at number 1.
• Ensure that your written brand (on the specification) agrees with what is on the bales.
• Make sure the name and address are correct.
• Give an accurate description of the bales.
• Make sure that in the bale numbers there are no duplications or deletions.
• Record the total bales in each line and write the selling instructions clearly as well as the method of disposal.
• Note that in failing to give clear instructions, the company will use its discretion in handling the wool.
• Make sure you indicate clearly whether this is the complete clip, or only part of it with more to come.
• Any specific instructions or comments need to be clearly stated e.g. at which sale you want the wool sold at.
• If the wool is consigned by a farming company, make sure the full and correct company name is given so correspondence will go to the correct place.
• Wools from different farms in a company may be very different but may be are consigned as one line. Make sure the specifications recognise this.
• Make sure the specification is signed by the person responsible for the clip. Check that the phone number for urgent contact is correct.
  

Abbreviations used on wool bales
Here is a list of abbreviations required by the wool trade to avoid confusion.

Disclaimer
This material is provided in good faith for information purposes only, and the author does not accept any liability to any person for actions taken as a result of the information or advice (or the use of such information or advice) provided in these pages.

Sheep Farm Husbandry - Wool types and Handling

Sheep, husbandry, wool, marketing, preparation, hand spinning wools, when to shear

By Dr Clive Dalton

In the old days, depending on how much (or how little) preparation was preparation done on the farm, wool went as greasy wool to a “wool merchant” with massive woolstores. Here staff and "wool classers" unpacked the bales, and classed the fleece wool into similar lines before it was repacked and offered for sale by auction.

The exception was in the larger clips where the wool was classed and sorted at the time of shearing in the woolshed on the farm. So if wool growers offered poorly-prepared wool for sale, the wool merchant’s staff sorted it out - at a charge.

When the lines of wool were valued prior to auction, the bales were laid out in rows in the week before the sale. Buyers dug deep into a sample of opened bales with their hands and pulled the wool out to make sure they saw a good representative sample. All these opened bales then had to be repacked by the staff immediately after the sale. It was a very costly business and things had to change. Here's a brief summary of what happens today:

Wool's journey to market
The first big change was driven by wool importing countries not wanting New Zealand grease and dirt with their purchase, as with freight being charged on a weight basis it cost more to transport greasy wool.

• There was also increasing concern over the effluent from the wool scours polluting the waterways of the destination country, as well as a bonus of New Zealand weed seeds.
  
• So now about 90% of our exported coarser wools are scoured after being sold and before being shipped.
  

Wool from small flocks

• The wool is generally put into "fadges" (often by the shearer).
  
• Everything goes in except the dags and it is either given to the shearer to pay the costs, or is taken to a wool merchant who pays the grower on greasy weight - usually the lowest possible price commensurate with the lowest value wool in the mix!
• The wool merchant sorts it along with wool from other sources and bales it for direct sale to a buyer or through the auction system described below.
  

Wool from large flocks

• The wool is shorn and prepared (to whatever standard) in the farm woolshed, pressed into bales and branded with the farm brand and the wool's specification (see later).
• It may be purchased in the shed by a wool merchant who will take a hand-grab sample from a number of bales to be sent to a wool measurement laboratory for testing. The grower may then be offered a price based on the test results and this is often seen as the easiest option for the farmer these days.
• If the farmer sends the wool through a stock and station agent, the wool is transported to their wool broker's store where a number of actions are taken in preparation for sale.
• On arrival each bale of a straight type of wool is compressed and four sharpened tubes are forced into it from the top to draw out a "core sample" under pressure. This sample results in short pieces of cut fibres.
• The core samples are used to measure yield, fibre diameter, fibre curvature, colour and sometimes core bulk.
• Then the bale is turned over and a hole cut in the side from which a mechanical grab draws a sample producing full-length staples.
• This grab sample is used to check the wool type against the documented specifications sent in with the wool. It measures staple length and in the case of fine wools, staple strength.
• The grab samples from the line are then sent to the wool selling centre (currently Napier and Christchurch), put together into a box for display along with the testing certificate for the buyers to inspect and value before the auction sale.
• After it is sold, most of the wool is transported to a wool scour where it is blended with other wools to meet the purchaser's specifications and is then scoured.
• Wool due for export is pressed into high-density bales, wrapped and bound with steel straps to reduce its volume for shipping in a container.
  

Implications of preparation on the sale of wool
Here are some important points to remember when deciding how much work to put into preparation of your clip:

• Do nothing and your wool will be valued according to its lowest common denominator!
• Core sampling and grab sampling are very accurate and will expose anything you have tried to hide in the bale.
• Disasters can happen by negligence in the woolshed resulting in damage to modem high-speed combing machines. This results in claims back on wool exporters who set their prices accordingly.
• Only wool should go into a wool bale. You need systems to make sure nothing else does (see later).
• Things that have been found in wool bales are amazing - from shearers' moccasins, parts of hand pieces, black singlets, towels, steel needles, grinder plates, sand paper, baler twine, wire, sheep skins and cigarette butts. Metal detectors will only find some of these.
• Synthetic fibres from baler twine are an exceptionally serious contaminant.
• Valuable fine wool Merino clips should be packed in nylon packs to minimise contamination from polypropylene packs.
  

Wool preparation (all flocks)
Here are some important principles to consider before you decide how much work to put into wool preparation. Decide how far you want to go based on experience from previous sale returns. Little will have changed since then.

• The main return comes from “body wool” which is the wool from the main body of the sheep, minus the "oddments" (wool that is not body wool) which may well lose you money in a sale.
• The oddments include necks and backs, bellies, bulky pieces, very short pieces (called locks or lox), and stains. The debate is mainly over how many of these items you take out to meet the final very important objective of "putting like with like and taking out what does not match".
• Necks and backs are taken out if they contain seeds and bits of hay. Bellies and pieces are taken out because they are greasy and the wool is usually yellow.
  

Action plan

• Make a good job of preparing the woolshed (see later).
• Sheep should not have been treated for external parasites for at least 60 days for strong ols, 90 days for mid-micron wool, and 120 days for fine wools.
• Make sure sheep are dry before shearing - never shear sheep where you can feel the slightest sensation of dampness or coldness from the wool.
• Dag all sheep before shearing and do a proper job removing all dirty wool.
• Shear sheep of different breeds and wool types separately.
• Don't put wool of different types in the same pressed bale unless it is going to be resorted by the merchant or broker. Separate different types with a sheet of newspaper.
• If sheep vary in staple length, draft them into lines of similar staple length and shear them separately.
• Separate the belly wool which is short and greasy. Bellies from rams and wethers will also be urine stained so remove them. This is very important as the stain cannot be scoured out and has no value.
• Separate yellow-stained wool from white wool.
• Keep all cotted (matted) fleeces separate.
• Remove any wool that has raddle (coloured) marks on it. Any raddle used should be approved as "scourable" where the dye can be washed out. Even so, it’s not worth sending it away these days. Use it as garden mulch!
• Remove any wool stained by dung (pen stain) caused by penning sheep too tight before they have emptied out, and where dung could not escape from their holding area.
• Remove short greasy pieces around the edges of the fleece unless the fleece is yellow.
• Shear lambs separately.
• Extra care is needed with lambs' wool. Take out all discoloured or dirty wool.
• Keep all pigmented (black, grey and brown) wool well away from white wool as this can be a serious contaminant with high penalties.
• Wool bales must be clearly and correctly branded (see later).
  

For small flocks

• For small flocks shorn outside, shear on a board (e.g. an old door) or tarpaulin to keep grass and rubbish out of the wool.
• Take out dags, urine stains, and bacterial stains and raddle marks.
• If you put different wool types (e.g. from different breeds) in the same fadge, then separate the layers with sheets of newspaper to help the wool merchant when resorting it.

When to shear?
There are many options and combinations to choose from so the answer to this question is often confusing. Here are some key points:

• Ideally with today's high-speed computerised processing machinery, wool should be 75-125mm long before shearing, so let this be your main guide in deciding when to shear. Finer wool can be shorter than coarser wool.
• The most common shearing regime was (and still is) to shear the whole flock once-a-year, usually in late spring/early summer before it gets too hot. Fleece wool shorn once a year is called "full wool".
• Wool grows faster and is coarser during the summer than during the winter.
• Leaving a long fleece on sheep during the summer results in it turning yellow and becoming cotted or matted.
• Breeds with long coarse fleeces such as the Romney, Border Leicester, English Leicester and Lincoln are best shorn twice a year in spring and autumn.
• Winter shearing is still common but shearing at this time has a poor image with the public who are concerned about its animal welfare implications.
• To meet these concerns winter shearing should be done with cover combs to leave more wool on the sheep than with conventional combs. Shelter and good feed must be provided immediately after shearing.
• Shearing lambs at weaning at 4 months old helps to prevent flystrike, and is done for this reason more than intending to make money from the wool.
• Shearing when there is adequate green feed available to the sheep (high in energy and protein) can result in increased body and wool growth, whereas shearing when feed is short or mature and dry (low energy and protein), can result in decreased body and wool growth.
• Key point: Shear as early as possible in the season to coincide with the time when the wool fibre is at its finest, and before yellow discolouration develops.
  

Wool for hand spinning

• When first choosing wool for hand spinning, it can be alarming to find the large variation between sheep of the so-called same breed, and equally enormous variation within the fleece from a single sheep.
  
• This variation is seen in staple length, coarseness of the fibres over the body, the extent of entanglement between fibres, crimp and the all-important “feel” of the wool as well as the extent of discolouration (mainly water stain yellow).
  
• Some of these qualities still exist after the wool has been spun into yarn so greatly affects its end use. So the two extremes would be coarse wools for rugs and fine wools for baby wear.

The table below shows a broad classification of what the main wool types can be used for:



The main things to look for
When choosing a fleece for spinning, or selecting sheep to produce one, then look for:

• Good long staples – the longer the better.
• Clearly-defined staples making the fleece “free-opening”.
• Sound wool free of break (tenderness). Test this by pulling on each end of the staple and if it’s tender you will feel it break. If you keep pulling you’ll end up with two short staples!
• Free from cotting.
• Good colour – especially free of yellow water stain. Other possible stains are pink tips on the staples or bands of green, brown, apricot, purple and blue. Only the blue is readily scourable. Faecal green stains should also be avoided.
• Free of vegetable matter.
  

Disclaimer
This material is provided in good faith for information purposes only, and the author does not accept any liability to any person for actions taken as a result of the information or advice (or the use of such information or advice) provided in these pages.

Sheep Farm Husbandry - Glossary

Extensive glossary of technical and commonly used farming terms concerned with sheep farming, shearing and wool preparation, and preparation of sheep skins.

By Dr Clive Dalton



SHEEP

• Alpha lambs: Unweaned lambs too heavy for the beta trade, and up to 18-20kg live weight. They are not tail-docked or castrated.
• Beta or bobby lamb: Milk fed lamb fed on the ewe from 1 to 3 weeks of age, going for slaughter at around 14kg live weight. They are not usually tail-docked or castrated.
• Cast-for-age (CFA): Old ewes culled from the flock because of age; usually over 5 years old.
• Cast sheep: Sheep found lying on its back unable to get up, usually because it is heavy in lamb or has a heavy fleece.
• Cryptorchid: There are two meanings. A true cryptorchid is a male with undescended testicle or testicles, but the term is also used to describe a lamb that has been made infertile (ie castrated) by applying a rubber ring below the testicles to remove the scrotum, leaving the testes pushed up against the body (see Castration below).
• Dry ewe: Did not produce a lamb.
• Dry/dry: Did not produce a lamb – barren or did not get pregnant.
• Drift lambing: Where un-lambed ewes are moved quietly from among ewes that have just lambed.
• Easy-care: System where shepherds leave ewes to lamb on their own - called “minimal care”. They go round to help any ewes having problems but cull them later.
• Ewe: Mature female sheep, usually over two years old.
• Fecundity: Ability to produce and rear offspring.
• Fertility: Ability to produce fertile eggs (ova) in the ewe and viable semen in the ram.
• Flock: A group of sheep of any size.
• Flock ram: Non registered ram used in a commercial flock.
• Flushing: Feeding a ewe on a rising plane of nutrition three weeks before mating to stimulate more eggs being shed from the ovary.
• Four-tooth: Four permanent incisors in place - from 21-24 months to 30-36 months old.
• Full mouth: All eight permanent incisors in place - older than 42-46 months.
• Hogget: Young sheep from weaning at 4 months to the time when it’s central permanent incisors erupt at about14-16 months of age. The hogget stage usually ends when they are shorn at around 14 months of age.
• Joining: Putting a ram out to run with ewes.
• Lamb: Young sheep between birth and weaning (up to about 3 to 4 months old). Note: the meat industry uses the term “lamb” for sheep that have not yet got their first pair of permanent incisors, i.e. up to a year old or a little older.
• Long tailer: Male with tail left undocked to indicate that it was not castrated.
• Perinatal lamb mortality: Lambs that die within three days of birth.
• Ram: Male sheep of any age.
• Shear: Term used mainly at saleyards in the South Island for male or female sheep denoting how many times they have been shorn and hence their age, eg one-shear or two-shear ewes. It's more common to see them described them by their teeth.
• Shearling: Male or female sheep 14-16 months of age after being shorn once.
• Stud ram: Ram registered with a breed association or society.
• Tail-up, chaser or follow-up ram: Ram used at the end of joining to mate any late-cycling ewes.
• Six-tooth: Six permanent incisors in place - from 30-36 months to 42-46 months old.
• Slink: Lamb either born dead or died soon after, processed for its skin.
• Teaser: Vasectomised ram.
• Two-tooth: Two central permanent incisors in place - sheep from 12-18 months to 21-24 months old.
• Tupping: Mating or joining (a tup is another name for a ram).
• Weaning: Permanently removing lambs from their mothers.
• Wet/dry: A ewe that produced a lamb but did not rear it.
• Wether: Castrated male.

WOOL

• Bale: Package of wool in a regulation wool pack weighing at least 100kg. The maximum packed weight is 181kg for fleece and lambs wool and 204 for oddments.
• Bale cap: The top of the bale on which you stencil the details.
• Belly wool: Wool from the underside of the sheep.
• Blades: Hand shears.
• Blade shearing: Sheep shorn with the blades leaving more wool on the body for cold conditions.
• Blend: A line of wool resulting from thorough mixing within or between types.
• Body wool: Wool from the main body of the sheep.
• Brand: Coloured mark used for identification of a wool bale or on the side of a sheep.
• Break: A weakness in a wool fibre usually caused by low feeding levels. It causes the fibre to go thin and lose tensile strength.
• Britch wool: Wool off the lower thighs or britch of the sheep.
• Broken: Pieces of wool from which the short dirty ends have been removed.
• Bulk: The resilience of “bounce back” property of wool.
• Burr: Hooked seeds in wool that cause problems in manufacture.
• Catching pen: The pen next to the shearing board that holds the sheep for the shearer.
• Chalkiness: Property by which Down breed wools and very hairy wools reflect light. Sometimes called whiteness.
• Character: A composite term used to describe a staple of wool. The amount of crimp in the staple is an important part of it.
• Classing: Grouping similar wools into saleable lines.
• Clean wool: Scoured or washed wool.
• Clean weight: Weight of clean usable fibre obtained from greasy wool.
• Clip: The wool produced from a farm or group of sheep.
• Coarse wool: Same as “strong” wool characteristic of some breeds.
• Colour: The washability factor of wool. Colour is measured by an instrument and affects wool’s ability to accept dyes.
• Comb: The part of a shearing handpiece that enters the wool to hold it while it is cut by the cutters.
• Condition: The amount of yolk, sand or earth present in greasy wool.
• Core sample: Sample of wool cut from each bale by hollow steel tube under vacuum.
• Cott: Fleece that has become matted during growth.
• Count: The old term to describe the fineness of greasy wool. Now micron measurements are used.
• Crimp: The natural wave formation of wool. In general the smaller the crimps the finer the wool.
• Crossbred wool: Wool produced by Romney, Perendale, Coopworth, Leicester and Lincoln sheep and their crosses – other than with the Merino.
• Crutchings: Wool removed from the rear end (the crutch) of sheep. Normally much coarser than the body wool.
• Cutter: Part of the shearing handpiece that reciprocates across the comb to sever the fibres.
• Dags: Wool contaminated with faeces from the rear of the sheep.
• Dead wool: Wool from a dead sheep.
• Dingy wool: Discoloured wool caused by condition or dust.
• Double fleece: Fleece wool of more than 12 month’s growth.
• Down-type wool: Wool from Down-type meat breeds such as Southdown, Suffolk, Hampshire and their crosses. Sometimes called short-wools.
• Early-shorn wool: Fleece wool usually of 7-10 months growth that hangs lightly together as a fleece.
• Eye clips: Trade term for wool removed from the side of the sheep’s face at crutching.
• Fadge: Package of wool in a wool pack weighing less than 100kg.
• Fibre: Single strand of wool.
• Fleece: Body wool shorn from a sheep.
• Fleeco: Person who handles the newly-shorn fleece in the shearing shed.
• Flyblown wool: Wool contaminated with blowfly maggots. Typed as dead wool.
• Follicle: Structure in the skin out of which a wool or hair fibre grows.
• Fribs: Shorter, tightly curled and discoloured wool from the brisket and four points of the sheep.
• Full wool: Ten to 13 months growth of wool.
• Grab sample: Wool sample drawn at random from the bales in a line. Needs to average 250g per grab and a minimum of 4kg per lot. Placed in display boxes for buyers’ appraisal.
• Grading: Sorting out wool for sale into lines.
• Greasy wool: Wool as shorn from the sheep and containing the natural impurities of wax, suint and dirt.
• Hair: Fibre similar in chemical composition to wool but containing a medulla.
• Halfbred wool: Wool from Corriedale or New Zealand Halfbred or similar sheep containing between one quarter and three quarters Merino blood.
• Handle: The feel of wool.
• Handpiece: The handheld part of the shearing machine.
• Hunger-fine wool: Wool that has grown much finer than normal due to low feeding levels or starvation.
• Kemp: Short white brittle medullated fibres which are shed from the fleece. Common in carpet breeds like the Drysdale and some others such as the Cheviot.
• Lambs wool: Wool shorn from lambs.
• Lanolin: Natural product derived from the grease in wool.
• Line of wool: Several bales of wool of similar type.
• Locks: Short wool that has either fallen through the slats on the wool table or been swept from the shearing board.
• Longwool sheep: Sheep of British origin that grow coarse wool more than 100mm in staple length in 12 months, e.g. Romney, Coopworth, Lincoln and Leicester.
• Lot: Line of wool offered for sale. Minimal number of four bales (460kg) or under special conditions may be offered as a star lot or ten bales.
• Lustre: Sheen characteristic of some coarser wools, e.g. Lincoln and Leicester.
• Medium wool: Middle of the range of a specific type of wool in terms of fibre diameter.
• Medulla: the cavity up the centre of hairy (medullated) fibres.
• Merino wool: Type of wool grown by sheep with more than three quarters Merino blood.
• Micron (µm): Unit used to describe the diameter of a wool fibre. One micron equals one millionth of a metre.
• Moit: Vegetable matte other than seeds and burrs.
• Mulesing: Cutting wrinkled skin from around the anus of Merino sheep.
• Neck wool: Matted collar wool from around the neck of a sheep.
• New wool: Wool used in the manufacture of fabrics for the first time.
• Oddments: Parts of a fleece other than the body wool that are sold separately, e.g. belly, neck, crutchings, locks and pieces.
• Open faced: Breeds with no wool on their heads so they can see easily.
• Overgrown wool: Fleece wool that is more than 12 month’s growth.
• Pieces: Body wool trimmings removed from the fleece when it is skirted after shearing.
• Pizzle stain: Unscourable urine staining in wether and ram belly wool and ewe crutchings.
• Pre-lamb shearing: Shearing ewes during late winter or early spring before lambing.
• Pressing: Compressing loose wool into bales in the shearing shed.
• Quality number: An old subjective system to estimate the fineness and consequent spinning capacity of wool. Based on the Bradford worsted yarn count system,
• Quarterbred wool: Wool from sheep containing between five- and seven-eights Merino blood and the remainder Longwool blood.
• Raddle: Paint, aerosol spray, greasy crayon or chalk used to put a mark on a sheep’s fleece. It must be approved as being scourable.
• Rouseabout or Rousie: General hand working in a shearing shed.
• Sale by sample: Method of displaying wool before an auction where only a sub-sample withdrawn mechanically from the line of wool (minimum of 10 bales), is displayed in a cardboard box for buyer evaluation along with a yield test certificate.
• Scouring: Washing wool to remove the natural impurities of wax, suint and dirt.
• Second cut: Wool fibres which are cut twice during shearing by poor technique. The short pieces are of little value.
• Shearing board: Area in shearing shed where sheep are shorn.
• Shearing gang: Group of people employed by a farmer to shear, sort and bale the wool clip.
• Shearing shed: Building where sheep are shorn.
• Shedhand: Person other than a shearer who works in a shearing shed.
• Shed-up: Confining woolly sheep in a shearing shed before shearing – usually to prevent them getting wet.
• Sheepo: Person in a shearing shed who fills the catching pens. Shearers shout “Sheepo” to indicate their catching pen is empty.
• Sixty-nine: Call made to let shearers and shedhands know ladies or visitors are entering the woolshed.
• Skep: Pronouncied “skip”. A trolley to carry loose wool in a woolstore or mill. Also called a dobbin.
• Skirting: Removing oddments from a fleece after shearing.
• Slipe wool: Wool recovered from pelts in an abbatoir.
• Sound wool: Wool without any weakness in tensile strength.
• Sox: Kempy fibres growing between the sheep’s knee and hoof.
• Stain: Discoloration of wool caused by water, bacteria, fungi and dirt that cannot be scoured out. Examples are – canary stain, log stain.
• Stand: The area on the shearing board where each shearing machine is placed.
• Staple: Naturally formed cluster of fibres in a fleece. Staples are joined by cross fibres which bind the fleece together.
• Star lot: Small sale lot of specialty type wools of usually one to three bales.
• Steely wool: Wool with a shiny appearance that lacks crimp. Associated with copper deficiency.
• Stringy: Wool with a thin staple.
• Strong wool: Wool with a coarse fibre diameter.
• Style: Combined assessment of the degree of excellence or fault of wool.
• Suint: Natural water soluble impurity of wool grease.
• Sweat locks: Short, heavy-condition staples from the upper inside of the legs.
• Sweepo: Person who sweeps the shearing board during shearing.
• Tally: Number of sheep shorn by a shearer or a gang in a nine-hour day, or the number of sheep in a group.
• Tender: Wool with a tensile weakness. A less severe form of break.
• Threequarterbred wool: Wool types judged to be from sheep containing between three-eighths and one-eighth Merino blood and the remainder Longwool blood.
• Tippy wool: Wool with a very pointed tip to the staple.
• Topknot: Wool shorn from the top of a sheep’s head.
• Type: Suitability of wool for a particular form of processing and end use, or the wool from a particular breed.
• Unsound: Wool with a tensile weakness. Incorporates both tender and broken wool.
• Vegetable matter: Seed, small twigs, foliage, chaff or hay embedded in a fleece.
• Webby: Mild entanglement of fibres within a fleece. Early stage of cotting.
• Wigging: Shearing wool from the head of a sheep. Also called topknots or wigs.
• Wool away: The shearers call to clear the wool away from the shearing board.
• Woolblind: Sheep that has so much wool over the face that it cannot see.
• Wool broker: Person or company that prepares and offers a grower’s clip for sale on a fee or commission basis.
• Wool buyer: Person who buys wool from a grower either privately or at auction on behalf of a processor and arranges shipment to the processor.
• Wool classer: Person trained to put wool together in groups of similar types.
• Wool grease: Natural impurities of wool (wax and suint) secreted by glands attached to the wool follicle. Also called yolk.
• Wool merchant: Person or firm trading in wool.
• Wool table: Slatted table on which the fleece is skirted and classed.
• Woolgrower: Anyone who farms sheep to produce wool.
• Woolly hog: Fleece from a hogget unshorn as a lamb.
• Woolpack. Jute or polypropylene bag of regulated dimensions or packing wool.
• Woolscour: Plant where wool is washed or scoured.
• Woolshed: Same as shearing shed.
• Woolstore: Place where wool is prepared and offered for sale.
• Yield: Proportion of usable fibre present in a lot of greasy wool expressed as a percentage.
• Yolk: Natural impurities of wool(wax and suint) secreted by glands attached to the wool follicle.

SHEEP SKINS

• Cockle: Lamb/sheep skin pelt defect. A preventable disease that shows nodules over the pelt surface.
• Dresser skin: Woolly lamb skin suitable for processing into leather with the wool attached for rugs, car seat covers, etc.
• Fellmongering skin: Woolly lamb/sheep skin which has been processed into leather after the wool has been removed.
• Fellmongering: Factory or department of an abbatoir or meat works where wool is removed from lamb/sheep pelts.
• Grain: Surface layer of pelt, hide or leather containing wool or hair follicles.
• Green skin: Undried skin from farm or slaugher facility. Such skins have no keeping quality.
• Paint: Chemical mixture capable of penetrating the skin and loosening the wool fibres.
• Pelt: Lamb/sheep skin after wool has been removed.
• Pickled pelt: Lamb/sheep pelt preserved for export with brine and sulphuric acid. The product from a fellmongery.
• Pinhole: Lamb/sheep pelt defect. Small holes in the grain caused by wool fibres growing in groups. Prevalent in fine wool breeds.
• Ribby pelts: Pelts of wrinkly sheep such as Merino that have restricted value for leather manufacture.
• Skin: Derived from a sheep, goat, deer or possum.
• Slink skin: Derived from a lamb that has either been born dead or died soon after birth, and is processed for its skin.
• Wet blue: Hide or skin tanned with chromium salts which also colour it blue/green and is kept in a wet state.
• Wool pull: Estimate of weight of wool able to be removed from a skin in a fellmongery.
• Wool puller: Person or machine used to remove wool from a lamb/sheep skin after it has been chemically loosened.