Wool and Mohair

Shearing Sheep

-Sheared one time per year in spring (after Easter and before end of May)

-Some farmers shear their own sheep, but many hire professional shearers

-Growing shortage of qualified shearers in the world, so in the U.S., some states hold annual sheep shearing schools

New Technologies in Shearing Sheep

-Labor intensive practice

-Chemical method of shearing produced, called “bio-clip”, where sheep are injected with a natural protein that causes the wool follicle to break and fleece to drop off on its own

-Shearing table also produced

-Shearing “robot” also produced

Shearing Angora Goats

-The fiber from Angora goats is called “Mohair”

-Sheared twice a year in mid-August and mid-February

-Grow roughly 4 inches of mohair in 5 months

-After shearing in February, sheltering “cape” is required for protection, it keeps does warm since excessive cold can make does abort kids

-Angora goats are inefficient reproductively due to single trait selection

Sheep Breeds and their Wool Types

-Rambouillet & Merino - Fine wool

-Targhee, Corriedale, & Columbia - Crossbred (Fine x Medium wool)

-Suffolk, Hampshire, Dorset, Cheviot, Montadale, Southdown, Shropshire, Tunis, & Polypay - Medium wool (Fine x Long)

-Romney, Border Leicester, Lincoln, & Cotswold - Long (coarse)

-Scottish Blackface, Karakul, & Icelandic - Carpet (double-coated)

-Katahdin, Dorper, & Barbado - Hair (shedding) (not sheared)

Fleece

-Sheared off in one piece

-Grease / Raw wool is wool as it is shorn from the sheep

-Clip : The amount of wool shorn from the sheep in one flock

-Fineness : Fiber diameter, thickness is measured in microns (one millionth of a meter)

-Grade : Refers to the relative diameter of the wool fibers

More Key Words

Crimp : The natural curl or waviness in the wool fiber (fine wool typically has more crimp per inch)

Staple : Refers to the length of a (unstretched) lock of shorn wool (coarse wools are usually longer than finer wools)

Vegetable Matter : Any material of plant origin found in the fleece (High VM lowers yield)

Tag : Wool that has manure attached to it

Lanolin : A natural oil extracted from sheep’s wool (aka wool wax, wool fat, wool grease)

Key Words Continued

Skirting : Removing the stained, unusable, or undesirable portions of a fleece (bellies, top knots, tags) (high valuable fleeces should be skirted at the time of shearing)

Yield : The amount of clean wool that remains after scouring. Expressed as a percentage (quite variable, long wools have higher yields than fine wools, due to less grease) (bulky fleeces have higher yields)

Yield Calculation : Clean wool yield = raw wool - shrinkage (VM, grease, impurities)

Wool Grading

-Uniformity of length

-Uniformity of grade (fineness) (finer wools are permitted less variability)

-Soundness (strength) ; Tender wool is weak wool that breaks due to poor nutrition/sickness

-Purity ; freedom from pigmented fibers, hair and kemp (commercial wool market favors white wool that can be dyed)

-Character : General appearance of a fleece; crimp, handle, and color

-Weathered tips : Affects dyeing

-Wool sold to niche markets typically bring in more money