Wool and Mohair

1
Wool and Mohair

• Chapter 6

2
Fiber

• Purpose to protect animal from abrasions and
  warmth
• Hair- cattle, pigs, horses, and dairy goats
• Wool- sheep
• Fur- mink and non-Angora rabbits
• Angora- Angora rabbits
• Mohair- Angora goats

3
Factors Affecting Wool Value

• Before Shearing
• Nutrition- gt8 protein needed for wool production
• Minimize wool contamination
• Breeding- Selection of wool producing genetics
• Important traits- fleece weight, staple length,
  fineness and uniformity of length, and fineness
  throughout the fleece
• Must balance lamb and wool production

4
Factors Affecting Wool Value

• Shearing
• Shear dry
• Remove inferior portions
• Double cuts
• Black fibers
• Contaminates-hay, straw, twine
• Sorted by grade, color, fiber type

5
Factors Affecting Wool Value

• Undesirable fleeces
• Burry- contains vegetable matter such as seeds
• Chaffy- contains vegetable matter such as hay
• Cotted- fibers are matted or entangled
• Dead- wool from dead sheep, not slaughtered
• Murrain- wool from decomposed sheep

6
Classes and Grades of Wool

• Class- determined by staple length (fiber length)
• Grade- determined by fineness
• Range from 80 (fine) to 36 (coarse)
• Refers to hanks (560 yards) of yarn that can be
  spun from 1 lb of wool top
• Vary with breed and location on body

7
Classes and Grades of Wool
8
Production of Wool

• Greasy Wool- fleece or wool shorn once a year
  from sheep
• Production reported as greasy wool weight
• Scoured Wool- clean wool that originates during
  the wool-processing stage
• Yearly production per head depends on breed
• Growth ranges from 5 to 18 in.
• Fleece ranges from 7 to 16 lb

9
Production of Wool

• World Production of Greasy Wool
• Table 6.2 p. 119
• Top 10 States
• Figure 6.11 p. 120
• Iowa Ranks 9th
• US Shorn
• Table 6.3, p 120

10
Production of Mohair

• Annual production 59 million lbs worldwide
• U.S. produces about 50 of all mohair
• Texas about 97 of U.S. production
• Yearly production per head
• Growth ranges from 1 to 2 in per month
• Shorn twice yearly
• Yield 6 to 12 in. per clipping

11
Production of Mohair

• Table 6.4, p. 121

12
Wool Marketing

• Direct sale to warehouse
• Co-ops formed with several producers to gain
  scale advantages
• Manufactures of wool products buy from central
  market
• Wool sold on clean or scoured basis
• Mohair prices much higher than wool

13
Uses of Wool

• Relatively small consumption compared to cotton
  and manufactured fibers
• Advantages of wool
• Pleasant, warming qualities
• Still provides warmth if gets wet
• Highly resistant to fire
• Disadvantages of wool
• Tendency to shrink
• May cause itching

14

• Chapter 6 Wool and Mohair
• What are some factors that affect wool value
  before shearing?
• What are some factors that affect wool value
  after shearing?
• What are the different types of undesirable
  pelts/fleeces and what defects do they have?
• What is the difference between wool grade and
  class?
• What is the yearly average wool growth in inches?
• How as the amount of wool production changed over
  the past 30 years?
• Where is most of the mohair grown in the U.S.?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages for
  using wool as a fiber source?