Why Test Wool?

Why do breeders spend money on micron and fibre diameter distribution testing, plus the cost of eartags and extra labour on fleece testing millions of sheep per year?
They test so they can have objective fleece information available to help them:
· To identify the best and most productive young animals to retain in their flocks to breed from. Conversely to help them identify the least productive animals for culling.
There are some added advantages in that young cull sheep are making good meat prices. The heritability factor of micron and fleece weight is high, so therefore a large proportion of the selected traits will be passed on to the offspring. In the case of testing ewe hoggets your flock will benefit for years to come.
· To assist them to market their wool by measuring the quality of fleeces prior to shearing and "classing" the fleeces based on these measurements. Many clients are now using micron results to help in classing at shearing time.
· In that they are gaining some finer lines than normally possible and therefore are increasing the size of their wool cheque due to micron premiums available on finer lines. The cost of these results on individual sheep can once again be spread over the life of the animal. As the average micron of the flock may change due to age, nutrition, over time, however the individual animal should hold its position in terms of micron in the flock.
· To assist them to market their stock. This is normal for ram breeders however more woolgrowers are using test results, either individual or a percentage of their flock to help sell flocks of sheep.
· To check working rams annually. Even though most rams when purchased now have a test result these can change with time due to a number of factors, including time of first testing, nutrition, length of wool, sample site or age. By testing your rams every year at the same time it is possible to gain a good understanding of where they stand in the flock. Unproductive animals will soon be noticed before too much damage is done.
There is only a ten-dollar minimum charge at RWT so you can test a few rams for few dollars.
I should stress that results should be used as a guide with other conventional, subjectively assessed characteristics e.g. breeders, sheep classer or wool classer.
Advantages of Measurements:-
· Fleece weighing is said to be 30-40 per cent more accurate than a classer. There is room for improvement in most flocks as fleece weight percentage ranges from 45 per cent below to 45 per cent above the flock average.
· Micron ranges from 4.5 microns below to 4.5 microns above the flock average in most flocks. Measurement is considered a far more accurate way of determining individual microns.
· The heritability factor of micron and fleece weight is very high.

Expected Gains
Using an index program such as Rampower which puts weighting's (genotypic) on selected traits such as micron, fleece weight, etc., it is possible to choose a response (10yr) in line with your breeding objective. For example if you wish to reduce micron and maintain fleece weight you can expect to reduce micron by more than 1.5 microns in ten years while maintaining fleece weight. If you wish to increase fleece weights but maintain micron you can expect a 10 per cent increase in fleece weight.
There are many combinations available, these are quite simple ones, and the detail of analysis depends on your breeding objectives.
By using fleece testing coupled with traditional methods it is possible to make fleece testing pay. However I believe the goal (breeding objective) you set yourself and the way you monitor it will have the biggest impact on profit.

For further information please contact our office.