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1.1 Sheep

1.1.1 Introduction to Sheep & Wool

One of the first animals to be domesticated were sheep, some ten to twelve thousand years ago. This very early domestication was due to a number of important factors. Sheep provided prehistoric man with two sources of food - meat and milk as well as producing a very useful fibre plus a pelt. Sheep therefore provided the two essentials for life - food and protection. In addition sheep also helped fertilise the fields of early man. In its primitive state, the sheep moults it's fleece in spring and early summer. Women picked up the shed wool, admired it, spun and wove it. The textile industry was thus born - almost certainly between 10,000 and 8,000 BC. and somewhere in the country bounded by the Black Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Caucasus and the Himalayas.

Sheep are a ruminant mammal of the genus Ovis whose likely ancestor has been traced to the Moufloniforuve Ovis Blyth. However, owing to the wide genetic variety of sheep, there is a range of opinion as to their exact origin. There are now about 200 different breeds and crosses producing a great variety of grades and types of wool. They range from the merino producing the finest apparel wool through to both developed and primitive carpet wool sheep and hair sheep.

Sheep are farmed in most countries around the world. From the hot desert regions of Australia, Asia and the Middle East through to cold, bleak conditions in Northern Europe, Russia, Iceland and Southern South America. They graze pastures in the high altitudes of central Asia and the Himalayas through to the low coastal regions of New Zealand and the United Kingdom. This adaptability has necessitated a variety of pasture types being utilised in these environments. Sheep are even farmed successfully indoors.

Today, the best wool comes from the International Wool Secretariat (IWS) member countries, ie. Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Uruguay. These countries have practised advanced selective breeding programmes for many years and consequently their wool is of very good quality, with excellent colour and the incidence of melanin pigmentation is rare.

Wool now constitutes 5% of the world's textile fibre and the finished products made from wool are positioned in the top end of the market, whether they are apparel, machine or hand-knotted carpets or bedding.

Sheep are usually shorn annually in the spring/summer months, however in some countries such as New Zealand, shearing more than once per year is practiced. This may be twice per year or three times in two years. The time and frequency of shearing has a great affect on the quality of wool harvested as it can have a major influence on important fibre characteristics, and in particular the degree of fault(s) present. High preparation standards are also maintained in the IWS member countries. These standards focus on preparing wool to meet customer/producer requirements. As a result, the consistency of grower lots put up for sale is very good. The pre-sale testing to objectively determine a number of important fibre properties serves to compliment the quality of wool available. The advanced nature of the sheep and wool production systems in these countries ensures wool's position as a premier textile fibre is maintained.

As this bulletin deals with the harvesting of animal fibres the detailed differences between the principle sheep breeds of the world has not been covered. If this information is required, there are many excellent reference publications available.

In shearing wool from sheep one of two basic techniques or patterns is used:

r One is for Merino sheep, which constitute close to 50% of the world's sheep population.
r The other has been developed for breeds other than Merino.

It is this second shearing pattern that has also been modified to accommodate the shearing of the fat tailed sheep which are found primarily throughout the Middle East.

1.1.2 Sheep and Wool Production

The total world wool production in 1992/93 was 1.664 million tonnes on a clean basis. Production in Australia, the world's largest producer was 561 thousand tonnes clean in 1992/93. New Zealand's production of wool was the lowest level for 30 years at 193 thousand tonnes clean. Estimated production in the Commonwealth of Independent States (C.I.S), the third largest producer in the world, was 170 thousand tonnes clean, while the production estimated for China, the fourth largest producer, was 124 thousand tonnes clean. Production in Argentina was 68 thousand tonnes, while Uruguay's production was 55 thousand tonnes. Production in the United Kingdom was 47 thousand tonnes clean while production in South Africa was 44 thousand tonnes clean.

Source: International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO)
p - figures are provisional for the latest season.

Table 1.1 shows world wool production by major wool producing countries and regions for the period 1987/88 to 1992/93 season. World wool production is broken up into three breed groups: Merino, Halfbred and Crossbred.

Table 1.2 shows world woolled sheep populations by major producing countries and regions for the period 1986/87 to 1991/92 according to three breed groups. Australian wool is predominantly Merino and Halfbred while New Zealand is the world's largest producer of Crossbred wools. Graph 1.3 illustrates shares of world wool production in 1992/93 by the major producer countries.

Note: In table 1.1 and 1.2:
Other Africa includes Algeria,, Botswana, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Mozambique, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Other America includes Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Greenland, Mexico, Paraguay, Venezuela. Other Asia includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cyprus, Gaza, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Macau, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Thailand, Yemen. Other Western Europe includes Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland.

Graph 1.1 World wool production

Graph 1.2 World wool production by category

Table 1.2 World woolled sheep population (millions)

1.1.3 Fibre Characteristics of Wool

Wool is a protein fibre chiefly composed of keratin. The fibre is made up of overlapping cuticle scales and an inner cortex. Both the cortex and the cuticle influence the fibre properties of the wool and the fibre is slightly elliptical, unlike other animal fibres. With the wide range of sheep breeds, the fibre properties of the wool produced are equally wide ranging. The particular fibre characteristic of specific breeds can be exploited by processing the fibre into appropriate end products. In a general sense, wool varies from the super fine Merino producing a fibre similar to cashmere, very high lustre English breeds producing mohair-like fibre, and coarse hairy wools similar to the guard coat of some goats.

The range of fleece weights produced annually by sheep in the IWS member countries is from 2-5 kg clean depending on the breed of sheep and the farming environment. In the countries where sheep owners income from wool is less important, the annual fleece weights are lower, ie. from 1-3 kg clean.

The first shearing of the sheep as a lamb occurs from 3-11 months of age and produces lambs wool which is the finest diameter wool the sheep produces. The diameter is from 2-6 microns finer than the second time the sheep is shorn usually at 9-18 months. The amount of change that occurs is influenced by the interval between shearing, feeding levels and animal health and possible breed effects. The third time shorn, the wool maybe from 1-3 microns coarser that the previous shearing . From then the change in diameter is small. The range of fibre diameters between the different breeds of the sheep varies from 15 microns grown by superfine Merinos through to 45 microns produced by the carpet wool sheep.

The length of wool produced is influenced by breed and fibre diameter. Merinos range from 60-110 mm if shorn annually through to the coarse carpet wools ranging from 100-200 mm annually.

Scientific breeding programmes in the major producing countries have almost eliminated melanin pigmentation and consequently the wool is of very white colour. However, this is not the case with wools grown in many of the other producing countries.

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