Variation in non-wool components of the greasy fleece over the body of Merino sheep

Abstract

Twelve one-year-old ewes were randomly selected from each of four flocks running together at pasture at the Agricultural Research Centre, Trangie, New South Wales. The flocks represented fine wool, medium wool non-Peppin and medium wool Peppin strains of Merino. Wool samples were collected from nine sites over the body of each ewe. Gradients over the fleece in percentage suint, percentage wax, wax:suint ratio, percentage dust, percentage vegetable matter and estimated clean scoured yield were demonstrated. Although flocks differed in the average level of these components, gradients were similar for the different flocks. The mid-side appeared to be a satisfactory sampling position for estimating the suint, wax, wax:suint ratio, dust and yield characteristics of the whole fleece. The mid-side values for these characteristics were similar to the average values for all nine sites and the correlation coefficients between mid-side values and the total of all sites for percentage suint, percentage wax, wax:suint ratio, percentage dust and estimated yield were 0.94, 0. 8.9, 0.90 and 0.87 respectively. These were higher than for any other single sampling position. The correlation between mid-side and the overall value for vegetable fault was only 0.56 and neither the mid-side nor any other single site appeared to be sufficiently reliable to predict total vegetable matter content.