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Wool Improvement on the Farm

Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station

Abstract

The breeder of purebred fine wool sheep has to make his choice between what wins in the show-ring and what he thinks he can sell to best advantage to market growers. Deceptive practices in preparing for the show-ring, such as early shearing, blocking and applying various preparations to the fleece, have become so general in fitting sheep that show-ring results often are misleading. Breeders who do not enter any of the leading shows sometimes find that their rams sell better if they shear early so as to have a longer staple in the fall.

Such practices may not be intentionally misleading, yet too many uninformed flock owners have invested in rams expecting to be able to shear them the next spring and have them develop as heavy a fleece the following year. The result is that confidence often is lacking in statements of breeders as to weights of fleece their sheep produce.