WOOL CLIPS TO BE MONITORED FOR CLASSING FAULTS

To ensure that South Africa maintains its reputation as a well-classed wool clip, Cape Wools is monitoring wool received at brokers’ stores in order to identify classing problems. Should classing faults be identified, Cape Wools’ appraiser Jakes Mulder will contact the relevant producer with advice on how to rectify the problem.

This follows an urgent request from buyers and exporters who are concerned about the recent deterioration in the standard of wool classing. One of the main complaints from buyers is the variation in the length of wool that has been classed together and which is forcing buyers to discount or even reject such clips. Too much variation in length negatively affects spinning efficiency and yarn quality.

Contamination with foreign objects, such as bailing twine, is another problem and indicates a lack of supervision in the shearing shed. Stained wool has also become a headache for processors. Wool stained with paint, tar or oil can result in huge losses, since these substances cannot be washed out.

Processors point out that a single bale containing stained wool can spoil an entire processing batch. A processing batch usually comprises 150 to 300 bales. Such a batch is made up according to strict specifications for a specific wool end product by blending wool from different clips.

Only marking inks that are water-soluble should be used for marking bales. These are commercially available. Marking pens that can be used to mark sheep on the nose or ears, are also available. These and no other product that can permanently stain the wool should be used.

Farmers are again urged to remove wool stained with tar, urine, dung, blood, paint, branding fluids or discoloured by fungi or chemicals, prior to shearing and pack these separately to be marked as “Brands”. The classing and packing regulations for wool, the South African Classing Standards, is available on Cape Wools’ website.