“You can go for a sheep without wool, you can go for a sheep with less wool, or you can go for a sheep with better wool, but you’re going to have to change,” Lincoln University lecturer Dr David Scobie told farmers at a Beef + Lamb NZ field day at Telford’s Balclutha campus.
Scobie addressed wool growers on the costs and opportunities related to wool.
Also speaking to farmers about opportunities in wool was Maniototo farmer and veterinarian Becks Smith, who with her husband Jason started putting shedding rams over their commercial flock in 2019, and Kate MacDonald, founder of Davaar & Co, who uses wool from her father’s sheep station to manufacture luxury wool sweaters.
Scobie said on average money is lost for every kilogram of wool shorn, and change is unavoidable.
Part of the problem farmers face is the fact that the wool levy was scrapped.
This means there is little research and development, and a shortage of scientists in the area who could innovate, he said.
Smithsaid that in 2018, when the cost of shearing outweighed the value from their strong wool clip, they began considering a transition to shedding rams.
The Smith farm runs about 4500breeding ewes.
Because of the breed’s narrow shoulders and subsequent ease of lambing, Jason’s father, Barry, already had 300 SIL recorded shedding Wiltshires he used for hogget mating.
Becks Smith said the Wiltshires had already proven themselves on the farm and had fast growth rates.
In 2019 when the family realised wool had an animal health cost that pushed up the cost per stock unit, they made the leap to putting shedding rams over some of their commercial units.
In 2020 they took another incremental step and put shedding rams over their two tooths.
The move was successful and reduced the number of lambs they crutched.
In 2021 they put shedding rams over all commercial ewes, except for a small terminal mob.
The flock maintained the performance from the original flock, despite changing the ewe flock genetics, Smith said.
From base genetics three crosses are needed before you have a fully shedding sheep, she said.
The Smiths’ net shearing costs have dropped.
They now crutch only terminal ewes and 700 lambs.
Out of 4500 ewes they have only 2000 to shear.
Animal health has improved. Smith believes more UV exposure reduces lice populations.
Fly pressure is also reduced, with less dags needed and less damp wool.
They also have fewer cast ewes.
Shedding sheep and lambs do well in cold Maniototo winters, she said.
With SIL recorded gene pool limited in New Zealand they imported genes from the United Kingdom and Australia.
Don’t invest in unrecorded genetics, Smith said.
MacDonald,founder of Davaar & Co, said she returned to the farm to work for her father during the covid pandemic.
Her father, James Macdonald, owns Davaar Station in Te Anau.
There were often discussions on the farm on how they could increase the value of their strong-wool clip, she said.
MacDonald said she came back to the idea of homespun jerseys as her grandmother always made them homespun jerseys.
In 2020 she began with market research and found a gap in the market for versatile high-end fashion garments.
The workwear market was already saturated with amazing brands, she said.
She founded Davaar & Co and now buys wool from Davaar Station.
Scouring, washing, spinning, dyeing and knitting is all done locally because she cannot risk sending wool overseas and accidentally being sent back someone else’s wool.
Vital to making high-end garments is using only the best wool, she said.
“Improving value begins by measuring the characteristics of our wool to produce yarn with the best possible performance, giving us wool that can compete against man-made fibres with appearance, performance and repeatability.”
To this end all wool is fibre scanned during shearing by Don Morrison from Pastoral Measurements in Christchurch, MacDonald said.
Fibre scanning is $2 per sheep.
Choosing strong wool fit for high-end garments is a technical endeavour with a number of quality characteristics assessed, such as curvature, coarse edge micron, and medulation, among other measurements.
Curvature is related to crimp and low micron. High curvature gives insulation properties, elasticity and durability.
Using only the best quality means that out of 1500 two tooths the wool from only about 500 are up to spec.
Davaar station produces about 40,000kg of wool every year, with only 8%, or 3200kg, suited to knitwear production, MacDonald said.
“The only way you get a fine yarn from strong wool is through quality.”
Coarse edge micron is also measured. This measurement looks at the uniformity in shape, with rounder fibres preferred to fibres that are flat top and bottom, but with round edges.
Round fibres spin better.
“During manufacturing round fibres will bend and twist. Flat ones only bend certain ways and break.”
Medulation is a heritable wool characteristic and affects dye uptake. The higher medulation, the more brittle and weak the fibres are.
Micron is also tested with a mean micron of 35 for Davaar ewes and 30 for lambs.
About a kilogram of scoured wool makes one garment, she said.
Davaar sells adult jerseys for over $300 and children’s jerseys for just under $200.
“We’re harnessing the natural properties of strong wool with the help of fibre scanning technology, to create the superior yarn for high quality, quality garment production. Fibre scanning provides us with targets and characteristics we can select our rams upon to put across our ewe flock.
“We can’t sell a value-added product if the value is not there, and our long-term goal is to use the entire Davaar Station wool clip for various products.”
Hadleigh Smith, head of brand partnerships for strong wool at NZ Merino, said being innovative is a lonely path, but innovative companies are often best rewarded.
