Wool Quality

Chad Taylor: We talk a lot about carcase traits and growth rates and reproduction, but this stuff, this beautiful wool, is what really excites me. Long, soft, bold-crimping, lustrous white wool, sought after by a discerning wool-buying customer looking for an ethically produced fibre grown under sustainable conditions. It's just a beautiful thing.

Interviewer: And what are we looking at here?

Chad Taylor: Well, the visual traits we select for are this long staple, with bold, deep-crimping wool in very small fibre bundles, which is what we're seeing here. That depth of crimp indicates fast-growing fibre, and fast-growing fibre comes from well-aligned fibres as they're seated within the skin.

That's one of the ways we're driving fleece weight: having well-aligned fibres growing very quickly, producing this bold, deep-crimping wool to drive our fleece weight up and maintain our average micron. We're cutting good weights on a wrinkle-free sheep that grows very quickly, with wonderful carcase attributes and reproduction.