Fleece production and wool characteristics in dairy Milchschaf sheep

Abstract

Production and wool quality in 139 dairy Milchschaf ewes from the Experimental Farm No. 1 of the Veterinary Faculty were evaluated. Animals were shorn prepartum in July 2009, greasy fleece weight was recorded and samples from mid side area were extracted to assess wool objective and subjective characteristics. A sample from hindquarter was also extracted on 61 ewes to compare the quality of wool and medullated fibre content with midside sample. Greasy Fleece weight was 3.3 ± 0.7 kg, yield 79.7 ± 4.3%, clean fleece weight 2.6 ± 0.6 kg and mean diameter 36.0 ± 2.8 μm. Hogget ewes had lower fleece weights, staple length and mean diameter than adults (P<0.01). There were differences between mid side and hindquarter sam­ples in almost all characteristics analyzed (P<0.01). Wool from hindquarter showed higher wool diameter (37.5 ± 3.1μm), was harsher, with a higher degree of staple en­tanglement and lower crimp definition. Medullated fibre content per 10g of clean wool from hindquarter area was significantly higher (P<0.01) than that recorded in mid side (18.3 ± 62.0 and 20.8 ± 4.2, respectively). A higher proportion of MED fibres (96%) than K was found and variations in medulla type between areas. It was conclud­ed that mean diameter corresponded to the range of coarse wool and the subjective assessment showed characteris­tics consistent with it. High variability between animal in medullated fibre content was found.