Now is time to liaise with your shearing contractor regarding shearing requirements. For clip preparation and consequent staffing levels, and to discuss with your classer any contracts you may have and how you intend to go about fulfilling them.

Shed management for stress-free shearing.

Often a little forward planning, such as drafting off different age groups, is all that is required and sufficient to help maximize vital space. This goes a long was to cater for different styles, length brackets, contracts etc, making the shed management, for the classer in particular, and shearing a lot less stressful for all concerned!

Staff satisfaction

A reminder that you have invested a lot of time, effort and expense into the production of your product over the past 12 months.

Your pride in presenting it in the best possible manner is easily conveyed to others by by ensuring the harvesting support facilities reflect that and are not merely overlooked. While quality programs have gone a long way to ensuring this, there are still areas that need addressing, especially with regard to basic staff eating, toilet and washing facilities with hot water.

Fibre testing

Data collected can be used in a number of ways, not just at shearing time.

• In conjunction with other criteria for culling, or for
• Sorting mobs in the autumn prior to the ram going out,
• Assisting in classing for contracts,
• Separate micron brackets can be processed together.

In fact testing prior to shearing is often a better option as it is one less function that has to be coordinated at this busy and stressful time. It also means the classer has the clip information before shearing commences and can plan lines accordingly and much more efficiently. Where there are sufficient numbers, oddments can easily be separated into micron splits.

Summary of the market situation By Peter Marshall

It is interesting to note that since the McKinsey report said there was no hope for the mid micron range, prices have done nothing but improve. For the coming season we can see a good lift in price. Generally it would be fair to say the season will open about $1.50 clean above last seasons open, some microns may well be $2.

Regarding the Merinos, following discussions with our overseas clients in May and June, we feel prices will come off the highs we saw in Feb/March. People are looking at levels closer to last seasons opening prices of August.

One thing is for certain, our clients are looking for better style and sound wools, which will create bigger price gaps between good wools and the average. Preparation will play a very important role this year in achieving the best dollar returns possible for your clips.

Selling options

As a grower you need to be fully aware of the options for your clip. For relevant services and any other information regarding clip marketing, testing, preparation, and ram purchases do not hesitate to contact the following:

PBM WOOLS
Peter Marshall; Ph: 03 338 7316; Fax: 03 338 0592
E-mail: pbmwools@xtra.co.nz

PML
Grant Lyon; Cell ph: 025 220 3963; Ph: 03 448 5902; Fax: 03 448 5901
E-mail: grantlyon@xtra.co.nz

Barbara Newton; Ph: 03 455 8807 (h); Cell ph: 025 235 8807
E-mail: barbara@stonehenge.co.nz

Stonehenge Merinos
Sue & Jim Hore; Ph: 03 444 7703; Fax: 03 444 7055
E-mail: mail@stonehenge.co.nz

P.S. If you have recently been connected to the Internet, please contact us with your e-mail address at: mail@stonehenge.co.nz

1/2 BRED WOOL

There appears to be much stronger demand for the coming season. Still look to make a main line, taking out the extremes of fine & strong and of course any short, coloured and tender fleeces.
Oddments should include:
1st pieces, necks, backs-containing vegetable matter, thistle heads out and completely separate, bellies *, fribs, eye-clips. At present there is no advantage in separating 2nd pcs & lox pcs.
Various odds and ends such as dags, urine stain & skin pcs etc.

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* As we have seen in the past a little effort to tidy up in this area can produce a good price lift. The gap between good and average style will open even more.

MERINO WOOL

The fleece lines should be prepared with an emphasis on all characteristic (see following) and not just micron, paying particular attention to evenness of length and the removal of tender fleeces. Style will, in the majority of cases, dictate the number of lines required and the extent of oddment preparation - common sense prevails here.

It is quite possible to making quite an array of oddment lines as well as taking out obvious faults. These may include: bellies *, fribbed and sweaty pcs skirted off, 1st pcs, choice pcs, backs - vm (weak stapled wool in better styles), thistle heads separate, necks, eye-clips, 2nd pcs - sweaty pcs & bulkier wool, and lox (short 2nd cuts, even length).
Provision for others such as dags, urine stain, skin, black fibre.

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* The fribbing and skirting of the bellies considerably up grades the line from an average one to a good or best top making type, which clean is worth a minimum of $2 /kg.

That should do for starters!

OF course you need to keep things in perspective prior to embarking on extra preparation, especially with regard to the number of sheep and whether or not your facilities can cope with extra space requirements.

Eveness
Recently I spoke with Andrew Blanch, of New England Wools Australia, and he emphasised that "the evenness of quality, soundness and length needs to be addressed." From New England Wools perspective, (best topmaking/spinners wools), "the ultimate goal should be to make lines that are even in every way. Individual fleeces may look different to their micron test, but like types should be put together, not mixed.
Quality attributes other than micron come into play in the spinning and weaving of top". Andrew went on to say that "where possible the line should be as sound as possible and well prepared." and of course, " The finer the wool the more sound it should be as the yarn is finer and has less fibre in a cross section."

Even though at present there is only 10-20% of the New Zealand Merino clip producing best topmaking/spinners style wool, there are no doubt others that would fit into this catorgary and warrant consideration of preparation to these required standards. One would hope with the continuing consistent improvement in breeding and management, keeping in mind environmental restraints, this percentage will gradually increase.

Basic classing fundamentals
Other exporters have reiterated similar remarks to that of Blanch over recent years and, with reference to the other characteristics, are equally applicable to the national clip.

We must not sacrifice the basic fundamentals of; quality, length, colour and soundness for micron alone.
It may be that we do not see such large range in price differential versus micron fineness, in the foreseeable future, (my speculation) so it is even more important to accentuate the other characteristics that differentiate one clip from another.

Our job is to maximise the clips potential.

Small Lots
Another concern in general of exporters is regarding lot size. In producing small lots we create industry inefficiencies, exporters often regrouping lots within clips. Classers need to keep in mind and be aware of the commercial reality when creating lines and the sensibility of doing so.