HAIR IN WOOL

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21412, 2 March 1935, Page 19

HAIR IN WOOL

DETECTION METHODS NEW ZEALAND EXPERIMENTS NOTED C. P. Butler, a New South Wales agricultural expert, has been contributing a series of articles to the "Sydney Morning Herald" on his observations during a recent trip to New Zealand. A recent ankle refers to a visit he paid to Massey Agricultural College. During my visit to the college, writes Mr Butler, the principal tProfessor Peren) explained the experiments being carried out at that institution in regard to the detection of hair in wool. Although this work has been principally directed to the fibre types of the fleece of the Romney Marsh breed cf sheep, it appeared to me that there was a field for like research in connexion with the merino breed in Australia, and particularly in South Australia, where the strong-woolled sheep is favoured.

The principal and Mr F. W. Dry, an officer of the institution, explained how the work was being carried out and the objects in view. When an application is made by a breeder to have the fleece of a sheep tested, an officer is sent from the college, and he takes a sample of the wool from six different parts of the body. The samples are taken to the laboratory, teased in the grease, and then placed, one at a time, in a black bowl containing benzol. A glass plate is placed on top of the wool, and those fibres that are either wholly or partly hair can be distinctly detected. Ordinary benzine is not satisfactory for the test, but a special benzol with a refractive index of about 1.50 is used. Practical Aim of Work Professor Pcren said that the most immediate practical aim of the work was to aid in the selection for wool characters, and especially to save time by making it possible to distinguish between good and bad fleeces when the sheep* were very young. Under the test, he said, two kinds of hairiness were recognised—kemp and non-kemp. These two were not wholly independent, but it was necessary to select them separately. Large birthcoat kemps, or halo-hairs, might be recognised at a glance at tailing time, but from the practical viewpoint it was only when halo-hairs were present in a portion of the fleece that kemp was of consequence in that region later. Halo-hairs, on falling out, were often succeeded in the same roots by secondary kemps and by very coarse hair fibres of persistent growth. A series of experiments had shown that the abundance cf halo-hairs was strongly inherited, and that selection for complete freedom from these hairs on the back had been largely effective. In lambs growing normally, nonkemp hairiness made its appearance In the early days of the animal's life, and lambs free at three weeks of age might be accepted as entirely desirable on this count. When non-kemp hairiness was at all well sustained down the staple in the lamb's fleece, it had been indicated by preliminary studies tiiat the abundance of hairy fibres was much the same in each of the first four fleeces. When non-kemp hairiness on the back and side in the first year's fleece

was not sustained for more than about two months, then in the same part of the next fleece there might be less hairiness, or ncne at all, and then the third fleece also had been free. The experiments, Mr Dry said, had shown that non-kemp hairiness was affected by physical conditions and by nutrition. Greater hairiness had tended to accompany vigorous growth of the fleece, and lambs thriving badly had been less hairy than they would have been had they made better progress. Testing the Merino it appears to me, continues Mr Butler, that there is a field for research work on similar lines in Australia, both in the merino and British breed flocks. Those studmasters who favour the strong-woolled merino, because of their undoubted outstanding constitution and frame, will realise the fact that in their endeavours to breed this type there is some danger of hairiness being associated with at least some parts of the fleece. The research work at Massey College had already oroceeded far enough to prove that this defect is inherited. In the selection of their top sires, therefore, breeders might find it most desirable to submit samples of the fleece in the early stages of the sheep's life in order to be

satisfied that no hairiness is apparent. In all states of the Commonwealth there are agricultural colleges or research stations which could conduct investigations on behalf of stud breeders at a charge of not more than 2s 6d a sheep (the charge in New Zaland is Is), which would cove* the cost of a certificate showing what the test revealed. On the other hand, breeders could even do the work themselves, the cost of the outfit being only a few shillings.