DOES SHEEPWASHING PAY.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 236, 6 January 1875, Page 2

DOES SHEEPWASHING PAY.

“Old Colonial,” in the Weekly Neu-, writes as follows on this subject:—“ 1 think, even in the majority of cases, with labor at the price it now is, the balance of profit would be on the side of washed wool. Taking all sorts of wool into consideration, and the different characters of the pastures upon which the sheep are fed, i'c may safely be estimated that unwashed wool, fleece for fleece, least one-third heavier than washed wool. In other words, a fleece from a long-woeled sheep, which would weigh 91b when ordinarily washed, would weigh at least 141 b in its unwashed state. On sandy pastures and runs perhaps 121 b would be the more correct figures for such an unwashed fleece. If the demand were good for unwashed wool at the sale at which it was offered, this unwashed fleece, if of good quality, might bring Is per lb, or 12s for the fleece in its unwashed condition. For the same wool in a washed state, the demand would be steadier, and the price in the present state of the market would probably be Is 6d per lb, or 13s 6d for the fleece. This would give a profit of Is 6d for the fleece, or an aggregate profit of £l5O on a flock of 2.000 sheep for the trouble of washing the sheep before shearing them. But there are other considerations which the advocates for shearing in grease should pay attention to before coming to .the conclusion that their plan is the most profitable. When wool is shorn in the grease there is the extra expense of carting the wool to market or to a sea-port, which for all practicable purposes is almost double that of washed wool. The practice of dumping, which has been carried on to such an , extent within the last few years, is also against the unwashed fleece. When a bale of unwashed wool has been severely dumped before being put on shipboard, it will generally he found in a most unsightly condition when it reaches London, and the price for which it can be sold proportionately low. The colonial buyer of such a bale will have received such a lesson that he will not forget when the next wool season comes round, and the prices he will then give for unwashed wool will be such as to leave little profit to the farmer who sent such unwashed wool for sale, I would say—by all means wash your sheep before yon shear them, unless your flocks are sufficiently numerous as to make it a profitable undertaking to erect a wool scouring plant upon your farm, in which case the washed wool, which would otherwise be sold for Is 6d per pound, might bring 2s. It i s generally the most profitable course to adopt to send the wool to market in as good a condition as possible.