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Glossary of Terms

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Term Definition
Serrations
Invisible projections on the wool fibre caused by overlaying cells that allows fibres to cling to one another.
Shanks
Wool from the hock area (lower legs) of sheep. Shanks must be kept completely separate from all other lines as they contain medulated (coarse hollow fibres) that cause serious problems in the dying process.
Shearing
Removing the fleece from a sheep with electric or hand shears.
Shearing Contractor
Person who employs members of the shearing team and contracts with woolgrower to shear the clip.
Shearing Team
All staff employed to work in a wool harvesting team.
Shedding Breeds
Introduced breeds of meat sheep that self-shed fleeces that contain pigmented and medullated fibres. These wool must be kept separate from all other lines (examples include: Damara, Dorper).
Sheep-O
A term/call by shearers to the penner up to fill up their catching pen
Shorn Wool

Wool as it is when shorn from the sheep, before any processing or washing to remove natural grease and dust. 

Synonyms - Greasy wool,Raw wool
Shower dipping
A method for applying a remedy against external parasites by spraying the chemical onto them in a confined space.
Sirolan Laserscan
An instrument to measure mean fibre diameter and fibre diameter distribution by detection of shadows in a laser beam via snippets being carried through the beam in a liquid.
Skin Pieces
Small pieces of skin adhering to the wool which have been accidentally removed during the shearing process.
Skirting
Removal of sweat locks and other processing faults present from the outer section of fleece under instruction from the woolclasser eg. stained, unusable, or undesirable portions of a fleece.
Slipe

Slipe refers to wool removed or pulled from the pelt of a sheep by hand or by a machine after the pelt has been treated with a chemical depilatory.

Sliver
A sliver is the bundle of parallel fibres produced in early stages of fibre preparation, principally, the output from carding.
Snippet
Very short pieces of fibre, typically 2mm long, which have been cut to measure fibre diameter and related properties.
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