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Glossary of Terms

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Term Definition
Fribs
Greasy, sweat pieces of wool found on the outer edge of the fleece.
Full mouth
Sheep over four years of age.
Gare
Long hair like fibres.
Gestation
Period of pregnancy, for sheep it is approx. 150 days.
Gilling
Gilling is the blending together of card slivers with the direction of feed alternated to make a final sliver suitable for spinning. In worsted processing, three gilling operations are usually carried out prior to combing and two after combing.
Grab Sampling
A method of taking a representative samples from wool bales. A jaw is driven by a machine into the wool bale and when withdrawn brings out a sample of fibres. Grab samples can be used to measure length and strength.
Grade
The classification system used to describe raw wool.
Grease
A fatty, pale yellow wax that coats the raw wool fibre and yields lanolin.
Greasy wool
Wool as it is shorn from the sheep, before any processing.
Gun shearer
A shearer who shears more the 200 sheep per day.
Handle
The quality of fabric, yarn or fibre assessed by the reaction obtained from the sense of touch. Comprising the judgment of roughness, smoothness, harshness, pliability, thickness, softness, etc.
Handpiece
Mechanical instrument used for the removal of wool from a sheep.
Handspun
Yarns which are spun by hand using a spinning wheel or electric spinner.
Hauteur (H, mm)

Hauteur is mean fibre length in a top. Hauteur is usually regarded as a numerical average (i.e.. Assumes no relationship between fibre length and diameter), but is actually a length-biased distribution. The variation in the length is expressed as CVH%.

Hogget
Young sheep approx. 12-18 months of age. In Australia, hogget wool comes from young sheep that are usually shorn as lambs, with the first fleece then known as hogget wool.
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