Glossary of Terms

The person in large shearing contracting teams responsible for the maintenance of the shearing equipment.

On the outside (skin) of the animal's body. Usually refers to parasites, such as ticks, lice and blowfly. Related term: Ectoparasite - external parasite

A butt of a bale.

1. Contamination, especially vegetable matter, in greasy or semi-processed wool; 2. Wool containing unwanted classing traits.

An ancient technique that produces a non-woven sheet of matted Merino wool. Felt is produced with interlocking of fibres and may be produced from woven or knitted substrate, or directly from the loose fibres.

Wild. Refers to domestic animals which are now running wild, such as goats, dogs, cats and pigs.

A single strand of wool within a fleece. A unit of matter characterised by having a length at least 100 times its diameter or width.

Measured by Laserscan or an airflow instrument, and reported in micrometers and refered to as micron or MFD (Mean Fibre Diameter).

The distribution of the fibre diameter in a wool sample. Distribution can be expressed as a frequency table or a frequency histogram with data grouped into class intervals of one micron, and integer micron values as midpoints of the class intervals. The results may also be expressed as a standard deviation, coefficient of variation and the percentage of fibres coarser than a given value such as 30 micron. Fibre diameter distribution is measured by both the Sirolan Laserscan and the OFDA instruments.

Merino wool that has a diameter range of 18.6 to 20.5 micron.

Removed from the sheep, it is the main body of wool that forms the sheep's coat.

Bacterial discolouration of wool.

A large grouping of sheep that have been run under the same farm management conditions for the entire wool growing season, for example, they have been crutched and shorn at the same time. A flock may comprise a number of mobs for one wool growing enterprise.

Sheep or wool infested or affected with or by maggots.

A term that is applied to wool that is free or nearly free of vegetable fault. Typically the percentage of vegetable matter base is less than one percent.