Glossary of Terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Serrations |
Invisible projections on the wool fibre caused by overlaying cells that allows fibres to cling to one another.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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).
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| Sheep-O |
A term/call by shearers to the penner up to fill up their catching pen
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| Shorn Wool | Wool as it is when shorn from the sheep, before any processing or washing to remove natural grease and dust. |
| Shower dipping |
A method for applying a remedy against external parasites by spraying the chemical onto them in a confined space.
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| 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.
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| Skin Pieces |
Small pieces of skin adhering to the wool which have been accidentally removed during the shearing process.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Snippet |
Very short pieces of fibre, typically 2mm long, which have been cut to measure fibre diameter and related properties.
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