WOOL-CLASSING 99 



on good grass country generally have cotted lumps of wool on the 

 neck. The way to skirt this off is to cut the neck wool straight 

 across. (See diagram.) The neck wool from sheep that have 

 been grazing on saltbush and scrubby country should be taken 

 out in a different manner. Sheep off this class of country have 

 a sticky neck, these sticks consisting of short broken twigs, etc., 

 in the wool. They form a V-shape in the centre of the neck. 

 These necks do not usually contain any cotted wool like the 

 sheep on grass country. If you cut these necks right across 

 you would be taking a large amount of good shoulder wool 



[Photo by Author. 



METHOD OF SKIRTING MERINO BACK-COUNTRY FLEECES. 



The wool outside the first lines would be the second pieces with the exception 

 of the stained wool on britch. The wool between the inside and outside 

 lines would be the first pieces. The wool inside the second lines would 

 consist of good fleece wool, though in some cases it would be advisable to 

 take out the wool in centre of back, especially if the sheep were grazing on 

 sandy country. The wool inside the V-shape would consist of sticky neck 

 wool. 



with them. To avoid this, the neck must be skirted round 

 lightly and the sticky parts taken out in a V-shape. In doing 

 the neck in this manner you get all the faulty wool off, with- 

 out taking any of the good shoulder wool with it. (See 

 diagram.) 



The fleece is now ready for rolling. There are several ways of 

 rolling a fleece. I will not go into them all, but will give a descrip- 

 tion of the one I consider the best, because it will show most of 

 the shoulder wool. The two rollers should take hold of the britch 

 end of the fleece and fold it over till the end is in about the centre 



