i8 4 THE SHEEP AND WOOL INDUSTRY 



Merino. Originally a Spanish breed of sheep noted for their very fine wool ; 



about 70 per cent, of the sheep in Australia are Merino. 

 Mohair. Hair from the Angora goat. Mohair has great lustre and somewhat 



resembles very bright Leicester wool. 

 Mother Hair. Long white kempy fibres found in lambs' wool ; these hairs 



disappear from the wool as the lamb grows older. 

 Mushy Wool. Wool without any regular staple. The fleece coming off 



more in form of spider's web, usually from old sheep in bad seasons. 



Mushy wool would give a poor return of top and a large quantity 



of noil. 

 Noil. Consists of all short and broken fibres removed from wool during 



combing process. 

 Offal. Useless portions of hides trimmed off before sale, such as ears, legs, 



and other extremities. 

 Pelt. Sheep-skin with very little or no wool on it. Name given to sheep-skins 



after the wool has been taken off them by the fellmonger. 

 Piece-pickers. Men employed on stations at shearing time to pick or sort 



the pieces into the sorts named above. 



Pieces. Name given to all wool skirted or pulled from the fleece. On sheep- 

 stations three sorts of pieces are usually made, viz.: first pieces, second 



pieces, and stained pieces. 



Pockets. Hollow portions of hide such as that off knee and part of hind- 

 leg. 

 Potsticking. Method of scouring wool by hand, mostly used by small country 



wool-scourers and stations that do not have enough scouring to employ 



a machine profitably. 

 Pullers. Men employed by fellmongers to pull the wool off sheep-skins 



and at the same time sort it into its various grades and qualities. 

 Quality. Referring to the fineness or coarseness of wool. 

 Re-classing. Mixed wools sent to town for sale are often classed by wool- 

 brokers to enable them to sell it to better advantage. 

 Red Wool. Wool grown on red soil country such as western New South 



Wales and north-western Victoria. The wool has a light red colour 



through dust adhering to it. 

 Ribby Pelts. Pelts off very wrinkly sheep such as the American Vermont. The 



ridges or wrinkles cannot be removed from the pelt, consequently they 



show in the leather, thus lessening the value of it. 

 Roped. Term used to describe wool that has become tangled and knotted 



during scouring process by an unskilful operator. 

 Scored. Description applied to hide marked by careless use of the knife 



when skinning beast, but not cut right through. 

 Scoured Wool. Wool that has been washed or scoured, thus removing most 



of the impurities. 



Shafty Wool. Term used to define a well-grown bold-stapled wool. 

 Shank. Name given to short hairy, wool growing on bottom of sheep's 



legs. 

 Shearer. Person who cuts or shears wool off sheep. A good shearer will 



shear from 150 to 200 sheep a day. 



