Want to do away with shearing and crutching by taking the wool off your composite sheep?
Wool shedding can be considered alongside all other traits we select for. Wool is just another trait that you can add or take away from your ewes. The time it takes to breed out the need for wool-related tasks on the farm depends on your current ewe breed base and how much wool they have. On average this process can take 1 to 4 generations.
Wool shedding takes place annually from September to December and starts under the neck and belly, then the sides and lastly the back. Nudies retain a soft reflective hair pattern over summer then quickly regrow short fleeces from late March onwards depending on the onset of cool weather.
Variation is found between the time of wool shedding with some early and some quite late. Also, individual animals vary from year to year and those in better body condition shed the easiest. We are selecting earlier shedding types with shorter fleece lengths that have negative shedding EBVs (negative in this case is better as it indicates shedding occurring before the longest day in December).
We record shedding speed and ability in our stud flocks and can advise you on which ram lines to use if you want to breed the wool off your composite flock.
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