Wool Quality: A Century Of Positive Change

South Africa’s wool industry has undergone some radical changes over the past 100 years, one of which is the increasing focus on rigorous selection and the correct breeding policy by producers in a bid to increase the financial sustainability of farming enterprises. This has led to the industry breeding well-balanced sheep with a good wool to meat ratio.

- Carin Venter

Stockfarm spoke to a few of the experts at BKB and OVK, both of which boast more than a century of wool industry experience, to find out how wool quality in South Africa has changed over the past century.

A rosy picture

Heinrich Victor, an operational manager for fiber at OVK, believes the improved uniformity and quality of wool fleece is due to the strong emphasis placed on better breeding values in recent years.

Years ago, he says, producers tended to focus on the production of meat rather than wool (70% meat and 30% wool). “If you were to examine the quality of a sheep’s fleece in the past, the differences would be clearly noticeable. The traditional wool on a sheep’s flanks was of excellent quality and differed from that on its neck, while the wool on its lower hind legs, or breach wool, was often much stronger.

“Today fewer lines are produced. The lots auctioned are therefore bigger and more objective, instead of producers having to divide their clips among several smaller lots. The quality of unblended wool from pure breeds such as the Merino or Dohne Merino has also improved considerably.”

Wool prices have been rising since 2000 thanks to the wool’s increased value and improved quality. It reached new heights in 2016/17 and peaked in 2018 when the highest monetary value ever for wool crossed the R4 billion mark.

Modern technology

Heinrich says wool producers nowadays have access to improved technology and can progress much faster in terms of breeding. “There are numerous opportunities for procedures such as laparoscopy, artificial insemination, embryo flushing, and the import and export of semen.”