Defects of New Zealand wools : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Agricultural Science at Massey University, New Zealand

Abstract

The following statements give a fairly full account of the various defects found in New Zealand wools. It is somewhat difficult to asses the economic importance of each defect since it has to be remembered that the first essential of wool is that it shall act as a protective covering for [illegible] sheep, and that other factors, for example, the demand for early maturity [illegible] shape of carcase, in the case off the fat lamb, are of more importance than [illegible] the wool produced by the lamb. As already has been pointed out, a wool that through some peculiarity or defect may be unsuitable for one trade may be quite suitable for some other trade, and, in consequence , is not very much penalised in price by reason of its defect. There is, therefore, not much incentive to the producer to eliminate the defect, in fact, in some cases in the past it has paid him to ignore the criticisms and aim at producing maximum weight instead of maintaining a balance between quantity and quality. [From Introduction]