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STUDIES IN THE WOOL QUALITY OF PATTANWADI SHEEP [Vol. XXI, Part I,
Later 12 pairs of ewes of different ages ranging from 1 to 4 years and with corres-
ponding average length of wool in side and back regions were selected. One set was
shorn both in autumn and spring and the other set was shorn only in spring. Table
XVII gives the average length of wool samples of all the animals both in spring
and autumn, spring and autumn yields of twice shorn sheep, spring yield of the
other, and the total yield of a few animals of this group in the previous year.
The important points that arise here are whether shearing once a year has any
deleterious effects on the sheep and how it influences wool yield and quality. The
health of all the different aged sheep was throughout normal, thus showing that shea-
ring once a year had no adverse effects on the health of the sheep. The total lengths
of wool and yields of sheep shorn twice a year were generally greater than the lengths
and yields of sheep shorn once a year as shown in Table XVII. Moreover the
total yields of a few sheep whose records were available, in the previous year when
they were shorn twice, were generally greater than their corresponding yields, when
shorn only once a year. Similar increase in yield by shearing twice a year was
observed by Jones [1928] on Rambonillet sheep, who concluded that shearing sti-
mulates wool growth and leads to better yield per year.
The average lengths of all the half yearly samples are below 3.5 in. Among
the yearly samples, 1 sample is between 3 to 4 in., 4 samples between 4 to 5 inches
and 7 samples above 5 in. Samples of wool sorted and classed out of the yearly
fleeces, were comparable to 46's combing which is worth more than the half yearly
clip. Though shearing once a year may lead to a slight decrease in yield of wool,
the loss due to this is likely to be more than made up by the increased value of the
wool grown and the reduction in cost of shearing so that it can be more economical
than shearing twice a year. Another point which has to be considered is that
the spring clip is white and autumn clip yellow, in these areas. Yellow wool of the
same quality is usually sold at slightly lower rates. By shearing once a year the
whole clip will be classified as yellow. It will be worth-while carrying a mass scale
trial in the field to study the effects on other characters like fineness and soundness
and go into these questions in more detail so that shearing once a year may also be
included as one of the reforms under the wool improvement drive in these areas,
if successful.
CONCLUSIONS
Variation in different wool characters in Pattanwadi breed have been studied
and it has been brought out that there are considerable number of sheep, producing
completely non-medullated and one of the finest wools in India. There is room for
further improvement even by selective breeding. With improvement in length
of fibres by shearing once a year, there are definite possibilities of using the wool
produced by this breed in the worsted industry. As such Pattanwadi is one of the
best wool breeds in India deserving immediate attention in preserving and extending
it. However, as stated earlier, the main source of income out of these sheep to
breeders in North Gujrat is milk. It has recently been demonstrated that flocks
giving the highest yeilds of milk and fatty matter, also give the heaviest fleeces in
Lacaune sheep by Albibon and others [1948]. As such milk production need not be
discouraged while striving for greater wool production. Suitable experiments could