Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1916-01-27
CAR
FOR WOOL GROWERS
TOURING MONTANA, IDAHO, Wy.
0MING AND UTAH, DEMON
STRAT|NG IMPORTANCE
OF BETTER PRODUCT.

Washington, D. c., Jan. 25.-A
wool demonstration car, under the
charge Of specialists of the United
States Department Of Agriculture and
the Agricultural Colleges of the
States concerned, is now touring
Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah
to show growers that in the end
better wool means more money. The
car left Livingston, Montana, or
January 19 and is expected to con
tinue its travels until we'll into the
spring
In addition to samples OF the
various grades of wool, six head OF
live sheep are being carried in the
car in order to show the various
grades as they appear on the sheep;
| for the primary purpose OF the tour
is to dispel the common idea that
wool is wool and that care in the
! selection of the breed and in the
handling and grading of the clip are
unnecessary and Improbable details
Today, it is said, many American
growers do not realize that the
market value of fleece is de-
termined by it's clean or secured
not it's gross weight-and by the
character of the fiber. Many are
quite unable to estimate with &C
curacy the percentage of shrinkage
in their fleeces and do not under
stand the bearing on their own
profits Of the prices for various
grades of wool quoted on the large
markets.
Dealers. on the. other hand, under
stand these things Yery. well. They
know that manufacturers are slow
to accept miscellaneous lots OF wool,
but prefer certain grades for cer-
tain purposes The dealers do the
necessary grading themselves, there
fore, but after they have purchased
the clip from the grower. The prize
they offer the grower must, of course
be sufficiently low To protect them
from loss on account of 1ow-grade
wool, and there is a tendency to
base it on the value of this low
grade wool altogether. Under this
system there Is little encouragement
given the grower to improve the
breed of his sheep. The price he
receives from year to year for his
clip may vary, but there is apparent
ly little connection between that
variation and his own efforts.
For this reason the specialists who
are responsible for the tour OF the
demonstration car believe that the
whole wool industry would be great
ly benefited by inducing the grower
to grade his wool for himself. In
this way he not only would know
himself what he had to sell but he
would be able to ascertain on what
grades he made the most profit and
could breed accordingly. Under exist
ing circumstances it is not probable
that the individual grower could
market his graded clip for total
much, if any, larger than that for
which he now sells it ungraded, but
the additional knowledge that the
grading gives him would unquestion-
ably enable him to raise the entire
standard of his product and thus
ultimately increase his profit very
considerably.
In Australia, the growers have
found it distinctly advantageous to
have the grading done in the shear
ing sheds and to sell graded wool.
The extra cost, it has been found,
is more than offset by the Increase
in the market price of the properly
prepared product. In this country also
steps have been taken to test tho
plan on a commercial scale, but con-
certed action on the part of largo
number OF influential flock masters
is regarded as necessary for any radi-
cal change in the prevailing prsctice
OF marketing the wool on a quantky
instead Of quality basis.
This Is, say the specialists, mol
reason why the Individual grower
should not grade his wool for his
own information and profit. Once hsl
has done this, he win see that profits
depend upon the character a. Won
as the number OF fieeces and hel
VIII sasu ~ asssatiA - Aee ess