The Richfield recorder. (Richfield, Idaho) 1909-1931, 1916-01-28
WOOL CAR is NOW
TOURING COUNTRY

Washington, d. CA wool demon
stration car, under the charge of spec
ialists of the United States Depart
ment of Agriculture and the Agricul-
tural colleges of the states concerned,
is now touring Montana, Idaho, Wyom-
ing and Utah to show growers that in
the end better wool means more mon
ey. The car left Livingston, Mont,
on January 10 and is expected to con-
tinue its travels until well into the
spring.
In addition to samples of the vari-
GUS 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 dis
pei 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, 1t Is
said, many American growers do not
realize that the market value OF
fleece is determined by its clean or
scoured-not its gross-weight and
by the character of the fiber. Many
are quite unable to estimate with ac-
curacy the percentage of shrinkage
in their fleeces and do not understand
the bearing on their own profits Of the
prices for various grades of wool quot
ed on the large markets.
Dealers, on the other hand, under
stand these things very well. They
know that manufacturers are slow to
accept miscellaneous lots of vol, but
prefer certain grades for certain pur-
poses. The dealers do the necessary
grading themselves, therefore, but al
ter they havep urchased the clip from
the grower The Price they offer the
grower must, of course, be sufficiently
low to protect them from loss on ac-
count of low-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 en-
couragement given the grower to i'm
prove the breed of his sheep. The
price he receives from year to year
for his clip may vary but there is ap-
parently little connection between the
variation and his own EFFORT.
For this reason the specialists who
are responsible for the tour OF the
demonstration car believe that the
whole wool industry would be greatly
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 existing circum-
stances it is not probable that the in
dividual grower could market his grad
ed clip for total much,if any, larger
than that for which he now sells 1t
ungraded, but the additional know
ledge that the grading gives him
would unquestionably enable him to
raise the entire standard of his pro
duct 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 mar
ket price of the properly prepared
product. In this country also steps
have been taken to test the plan on
a commercial scale, but concerted ac-
ton on the part of a large number
of influential flock masters is regard
ed as necessary for any radical change
in the prevailing practice of market
ing the wool on a quantity instead of
quality basis.
This is, say the specialists, no rea-
son why lne lHulVluudl SiOWei SHOuiu
not grade his wool for his own infor-
nation and profit Once he has done
this, he will see that profits depend
upon the character as well as the
number of fleeces and he will turn
his attention to their betterment. 1t
is generally admitted that Australian
success in sheep breeding has been
due in large measure to the obje It
lessons afforded by the grading sheds.