Select for Desirable Wool Traits

How to Select for Desirable Wool Traits

•           Record grease fleece weight and staple length of each fleece at shearing.

•           If possible, obtain clean fleece weight.

•           Rank fleeces according to weight of fibre produced and staple length.

•           If possible, rank sheep within a given grade of wool, within a given age classification, and within a group in which the number of lambs raised is known.

Coefficient of Variation (CV)

A range of fiber diameters occurs within each wool sample.  A wool sample may therefore have a mean fiber diameter of 19 µ, yet the fibers within the sample may vary from 7 µ to 37 µ.

Two criteria are used to measure the distribution, namely CV and standard deviation (SD).  CV is a function of SD, as SD is used in the formula to calculate CV.

CV (%) = Standard deviation * 100

                     Mean fiber diameter