Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4 Volume 34 Number 3 1993 Article 4 1-1-1993 The processing performance of Western Australian wools Rob Kelly Ian Ralph John Stanton Barry Harrowfield Follow this and additional works at: https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/journal_agriculture4 Recommended Citation Kelly, Rob; Ralph, Ian; Stanton, John; and Harrowfield, Barry (1993) "The processing performance of Western Australian wools," Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4: Vol. 34 : No. 3 , Article 4. Available at: https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/journal_agriculture4/vol34/iss3/4 This article is brought to you for free and open access by Research Library. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4 by an authorized administrator of Research Library. For more information, please contact [email protected]. • Australian designed and made woollen fabric in Ahems, Perth. The processing performance of s r ustral ran Wool processing Wool processing in Western Australia is ols restricted to five scouring operations, one wool dyer and one carpet yarn manufacturer. At present, these companies process less than 20 per cent of the State's clip (see Table 1). By Rob Kelly, Ian Ralph and John Stanton, Sheep Industries Branch, Department of Agriculture, South Perth and limits to expansion of wool processing Processors have stated that the lack of a Barry Harrowfield, CSIRO Division of Wool suitable range in wool types, and high costs to Technology, Geelong transport wool to this State, limit the establish• ment of a top making factory here. Reported The wool trade generally regards Western costs are about $30 per bale from the eastern Australian wools as good blending wools, but States to Western Australia compared with unsuitable for making up complete processing transport costs in the other direction of $5 per batches. This reputation is reflected by the lower bale to South Australia and $12 per bale to New prices that our wools receive compared with the South Wales. same wool types sold in the eastern States. There is also a belief that Western Australian With the assistance of the Australian Wool wools have poor processing performance Corporation (A WC), we have reviewed the compared with similar types from other potential factors contributing to the differences in Australian selling centres, and can only be prices paid for Western Australia's wools and regarded as good blending wools. their processing performance. The perception that our wools produce a lower Where possible, we have predicted the fibre length in the top is reflected in the market processing performance of Western Australian place, where some types of wool have sold in wools using an equation developed by CSIRO's Fremantle for about 100 cents/kg less than in Division of Wool Technology. other centres. This view is invariably rein• forced when Western Australians visit mill The equation (see page 100), developed from owners in Europe. more than 600 consignments in 28 different mills located in 12 countries (TEAM Project), evaluates To improve the attractiveness of Western the use of additional wool measurements in Australian wools to processors, we believe that predicting that wool's processing performance. It the industry must: allows us to predict hauteur (the fibre length in • overcome the inherent faults that lead to the wool top) from raw wool characteristics. poor processing performance, and 98 li:A. J0£ 'R.\'Al OF AGRICLlTIJRE l'o/. 34 199.1 • Wool display floor. • increase the use of full specification in the selling and processing of wool. Mean fibre diameter •strength Figure I. Relative In this way, all wools can meet customers' Vegetable matter Length contribution of raw wool expectations. Style attributes to prices paid at •colour auction. This is the essence of a total quality manage• •Yield ment system for Western Australian, or for that •other matter, Australian wool. A pilot scheme for quality assurance is currently being developed for wool growers in Western Australia, and many brokers and wool processors now seek quality assurance certification. Wool prices at Fremantle compared with those in the eastern States . Tiii* L ProdllCtioa fer tm five oolwili&c I .. .... Wool prices received at auction provide the 1985-1"1 (tames elem) clearest indication that Western Australian 1985-86 1986-87 1987-88 I~ 1989-90 19'0-91 wools are not regarded as the same standard as those produced in the eastern States. Swan Wool Scouring (WA) 5700 6780 6SOO 6164 3013 2200 Two comparisons that were made of the wool Jandakot Wool Scoums Ply Ltd 13600 18500 15'i00 13200 11800 12000 prices achieved in Fremantle and the eastern States showed that wool sold at Fremantle can Hulme Wool Scoums Ply Ltd JOO() 3000 JOO() 3500 3756 4(0) suffer a substantial penalty. A WP Holdings Lid 2000 2600 An AWC study of variation in fleece wool price Bakers Hill Wool PIOCCSSOB 1000 1000 during the second half of the 1991-92 selling season indicated that 96 per cent of the Source: IBIS Enterprise Link Product C2342 - Wool Scouring and Topmating- Vol I I 16f71'1Z) observed variation in the price of sale lots could be attributed to the intrinsic characteristics (mean fibre diameter, strength, Tlll*2.Woal cadre price diffadllllillllffllllift to etc. - see Figure 1) of the wool. Price variation (cemslkg clean; m = DOC sagnificandy diffcmlt) owing to the location of wool sales was Sale centre 1991-92 second half 19112-93 fine balf included in the unexplained 4 per cent. AU wool Slllple All wool 51111* The results suggested that sale lots containing mcasuml identical wool, sold at the same time, would Adelmde -53 -43 as have received the same clean price whether --- sold in Melbourne or Sydney, but about Brisbane -5.5 -18.9 40 s 17 cents/kg clean less in Fremantle. Wool sold Fmta* -17.5 -157 -58 6.2 in Adelaide was discounted only slightly. Geclong -4.S -77 4.1 These price differences owing to selling centre Newcastle 196 71 9.5 6.5 narrowed during the first half of the 1992-93 selling season to about 6 cents/kg clean (see Sydney 6.1 RS 1.5 Table 2). There is some evidence that these differences widened in the second half of that selling season. WA JOL'RUL OF AGRICUL7l1/£ Vol.. 14 1993 99 E The predictive equation for fibre length in the top developed from the TEAM bials is: Hauteur (mm)= 0.52 x staple length + 0.47 x staple strength + 0.95 x mean fibre diameter-0.19 x percentage of mi<M>reaks-0.45 x percentage of vegetable matter -3.5. In general terms, the equation indicates that fibre length in the wool top will: • increase when staple length, staple strength, and mean fibre diameter increase, and • decrease as the percentage of mid-breaks in the staple and vegetable matter increase. Modern mills use these objective measurements of the raw wool to produce a wool top of required specification. Wool tops are produced after raw wool has been scoured, carded and combed. The quality of a top is largely determined by its mean fibre diameter and hauteur, but other importantmeasurements are the vegetable matter content and nep (small entanglement content). The most important measurement for the spinner is mean fibre diameter because it determines how fine a yarn can be spun. TOP- In the early stages Another way of comparing prices between flbre length in the top is importantbecause it can of wool processing, most selling centres is to examine the maximum define how well a yarn spins, particularlyif the fibre breakages are prices paid for wool. To do this we extracted yarn is being spun near to the practical minimum during carding. Weaker data from AWC catalogues for all fleece wools limit for the average number of fibres in the yarn wools break more easily with additional measurement sold from cross section; presently about 3.5 fibres. than stronger wools, August to October in 1990 and 1991, the time creating greater short when average staple strength is lowest. From fibre content in the output or 'card sliver'. the variation in prices for a particular wool of mean fibre diameter and predicted hauteur ABOVE: The comb characteristics, we determined the 95 per removes vegetable cent maximum price or 'potential top price'. matter, entanglements, Raw wool quality and processing performance and short fibre waste or When we compared these 'potential top Quality of wool varies across the State's wool noil. The amount of noilage is important in prices' between selling centres, they were growing areas. Yield usually increases from low the profitability of usually less for wools sold in Fremantle, and to high rainfall in the agricultural area, while topmaking. the difference was greater at lower fibre mean fibre diameter and vegetable matter diameters (see Table 3). For example, the decrease. Pastoral wool usually has a lower 'potential top prices' for a 60 mm predicted yield, higher percentage of mid-breaks and more hauteur were 5, 6, 8 and 18 per cent lower for vegetable matter contamination than agricultural Fremantle than eastern States wools as the wool. diameter decreased from 23 microns to 20 microns. This was worth up to 140 cents/kg. The quality of the State's wool also varies over the season. Wool sold in autumn usually has a lower yield, a higher average vegetable matter and lower percentage of mid-breaks. 1()() WA JOCR.\"AL OF AGRICULTURE Vol 34 1993 equation• Another important measurement for the spinner is the short fibre content of the top, which can influence the number of neps that develop in the drawing and spinning processes.