Wool fibre of local and crossbred sheep: production, processing technique and performance

Abstract

Local sheep in Indonesia are mainly raised to produce meat. In fact some of local sheep also actually produce strong (harsh) wool that have not been utilized as some farmers do shearing the sheep for sanitation purposes. Studies on wool production and technology of local sheep in Indonesia have not been reported. This field research was aimed to study (i) wool production and the fineness of local sheep and crossbred sheep wool, (ii) simple wool processing technique and (iii) Processing performance of both type of wool. The data of wool production were collected in Bogor by using 12 adult female sheep for each of local and crossbred sheep. The results showed that wool production of local sheep was lower than crossbred sheep (605.55 ± 22.98 g/head/year and 2911.75 ± 108.82 g/head/year, respectively). Wool fibres of local sheep were much coarser than crossbred (35.06 ± 6.14 µ and 22.94 ± 0.88 µ, respectively). This study also found that simple wool processing technique was able to be used for local sheep wool. This process steps included (i) sorting 1 (ii) washing (iii) drying (iv) sorting 2 (v) combing (vi) yarning, (vii) whitening, (viii) designing (ix) coloring and (x) weaving. It was found that processing performance of crossbred sheep wool was likely better than local sheep wool. It was concluded that both wool types produced by local and crossbred sheep were able to be processed to make different quality of yarn with simple processing technique. It is recommended that the technique can be applied to develop wool processing small industry to increase value added of sheep farming business as well as source of income for the community. Keywords: fiber diameter, local sh