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classified the different breeds in: Downbreeds: characteristic of downwool is the staple lenghts up to 12 cm. This wool has a distinctive crisp feel and a full, spongy handle. Fibre diameter between 23 and 40 micron. The blocky or rectangular staples themselves are usually poorly defined. The wool is without luster and discribed as chalky. Longwool: This category includes a broad range of breeds, most of which originated from British sheep breeds. The fleeces generally have a wavy crimp pattern and medium to long staple, 130-220 mm. They range in fiber diameters from medium to coarse. The wool tends to be lustrous or semilustrous, exept in Romney sheep. We split this category in longwool and longwool like. Primitive breeds: caracteristics of primitive wool are the colours, the double coats, tendency to molt annually, the perfect felting quality and the tappered tips. 3 types: a double coat with fine woollen undercoat and an outher coat of hair or kemp, this fleece is easy to seperate. A mixed coat in which wool and hair or kemp are evenly mixed and have the same lenght, they are processed together. A pure fleece of pure wool with some hair on the breech. Shetland: a slight double coat, a tendency to molt and a rich variety of natural colours. The wool is extremely light and very warm. It has a silky, crisp handle and some fleeces have a wonderful lustre. Merino: the wool is the finest of all breeds and has a very soft handle. The yield of clean wool from a Merino fleece is low compared to that of other breeds because of its high grease content, as much as 25-45 % of the total fleece weight. The firm staples are rectangular with very well-defined crimp and flat tips. |