Mecardo Analysis - Non and ceased mulesed wool by micron category
- By: "Farm Tender" News
- Ag Tech News
- Sep 18, 2018
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By Andrew Woods | Source: AWEX, ICS.
In mid-August Mecardo looked at the proportion of wool sold that was declared as NM (not mulesed), CM (ceased mulesed) or had used pain relief (PR). The analysis looked at the proportions for the total clip and by breed. This week we break the analysis up by micron.
For the season to date, around 9% of the Merino fleece sold has been declared as not mulesed or ceased mulesed (NMCM), while 34% of crossbred fleece sold has been declared NMCM. As the August article showed, the proportion of NMCM and wool declared with Pain Relief (PR) has been picking up. Some 37% of Merino fleece sold this season has been declared PR.
While 9% of Merino fleece constitutes a small proportion of available wool, NMCM is not evenly distributed across the different micron categories, which adds an extra complication to sourcing non-mulesed consignments. Figure 1 shows the proportion by micron category of Merino fleece sold this season which was declared NMCM. The very fine micron categories have a markedly higher declaration of NMCM (30-50%). The proportion falls as fibre diameter increases, reaching a low of 4% for 22 micron.
Figure 2 shows the distribution of Merino fleece sold for the season to date. The very fine micron categories with high levels of NMCM declaration are small, although 16 micron has accounted for 5% of sales.
Figure 3 shows the proportion of crossbred fleece declared NMCM by micron category for the season. The proportion declared looks to be independent of fibre diameter. Around 30% of crossbred fleece is declared.
Pain relief has been adopted strongly by the industry, as is shown in Figure 4 for Merino fleece. The proportion of wool declared PR increases as the fibre diameter decreases, peaking around 17 micron because the sub-17 micron categories have adopted NMCM more heavily.
Key points
* The distribution of not mulesed/ceased mulesed Merino wool as a proportion of micron categories is skewed heavily to the fine Merino categories.
* Crossbred declarations of NMCM are independent of fibre diameter.
* Pain relief declarations for Merino fleece peak around 17 micron. When NMCM and PR are combined the proportion peaks around 13-15 micron.
What does this mean?
The finer Merino micron categories are adopting either NMCM or PR at higher rates than the broader Merino categories. The broader categories come from more pastoral regions where mulesing has provided cheap and effective protection for sheep for decades in an environment where labour is a scarce resource. From a marketing perspective, there is a lot of work to be done for the key Merino micron categories, as the pressure on mulesing may wax and wane but is unlikely to disappear.
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