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Bulk and fibre diameter affect leather and woolskin quality of lamb skins
Scobie DR, Cooper SM, Passman A, Young SR
Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production, Volume 57, pp 77-80, Jan 1997
Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production, Volume 57, pp 77-80, Jan 1997
Article class: Conference Presentation
Subject Terms: Harvesting/processing, Integument/skin/wool/hair/fur/feather, Quality/assurance
Animal Type: Livestock, Production animal, Ruminant, Sheep, Sheep - lamb
Publisher: New Zealand Society of Animal ProductionAbstract
Poll Dorset x Romney lambs were chosen from a group of 300 on the basis of measured diameter and bulk. The selected lambs made up four groups of twenty, that had the four possible combinations of low (LD) or high diameter (HD) (29 or 32 um), and low (LB) or high bulk (HB) (22 or 26 cm³/g). Pelts were recovered at slaughter, assessed for woolskin tanning, processed to dyed crust leather and scored for the grain surface defect known as pinhole (1 to 5, best to worst). Suitability for woolskins was greatest for the high bulk groups (LDHB, 20; HDHB, 18), and least for the HDLB group (5), with the LDLB group intermediate (13). More pelts were found to exhibit pinhole in the high bulk groups (HDHB, 16; LDHB, 16 vs HDLB, 8; LDLB,10) and mean pinhole scores were higher (p <0.001) for these groups (HDHB, 2.5; LDHB, 2.4, vs LDLB, 1.7; HDLB, 1.5). Woolskins are a more appropriate product for finer and bulkier wool types, whereas less bulky wools of high diameter lend themselves to leather production, because they are unsuitable for woolskins and less prone to pinhole.The whole of the literary matter of the Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production is copyright New Zealand Society of Animal Production, Downloading this article signifies agreement with the terms and conditions of electronic access.