Ninety percent of New Zealand’s wool production is classified as coarse wool (35 plus microns) with returns for this wool type currently trending between $1.00 and $2.00 kg/greasy. Farmers at these prices barely recover the costs of shearing. One option to change is to breed a “no wool” sheep.
Some farmers have graded-up to a Wiltshire flock, but what’s lacking is well quantified and researched results that provide information to assist farmers to move to wool-less sheep. The project at Massey Universities has two aspects; firstly to model the profitability of such a change, and secondly to undertake a multiyear flock study at Riverside farm to record production and performance.