Analysis of the Quality of the Wool of Shetland Sheep Bred in the Czech Republic

Abstract

On one selected farm the wool of Shetland sheep was analysed for two years. The wool was collected from animals of different sex and age, and also from different parts of their bodies. Our results indicate that that two-year rams have largest amount of wool (1.48 kg) with average length of 9.5 cm. Three-year rams have 1.78 kg of wool with average length of 9 cm. From oneyear old sheep we collected 1.22 kg of wool with average length of 12 cm and from seven-year old sheep we collected 1.36 kg of wool but with shorter average length of 7 cm. The average finenesses of the wool from rams, sheep and castrated rams ranges from 24.81 µm to 26.86 µm. According to the measured values, we can classify selected animals form fine-wooled to semifine-wooled sheep. The finest woolis on animal's sides (24.5 µm) and shoulders (25.05 µm) the roughest wool is on the rump (27.59 µm).