Mohair classing

Welcome, and thanks for watching our video about classing mohair for auction in Australia. This video covers the following: ● Who the Australian Mohair Marketing Organisation (AMMO) is and the difference between Responsible Mohair Standard (RMS) certified and non-RMS certified mohair. ● The most important aspects of classing mohair fibre: length, style and character, micron, the age of the goat that produced the mohair, and any faults in the fibre (such as seeds/vegetable matter, stain and kempy (medullated/hollow) fibres). ● Examples of what the mohair looks like in the different lines. How do you prepare your mohair fleeces for classing and marketing to achieve the best price? What would you like to know more about to help you prepare your Australian mohair for sale by auction? ******* In this video, Luané le Roux explains the details of classing mohair at the Australian Mohair Marketing Organisation (AMMO) in Narrandera, NSW, Australia. AMMO is the broker that classes and sells Australian mohair on behalf of Australian producers. The mohair sent to AMMO by producers is either Responsible Mohair Standard (RMS) certified or non-RMS certified. There is a premium paid by buyers for RMS-certified mohair. The facilities at AMMO are set up to keep the RMS and non-RMS certified mohair separate. Luané explains: ● Goats are shorn on-farm, where the fleeces are skirted (taking off the shorter pieces, the lox, the stains and anything with seeds in it), and then the mohair is sent to AMMO for classing and marketing. Once the mohair arrives at AMMO, it is sorted into the correct lines and bales are created, ensuring that maximum value is added to each piece of mohair that is delivered to AMMO. ● One of the most important aspects of classing mohair is identifying the fleeces with good style (ie the spiral or twist) and character (ie the curl or wave), which is important for processing the fibre. Luané points out the difference between a more ‘open’ fleece and a fleece with better style and character. ● Other important components in classing mohair include determining the length and micron of the fibre, the age of the goat that produced the mohair and identifying any faults (eg seeds/vegetable matter, stain or kempy (medullated/hollow) fibres) that need to be separated and classed into a lower-value line to maintain the value of the higher-value lines. ● Fleeces from goats of different ages are classed differently: kid, young goat and adult fleeces all attract different prices. The age of the animal affects the curl definition and micron of the fleece (eg younger goats have finer curl definition, as well as softer and finer fleeces than adult goats). She gives a detailed explanation of the different lines that are used to classify mohair, along with examples of what the mohair assigned to a particular line looks like. Each line has a specific code comprised of several letters. For example, BSFFK is beautiful, fine kid mohair with good style, character and length; while CKSTN is shorter, kid mohair with stain. ● Length is indicated by the first letter in the code (eg ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’ or ‘E’), with ‘B’ being the longest and ‘E’ the shortest. ● The age of the goat that produced the mohair is shown as ‘K’ (kid), ‘YG’ (young goat) or ‘H’ (adult). ● ‘S’ means that there is good style and character present. ● Micron is indicated using ‘FF’ (fine fine), ‘F’ (fine) or no letter for micron (strong). ● Faults are identified using ‘SDY’ for seeds/vegetable matter, ‘STN’ for stain and ‘X’ for kemp (ie thicker, hollow fibre that doesn’t absorb dye and is much harder and scratchier on the skin than normal mohair). ****************************************** Have we covered what you wanted to know about classing mohair for auction in Australia? Let us know what you would like to see and hear more of! Please feel free to share your thoughts, questions or suggestions in the comments below. ****************************************** To find out more about goat fibre, Future Fibre Farming and the AgriFutures Goat Fibre Program, visit: AGRIFUTURES AUSTRALIA: https://agrifutures.com.au/rural-indu... GOAT FIBRE GATEWAY: https://gateway.goatfibre.com And you can listen to Dr Mark Ferguson interview guests from across the globe on THE FIBRE FRONTIER PODCAST wherever you get your podcasts.