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Equipment loan helps wool education

September 22, 2004

kirby wool test.jpgThe loan to the University of New England of a wool-measurement technology package worth $94,000 is contributing to a national sheep-industry education program managed from UNE.

Interactive Wool Group (IWG) Pty Ltd, of Tamworth, has lent the package to David Cottle, UNE’s Professor of Sheep and Wool Science. Professor Cottle manages the national education program of the Australian Sheep Industry Cooperative Research Centre (Sheep CRC).

OFDA2000 is a portable computerised fibre measurement instrument. It can be used to measure greasy wool direct from the sheep's back, or from a fleece at shearing time. It can measure 800 samples every eight hours. Measurements include mean fibre diameter, percentage of fibres greater than 30 microns, curvature and standard deviation of curvature, staple length, fibre diameter profile along the staple, and position of the finest and broadest points along the staple.

The Director of IWG, Richard Manning, and an IWG Research Officer, Shelley Carpenter, recently installed an OFDA2000 in the wool metrology laboratories in UNE’s School of Rural Science and Agriculture. It is being maintained by Michael Raue, a Technical Officer in the School. Earlier this week, students from UNE and other universities in NSW, Victoria and Tasmania undertaking the new “Clip Preparation and Wool Marketing” unit delivered by UNE for the Sheep CRC, as well as wool-classing students from Armidale TAFE, used the equipment in the field at UNE’s Kirby Research Station near Armidale.

“This technology is extremely robust and can be used in shearing sheds and sheep yards,” Professor Cottle said. “It enables wool’s important processing characteristics to be identified and measured in real time, providing critical information for clip preparation, breeding programs and flock management.”

Professor Cottle is using the instrument on the University’s farm clips as part of the undergraduate teaching program for UNE’s new Bachelor of Livestock Science degree. This program, to begin next year, incorporates all the Sheep CRC degree units.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at September 22, 2004 03:54 PM