LPT 312: Abattoir Practices and Animal Products Technology (1+1)

SHEARING AND PULLING

Shearing

• Shearing of wool is generally done twice a year in India with the help of special shearing scissors.
• It is a highly skilled task and should be given to experienced workers on contract basis.
• Sheep may be washed a few days before shearing, although it may not remove impurities like twigs and small stones.
• Shearing of soiled wool is sometimes referred as dagging.
• The entire coat of wool shorn from a sheep at one time is called fleece.
• The shearing should not expose the sheep to temperature stress.
• It should not be done in winter or rainy season and early suckling or late pregnancy.
• The best time for shearing is shortly before the onset of summer.
• Rams are shorn before mating.
• The first shearing should be done at about 8 months of age.
• The most common shearing faults are inflicting the cuts or wounds to the sheep.
• There may be double cutting, thereby decreasing the length of the fibre.
• Shearing should neither be too near nor too far from the skin.

Pulling

• Pulled wool is obtained from the skins of slaughtered and dead animals by any of the three processes:
• Sweating is the controlled putrefaction of skins in damp chamber at 20^oC for 48 hours. It loosens the hair follicles.
• Painting is a very good technique.
• A dehairing agent such as sodium sulphide is applied for loosening the hair follicles.
• Liming involves immersion of the pelt in limewater.