Zondii On farm Wool Classing

This project will explore the potential for developing an alternative to conventional shearing through R&D directed towards a novel approach, based on delivering a product by feed or injection, which creates a weakened zone in the fleece. The fleece can then be removed by unskilled labour or an automated high-throughput system. If successful, this project will revolutionise wool harvesting, by improving wool quality, eliminating shearer injuries, allowing producers to decide harvesting time, harvesting small numbers of sheep and improving sheep welfare.

The purpose of this project is to research and develop for adoption alternative technologies for wool follicle removal (lambs 8-12 weeks old) that could apply to mulesing and crutching as well as animal husbandry for the meat industry on older sheep. This project builds on the previous project “Duetto Laser Technology for sheep husbandry” which will validate Laser technology for this application in a controlled lab study.

This project provides strong and robust linkage to all standard sire evaluation sites joining for a 2023, 2024 and 2025 drop. Australian Merino Sire Evaluation Association (AMSEA) will oversee the operation of up to 8 sire evaluation sites around Australia. All sites are operated independently and produce results that are specific to each site (Site Reports using within flock raw data, sire adjusted means and flock breeding values). In order for sires entered at different sites to be directly compared (Merino Superior Sires and MERINOSELECT), link sires need to be used across the sites.