Released April 1, 2009
SONORA, Texas – Now is the time to select fleeces for the 72nd Wool Show this summer at Sonora, said a show official.
Pascual Hernandez, Texas AgriLife Extension Service agent for Sutton County, said with sheep-shearing season under way and the Angora goat-shearing season just complete, now is the best time to find top fleeces for the show.
Hernandez said the show takes place in conjunction with the featured event, the 49th annual National 4-H Wool Judging Contest and the ninth-annual FFA Wool Judging Contest. The events, along with various range and livestock judging contests for youth, are set for June 16-18 in the Sutton County 4-H Center in Sonora.
“Hopefully, producers are having a successful shearing season,” Hernandez said. “The weather has been so dry that weeds contaminating fleeces shouldn’t be a problem. Fleeces in our area at least, should be clean and high yielding this year. Growers with children in the 4-H program who want to enter fleeces should be thinking about their selections now and not right before the show.”
All fleece entries must be in the Sutton County Civic Center by 3:30 p.m. June 16. However, Hernandez said, exhibitors can send their entries to the show committee at any time prior to the show. He said these can also be sent in care of the Sutton County Civic Center.
Fleeces are judged on the length of staple (fiber length), weight, fiber uniformity, character, yield, preparation, luster (for Mohair), strength and grade or fineness.
“We traditionally sell the top fleeces at auction during the show’s awards ceremony, but exhibitors may withdraw their fleeces from the sale if they wish,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez said it’s important to note that the show no longer has an open category for adults entering fleeces, nor is there a bag-of-wool division any more.
“The wool show committee believed it was better to focus the show on youth entries only,” he said. “It’s always been the goal of this annual event to encourage production of profitable livestock through knowledge of range vegetation, livestock production, and preparation of wool and mohair while sponsoring 4-H club work applicable to ranching.”
For more information, contact the AgriLife Extension office in Sutton County at 325-387-3101.
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http://agnews.tamu.edu/showstory.php?id=1099
Contacts: Pascual Herndandez, 325-387-3101, p-hernandez@tamu.edu
Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576,s-byrns@tamu.edu
