Wool

Wool comes from sheep, Llama, Camel, Alpaca, Angora goat, goat, yak and some other animals. These wool-acquiescent animals bear hair on their body. We know that animals have a thick coat of hair. Hairs trap a lot of air. Air is a poor conductor of heat, hair keeps these Animals warm. Wool is derived from these hairy fibres.

The hairy skin of the sheep has two types of fibres that form its fleece:

• The coarse beard hair, and
• The fine soft under-hair close to the skin.

Processing of wool

• Shearing: The remove from wool from animal called from shearing.(it is done by shearing machine or large lazar ) it is usually done in the hot weather(summer months)
• Scouring: the sheared wool is washed thoroughly with soapy water to remove dust, dirt and grease. Known as scouring.
• Sorting: separate hair of different textures. The soft fluffy fibres called burrs are removed.
• Dyeing: The fibers are dyed in any color. as the natural fleece of sheep and goats is black, brown or white
• Making yarn: The wool is them smooth down, washed, combed and spins into yarn.

Production of Wool mainly occurs from sheep and it can also be produce from goat, yak and some other animals. All the wool-yielding animals consists of bear hair on their body. These hairs protect such animal from cold by trap a lot of air in hair, as we know air is a poor conductor of heat, hair keeps these animals warm. Wool is produce from these hairy fibers present in the outer skin of the animal.

Similar to humans the hairy skin of the sheep is consist of two types of fibres that form its fleece:

• The coarse beard hair,
• The fine soft under-hair close to the skin.

Only the fine hair provide the fibres for making wool. Some breeds of sheep possess only fine under-hair. Their parents are specially chosen to give birth to sheep which have only soft under- hair. This process of selecting parents for obtaining special characters in their offspring, such as soft under hair in sheep, is termed ‘selective breeding’

In India sheep wool is the most common, especially in ladakh and Tibet yak wool is the more common. In Jammu and Kashmir angora wool, south America the llama and the alpaca are the most common animals are used for the production of wool Actually, there are many different breeds of sheep that are reared in different parts of our country to obtain wool. Some breeds of sheep are selectively reared. This means that their parents are chosen for their special characteristics to give birth to them

The Nali and Lohi breeds are found in Rajasthan and Punjab, the Rampur bushair in Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, and the Bakharwal in Jammu and Kashmir. Gujarat breeds the Marwari and Patanwadi sheep.

Each breed yields wool used for different purposes.

For example

• Nali breed wool mainly used to make carpet wool.
• Patanwadi wool used for hosiery.
• Lohi wool is of very good quality, and is used for making clothes.
• Bakharwal wool is used for shawls.