Our Sharlea Sheep

SHARLEA is the means of producing ultra fine wool that is 15 micron or less from Saxon Merino sheep. This can only be done in a controlled environment with a strict feeding routine. This is a highly specialised field which is labour intensive. Because of the high cost involved and the required uniformity of the end product, animal health is of the supreme importance. Sharlea is the ultimate wool fibre in the world. The sheep are housed on elevated grating floors in pens of approximately 20 sheep although they can be penned in smaller group numbers. Five hundred sheep are housed at Burrabliss farms where all aspects of sheep husbandry are carried out with meticulous care.

FEED is formulated from a mixture of grains including oats, barley, wheat, lupins, maize, cereal straw, ground limestone and salt together with vitamin and mineral supplements for a balanced, healthy diet. Water is automatically supplied to each pen.

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY Drenching and vaccination is carried out when sheep first enter the shed. Sheep are coated at all times with neatly fitted nylon fabric coats covering everything except the head, belly and breach to prevent contamination of the wool. Maintaining a constant body weight is important to produce wool with uniform fibre diameter. In addition to visual appraisal, each animal is weighed four times a year to enable adjustments to be made to the feeding program. From entering the shed at approximately 2 years of age, the sheep remain in the shed as long as they are producing quality wool, up to 9 years of age but usually about 7 years. Husbandry practices are required to be faultless so that the sheep are maintained in the optimum condition to ensure the wool produced reaches the Sharlea specifications.

 

SHEARING Sheep are shorn once a year by mechanical cutters.

A specialist wool classer skirts & sorts the fleece.

Skirting is the term used to remove the scraggy outside pieces, the neck and belly because they are not of as good a quality as the rest of the fleece and they are put with other lots and shorter wools to be sold separately. After the wool preparation is completed individual testing is carried out by an in shed Laser Scanner to obtain micron readings for each fleece to assist with classing the clip by micron and to provide a performance record for each sheep.

Wool is then classed and packed into nylon wool bales to prevent contamination ready for the sale. The clip is then sent away to a broker where it is core and grab sampled by Australian Wool Testing Authority to obtain certified measurement and micron results prior to the wool being sold.

SALE OF WOOL is through the auction system to buyers from Italy, Korea and Japan for processing specifically for high fashion garments.

For private buyers interested in purchasing
individual fleeces please click here

   

Guests who stay at Burrabliss B&B are invited to be taken on a tour of their hosts Sharlea Ultra Fine wool enterprise.

Visit the Sharlea Ultra Fine Wool Society of Australia