how many sheep to make a bale of wool
about 60
title: Sheep shearing text: Sheep shearing Sheep shearing is the process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off. The person who removes the sheep's wool is called a "shearer". Typically each adult sheep is shorn once each year (a sheep may be said to have been "shorn" or "sheared", depending upon dialect). The annual shearing most often occurs in a shearing shed, a facility especially designed to process often hundreds and sometimes more than 3,000 sheep per day. Sheep are shorn in all seasons, depending on the climate, management requirements and the availability of a woolclasser and shearers. Ewes are title: Wool bale text: Wool bale A wool bale is a standard sized and weighted pack of classed wool compressed by the mechanical means of a wool press. This is the regulation required method of packaging for wool, to keep it uncontaminated and readily identifiable. A "bale of wool" is also the standard trading unit for wool on the wholesale national and international markets. Packaging of wool has not changed much for centuries except that the early wool packs were made from jute, prior to the use of synthetic fibres. Jute packs were relatively heavy, weighing several kilograms each. In the 1960s polypropylene and title: Wool bale text: wool bin, removing any contamination, before placing it into the press. It takes about 60 skirted fleeces to fill a wool bale, depending on the size and age of the sheep. The presser closes the bale with four internal and five external metal bale fasteners, before weighing the bale, if the press does not have an inbuilt scale. Bales should weigh between and , unless the wool is under 18.6 microns, in which case they may be a minimum gross weight of . Bales that weigh less than are known as a butt and those over will not be sold title: Wool text: global textile market, but its value is higher owing to dying and other modifications of the material. Australia is a leading producer of wool which is mostly from Merino sheep but has been eclipsed by China in terms of total weight. New Zealand (2016) is the third-largest producer of wool, and the largest producer of crossbred wool. Breeds such as Lincoln, Romney, Drysdale, and Elliotdale produce coarser fibers, and wool from these sheep is usually used for making carpets. In the United States, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado have large commercial sheep flocks and their mainstay is the Rambouillet (or title: Wool text: The quality of wool is determined by its fiber diameter, crimp, yield, color, and staple strength. Fiber diameter is the single most important wool characteristic determining quality and price. Merino wool is typically 3–5 inches in length and is very fine (between 12 and 24 microns). The finest and most valuable wool comes from Merino hoggets. Wool taken from sheep produced for meat is typically more coarse, and has fibers in length. Damage or breaks in the wool can occur if the sheep is stressed while it is growing its fleece, resulting in a thin spot where the fleece is