Wool and Mohair

Article 92 records South Africa producing roughly 50% of the world’s mohair, with commercial output averaging about 4 million kilograms on the 2012/13 baseline, concentrated in the Eastern Cape. Article 93 shows that about 91% of the South African wool clip comes from four provinces, led by the Eastern Cape. Lesotho, outside RIMAI’s five markets, is also a significant wool and mohair producer.

Wool and mohair production in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana is small, so their country sets record the sheep flock that would carry it: 767,263 sheep in Zimbabwe, about 150,000 in Zambia and 323,279 in Botswana. Namibia produces about 360 tonnes of karakul wool and 140,000 Swakara pelts a year. Namibia’s traditional fibre and pelt sector centres on karakul sheep.

Article 94 explains that the open auction is the price-discovery machine for wool and mohair: clips are tested for fineness, yield and length, classed, and sold to international buyers. Prices are quoted per kilogram clean and depend on fibre diameter, with finer fibre paying more. They follow world textile demand and the exchange rate.

South African wool and mohair are almost entirely exported, mainly to China, Italy and other textile centres. Article 103 warns that natural fibre competes with synthetic fibres that can be made to order at lower cost, which limits how high natural-fibre prices can go.

Farmers shear and class the clip; brokers and agents test and sell it at auction; buyers export it to processors who scour, comb, spin and weave. Article 104 explains how fibre cooperatives organise the smallholder clip so small producers can reach the auction instead of selling to whoever collects the wool. Article 105 shows that genetics built over generations decide fibre quality.

Article 102 describes the ethical-fibre gate: premium buyers increasingly require certified animal welfare and land management, including non-mulesing standards for wool. Clips must be properly classed and free of contamination. Shearing needs skilled shearers at the right time of year.

Real minimum capital. A breeding flock of wool sheep or Angora goats of good genetics, shearing facilities, handling pens and veterinary supplies. Angora goats are more delicate than meat goats and need shelter after shearing.

Input choke points. Quality breeding stock, skilled shearers and classers, and access to a broker or cooperative that reaches the auction.

Offtake options. Wool and mohair brokers, auction systems and fibre cooperatives; locally, small-scale spinners and craft producers.

Who to call. In South Africa, the national wool and mohair industry bodies and brokers. In the four local markets, livestock departments and any producer group that consolidates clips for South African auctions.

The verdict for a small holding. Wool and mohair suit large areas of dry rangeland rather than small holdings, and the four local markets lack their own auction systems. A small producer is best served by a meat-and-wool breed such as the Dohne Merino or by joining a cooperative that sends clips to South African auctions.

Merino sheep are usually shorn once a year, though some flocks are shorn every eight months. Angora goats grow mohair fast and are shorn twice a year, in summer and winter. The clip is classed and baled at the shearing shed, sent to a broker, tested and sold at auction in Gqeberha, and paid after the sale. The flock also earns from lambs and culls in between.

A fleece is not all worth the same. The main fleece from the back and sides is the most valuable. The skirtings around the edge, the pieces, the bellies, the locks swept from the floor and the stained crutchings are removed and sold as separate lots at lower prices. The wool classer does this at the shed, so that each bale holds wool of one type and the buyer pays the right price for it. Mohair from the first shearings of a young goat, kid mohair, earns the highest price of all.

Wool is classed at the shed by a registered classer into lines of the same fibre diameter, length, strength and colour, then tested by the broker and sold by its measured micron: the finer the fibre, the higher the price. Vegetable matter, dark fibres and contamination with plastic or twine cut the price sharply. Mohair is classed into kid, young goat and adult, with kid mohair the finest and most valuable.

Origin and IP. South African mohair is sold on its origin and on responsible-production certification that the major brands require.

Wool and mohair animals are lost to parasites and cold, and the fleece is damaged by both. This is the owner's checklist, not the science: enough to protect the investment and supervise the expert.

• Sheep scab. A notifiable disease in South Africa; report and treat.
• Blowfly strike. Crutch the sheep and watch them in warm, wet weather.
• Lice and ticks. Treat on a schedule; they damage the fleece.
• Internal parasites. Dose only the animals that need it.
• Cold stress after shearing, in Angora goats. Shelter goats after shearing; a cold snap can kill them.

When to call the expert. Call the veterinarian when animals rub and lose wool, show fly strike or die after a cold night.

These are the specialists a wool and mohair business needs as it grows. You do not need to do their work; you need to know who they are, when to bring them in and what to expect from them. Module C11 teaches how to recruit, contract and manage them.

Estimate clip weight and income per animal in T-M14-02 Clip and Fleece Income, test any local processing such as spinning or craft in T-M14-03 Processing Margin, compare prices in T-M14-04 and enter the result in T-M14-01 Enterprise Budget. Name the broker or cooperative that will take the clip to auction.

Calculators: T-M14-01 Enterprise Budget, T-M14-02 Clip and Fleece Income, T-M14-03 Processing Margin, T-M14-04 Market Price Comparator.

Library sources: LIB-A092, LIB-A093, LIB-A094, LIB-A102, LIB-A103, LIB-A104, LIB-A105; LIB-P-Wool, LIB-P-Mohair; LIB-C-ZW-WoolMohair, LIB-C-ZM-WoolMohair, LIB-C-BW-WoolMohair, LIB-C-NA-WoolMohair.