Covering a broad range of topics relevant to the sheep and wool industry, this newly expanded edition—containing 11 new chapters and a more international scope—discusses future developments in all areas and provides an in-depth review of the meat aspects of the market. Separated into five distinct sections, the comprehensive survey summarizes the major world sheep and wool industries, biological principles, management, production systems, and the preparation, processing, and marketing of meat and wool. References and web links at the end of each chapter present further sources of information. From paddock to plate and farm to fabric, this overview is a must-have for all those involved in the trade, including producers, brokers, exporters, and processors.

The Wool Handbook: Morphology, Structure, Property and Applications explores the fundamental aspects of wool fibers as well as traditional and novel applications of wool in areas including polymer composites and technical textiles. Apart from textiles and garments, wool has long been used for various diversified applications due to its unique material properties. Wool is inherently fire resistant, antimicrobial, flexible and antibacterial, and as a natural material, it can be used to create environmentally sustainable products. This book explains basic and advanced topics related to wool fibers, from shearing to marketing, drawing on academic and industrial research from a range of subjects. Providing statistics, processing methods, and testing and characterization techniques for wool fiber, this book will help readers to use wool fibers to find new applications and solutions. - Provides advanced testing methods to explore the material characteristics of wool - Includes the latest industrial methods for physical and chemical processing of wool - Presents case studies on how wool fibers have been made into successful bio-based composite and textile products

"In the Footsteps of Sheep details the completion of a mission the author, a Welsh-born Scot, set for herself: to travel and camp throughout Scotland, find cast off tufts of wool from 10 Scottish sheep breeds, then spin the wool on her spinning stick while walking (or waiting for ferries), and finally design and knit one pair of socks to represent each breed ... all the while writing about her adventures and taking plenty of photographs. Debbie has written beautifully about her journey; the hills, shorelines, and bogs explored; the sheep and people she met along the way; weather both foul and fair, and a particularly exciting chapter about the intriguing St. Kilda archipelago and its feral Soay and Boreray sheep. The eleven sock patterns, one at the end of each chapter, are a bonus and, for those of us unable to gather and spin our own fleece, all were test-knitted with commercial wool. The designs are knitted from top to toe with different motifs, among them color-patterns, cables, spirals, stripes, Kilt Hose with top-turnovers, and a pair of baby booties."--Provided from Amazon.com.

The U.S. sheep industry is complex, multifaceted, and rooted in history and tradition. The dominant feature of sheep production in the United States, and, thus, the focus of much producer and policy concern, has been the steady decline in sheep and lamb inventories since the mid-1940s. Although often described as "an industry in decline," this report concludes that a better description of the current U.S. sheep industry is "an industry in transition."

This book, designed as a text for tertiary students, covers a broad range of topics relevant to the Australian sheep and wool industry, and describes the principles upon which various activities in the sheep and wool industry are based, together with the practical implications of these principles.

Sheep Farming for Meat and Wool contains practical, up-to-date information on sheep production and management for producers throughout temperate Australia. It is based on research and extension projects conducted over many years by the Department of Primary Industries and its predecessors and the University of Melbourne. The book covers business management, pasture growth and management, nutrition and feed management, drought management, reproductive management, disease management, genetic improvement, animal welfare and working dog health. It also gives seasonal reminders for a spring lambing wool-producing flock, for autumn lambing Merino ewes joined to Border Leicester rams, and for winter lambing crossbred ewes joined to terminal sires. It will guide new and established farmers, students of agriculture and service providers with detailed information on the why and how of sheep production, and will assist farmer groups to initiate activities aimed at increasing their efficiency in specific areas of sheep production.