A bale of wool grown and prepared by the Mibus family has again been awarded the highest possible classification, 1PP.
Brothers Trevor and Peter Mibus and their families have had numerous bales achieve the classification in the past 30 years.
Trevor said both the bale that was awarded 1PP this week and the one from 2014 were of wool from similar sheep that had grazed the very same paddock.
The wool came off 1.5 year-old ewes ad wethers, all of pure Glenara bloodlines. Trevor said these sheep were born in autumn, first shorn in October of the same year, and then again the following year in late August, meaning they had 11 months of growth.
The sheep were run on natural pastures at Dunkeld, and Trevor said that saw their wool grow nice and evenly that helped with traits including strength.
The bale, lot 13 in Fox and Lillie Rural’s catalogue, measured 14.8 micron, 82 millimetres staple length, eight per cent co-efficient of variation, 46 Newtons per kilotex (Nkt) and 0.2 vegetable matter base.
New England Wool purchased the bale at 4398 cents a kilogram greasy, for Reda’s 150 bales of certified 1PP bales for the Italian mill’s 150th anniversary (celebrated in 2015).
Fox & Lillie’s Eamon Timms said the five-person panel considered objective measurements and subjective impressions of the wool to classify it 1PP. He said the wool had to have great evenness for length and crimp, superior style and bloom. They nominated the bale last Friday and the panel members each had a chance to assess it during the past couple of days, before Fox & Lillie and the growers were notified yesterday.
Bruno De Mattia, also of Fox & Lillie, added the wool had a very dense staple and excellent bloom and would produce fantastic suit lengths.
“The wool’s got life in it,” he said.
Trevor said it had been very pleasing to wool receive better prices in the past six months.
“Hopefully it will stay at this level for a while so more people can benefit from it,” Trevor said.
He said a key factor that could influence the market was how sales went following the European textile fairs that are happening at the moment.
“If sales are strong, there will be more competition for wool to replenish stocks,” Trevor said.
“And while the best wool is still going to Italy, China is starting to buy more higher quality wooland this year, four or five lots of our best wool went to India.”
“It’s promising to see new competition in the market,” Mr De Mattia said.
