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Grower Services
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Traditionally raw wool test houses have confined their grower services to the provision of presale auction certification, private sales test reports and certificates, and laboratory-based fleece testing. Presale auction and private sale certification are detailed in Trading Certification and Greasy wool tests. Both of these services rely on sampling which is either carried out or supervised by test house staff and complying with the requirements of IWTO Regulations and the NZ National Council of Wool Interests. Further information on wool sampling can be found in Info-bulletin 5.12. Rapid yield and private test reports are provided to the same standard of laboratory testing, but the samples are provided by clients, or by sampling in a situation which does not fully comply with all the regulations. Since 1999, partly prompted by the availability of Internet selling services, growers have expressed a strong interest in having sampling carried out on farm. SGS has employed and trained a number of samplers who are equipped to carry out On-site weighing and sampling under tightly-controlled circumstances. These services are independently audited by IANZ. Under specific circumstances, such samples may be suitable for the provision of certified test results. Laboratory fleece testing is normally provided as an independent service, in which fleece samples selected from individual animals (be they sheep, goats, alpaca, or other) and sent in by growers are measured by rapid and cost-effective methods. The primary intent of this service is to give the grower information that allows them to select animals for culling or breeding. During the 2000-2001 wool season, SGS-WTS became the agent for use of the OFDA2000 length-diameter instrument in New Zealand. This instrument is specifically designed as a portable device for carrying out on-farm fleece testing. Although the agency agreement with IWG Pty Ltd has now ended, SGS-WTS continue to provide a full range of services on-farm. Growers who wish to receive our newsletter may contact us. Our full range of fleece testing services are described in the on-farm fleece (PDF 1.41 MB) brochure. |
