Dee Dee writes:
<<I've been chatting with a Shetland breeder who has told me the
following:
'the outer coat is only there until the first shearing.'>>
Well, that's a new one on me, though of course we've only had our
Shetlands for 2 1/2 years or so now.
My experience and information from other breeders has been there are
generally two types of Shetland wool. One (sometimes referred to as the
primitive style) is double coated. The undercoat may not be very
obvious because it's quite short and sparse, or it may be very evident
because it's long and plentifu. Many, of course, fall in between those
extremes. In either case, the animal has that double coating every
year, and the undercoat is quite a bit finer and crimpier than the
outercoat.
The other main type of Shetland wool (other than crosses between animals
of these two types of wool) is sometimes referred to as the modern or UK
style of wool. This wool is generally shorter and crimpier, and usually
softer, than primitive wool. I haven't worked with this wool yet, but
I've heard it's both silky and soft. There don't seem to be many US
breeders of this kind of wool, but it's common in the UK.
These are very general rules of thumb. As more and more importations of
UK Shetland semen is used on US ewes, I'm sure the types of wool
available in the US will change quite a bit.
Of course, wool generally coarsens with age, and Shetlands are
particularly prone to change coat color in the first year. But I've
never heard of the undercoat disappearing after the first shearing.
Holly
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