Marjorie writes: <<If you are referring to Shetlands, Shetland breeders prefer to call these the "outer coat".> snip < The outer fibers are not "hair", they are wool, and, even though they appear straight, they do have crimp.>>
I don't much care for the term 'guard hair', either, as it brings to mind images of camels and very scratchy fibers :) However, it's the most accurate term, as long as people understand that Shetland 'guard hair' isn't stiff and coarse and harsh. Technically the guard hair comes from primary follicles, as does the hair of luster longwool breeds. While the undercoat comes from secondary follicles, just as does the wool of finewool breeds. The structure of the guard hair or outer coat is hair-like, even if it has some wave that may seem like a loose crimp. I'm still trying to find information on just what makes the physical difference between hair and wool (other than the obvious stuff visible to the naked eye, like crimp), but one significant effect to those of us with natural colored sheep is that 'hair' fibers can have red pigment in them, while 'wool' or secondary fibers can only have black/brown pigment. So very hairy sheep (or hairy parts like faces and legs on wooly sheep) can have very reddish coat colors. In other words, don't knock the fact that, structurally, the outer coat of Shetlands (and Icelandics, Karakuls) is really hair :) Maybe someday we'll have a red Shetland who retains her color as a result. Holly To stop mail temporarily mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: set nomail To restore send: set mail
