California Wool Classing School

The focus of the school is to provide the U.S. sheep industry with trained wool classers who can assist in improving the quality of the domestic wool clip, which is imperative to American wool becoming more competitive and available in the international as well as domestic markets.

Some of the topics to be covered include wool fiber growth, objective measurement of wool, genetic selection programs, wool contamination, handling practices and packaging, labeling and marking. To fine tune the skill of wool classing, students will work with a very experienced wool classer who works in most of the western states during shearing season and handles a wide variety of wool.

The cost of the classing school is $140 per student. The fee includes all educational materials, a wool resource notebook, wool samples and a wool handling and shearing DVD and covers the cost of the facility.A wool education coordinator for the American Sheep Industry Association, will be leading the course.

Wool science 101, factors determining wool value, basics of wool handling and wool quality improvement programs are topics that will be covered on the first day of the training. The second/third days provides hands-on activities including shearing site set-up, fleece preparation, classing skirting and fleece comparisons.