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PBA Fiber Study, Part 2 Fiber
Study Report
- by Chris
Utterback When I first proposed the fiber study to the PBA Board I had three goals in mind. My first goal was to establish some objective findings that would help with classifying Pygora fiber types. My second goal was to establish some basic information about Pygora fiber that would help us compete in the exotic fiber market. I hoped the study would give us information to help buyers compare Pygora to the other exotic fibers. My third goal was to help any of PBA’s members that might be interested understand fiber reports. They could then use the reports as one more tool when choosing breeding stock. PBA funded the study with $750. so we were able to use 57 goats in this first study. (41 senior animals, 16 juniors, (no animals under a year were used)/ 6 bucks, 42 does, and 9 wethers). The fleece was subjectively classified into fleece types before it was sent to Yocum McColl. There were 7 type “A”, 35 type “B”, and 15 type “C”. Granted, 57 samples is not a very big sample but it is a very important start. There were two categories of reports from Yocum McColl. One was for fiber 5 to 300 microns, a second category was for fiber 30 microns and less. I have used the results from the 5 to 300 micron fibers for this report to you because I wanted to report on all fibers a Pygora goat can produce and not just the finest fiber. As with any research project, you never know where the information will take you when you start. Goal 1, objective findings for fiber testing. My hopes of coming up with a numerical “magic” number to help the registrar, objectively classify Pygora into “A”, “B”, or “C” was not as successful as I had hoped. As I said, the fiber samples had been subjectively fiber typed before they were sent in to Yocum McColl. All the fleece that was sent to me for the study went to Yocom McColl so there was no fiber to compare with the reports that were sent back. Luckily, there was a breeder who still had the rest of the fleece from their study goats. This was invaluable because it allowed us to compare the fiber with the numbers from the tests. The category that came closest to providing a standard for classifying Pygora into types was average curvature. Average curvature is how “crimpy”, or wavy the fiber is. They actually take a 2-millimeter sample and look at the degree of curves in the fiber. The greater the degree of curve per millimeter, the finer the crimp. The results showed that the average curvature for type “A” was 17.76: type “B” was 25.81: and type “C” was 35.78, but the numbers are not consistent enough yet to make a definite statement that would let the registrar use set up a range of results for each fiber type. Guard
hair /
medullated
fibers. The medualted fiber report tells the number of all fibers in a sample that have a hollow core. This includes the silky and the coarse guard hair. To get the results for the medullated fiber report, 10,000 fibers of each sample are looked at and the number of medullated ones are counted. So the results are so many guard hairs per 10,000, the lower the number, the higher the yield of top grade product. This test can only be done on white or cream colored fleece because the test is done by shining a light through the fiber to find those that have the hollow core. The light will not shine through colored fiber. The average result for type “A” was 474 medullated fibers: type “B” 855: type “C” 190. As you can see, type “B” has by far the most guard hair. (There was only 1 type “C” that was tested because all the other type “C”s were colored. This animal may not be typical. It had a great yield with only a few guard hairs, but until we test more type “C” animals we can’t really use this information to describe type “C” fleece in general.) A sub-report of the medullated fiber report was “objectionable fibers”, again measured per 10,000 fibers. Objectionable fibers are those medullated fibers that are visible to the naked eye and are chalky and don’t take dye. This test, like the medulated fiber report can only done on white or cream fleece. A small number shows that the fiber had a higher yield of fine fiber. There were less prickly fibers. This means the sample will be softer. The mean number of objectionable fibers for all Pygora fiber types was 417 per 10,000. The individual results were: for type “A”, 170: for type “B”, 529. Remember, there was only 1 type “C” fleece that was tested for objectionable fibers and the result was 32. The type “A” goats were fairly consistent with results from 112 to 210 objectional fibers per 10,000. The type “B” goats were much less consistent with values from 17 to 1351. Most of them were between 100 to 700 but still, a very large variation. This makes it difficult to use this information as a test for classifying fiber types. Again, only 1 type “C” was tested. We need more information. It may turn out that this particular goat is the exception rather than the rule. We need to test more goats. Goal 2, help PBA members compete in the exotic fiber market. Micron count: how fine is the fiber. The smaller the number, the finer the fiber. Yocum McColl reported the micron count as “average fiber diameter”. The first thing asked by most exotic fiber buyers is micron count. We can now play the numbers game with real test results. Bottom line? In general, most adult Pygora, regardless of fiber type, runs within the kid mohair whose average is 26.7 with a standard deviation of 7.3. As a matter of fact, many of the samples had comments from the testers that said “typical kid mohair”. We can also look at Pygora compared to cashmere. The average fiber diameter for cashmere is 16.5 microns with a standard deviation of 3 microns. (This means that the micron count could be as low as 13.5 or as high as 19.5). Only a few type”C” pygoras tested this fine. Average fiber diameter for the combined fiber types of Pygora was 27.02. Remember, the average age of the study Pygoras was 4.4 years. This is important to note because all fiber gets coarser an animal ages. Typical adult mohair is 34 microns. Only 3 goats in the study tested this high. Individual average counts for Type ”A” is, 29.35, SD of 3.93: Type “B” is, 27.58, SD of 3.76: Type “C” is, 24.87, SD 3.1. As you can see, in general, adult Pygora tests as fine, or finer than, kid mohair. Comfort factor was also measured. Comfort factor is an objective number that reports how much of the fiber in the sample is soft, under 30 microns and how much is prickly, over 30 microns. (The number of fibers over 30 microns is subtracted from 100.) The higher the comfort factor the softer the fiber, 100 being perfect. There was no information on typical comfort factors for cashmere or mohair. The average comfort factor for Pygora was 80.36 for all fiber types. Type “A” had the lowest at 68.37, type “B” was 79.4, and type “C” was 88.2. It may seem backwards to see a better comfort factor for type “C” rather than type “A”, since we all know, type “C” has very course guard hairs. I think the reason is that many type “A” Pygoras have an average micron count close to 30, so their whole fleece, for the sake of this calculation, is put in the prickle column. This shows why you can’t just judge a fleece by the numbers. Now for the bad news, there is lot of variation among the samples of Pygora, even within the fiber types. Type ”A” average fiber diameter went from 24.54 to 35.13. The comfort factor went from a high of 87.65 to a very low 34.85. Average fiber diameter between type “B” fiber goes from a high of 34.87 to a low of 21.13. Comfort factor runs from a high of 92.89 to a low of 51.42. Type “C” micron counts go from 19.26 to 28.89. The comfort factor goes from 96.79 to a low of 80.48. Goal 3, give breeders another tool when choosing breeding stock. The results of the fiber testing tests can give breeders one more way to help them choose which genes to put together. The tests point out deficiencies and strengths in the fiber of each individual animal so the breeder can more easily choose an animal that will improve their herd. That said, we can’t rely totally on fiber tests to give us the answers to choosing breeding stock. Besides conformation, there is still the very important and subjective “handle” or feel of the fiber that must be considered. What a fiber person feels when they touch a fleece is something gained after years of working with fleece. It is a feel that will tell them what to expect from a certain fleece, how it will work up, and how to use it. It is an important factor and must never be ignored. Of coarse, you can’t sell “feel” over the Internet, and this is what makes objective testing so important. My opinion: As I already explained, the results of Pygora fiber testing showed that Pygora fiber really is as wonderful as we thought. The problem is, the results are not very consistent yet. I believe if the Pygora is going to compete in the competitive exotic fiber market, we need to test our breeding stock, especially our bucks, and make them conform to standards and remove those that are out of line. Animals with high micron counts and-or low comfort factor for example. Breeders should more and more move to select breeding stock that has been tested. Even better, the parents test results should be looked at. By choosing only animals that can help you reach that magic number of not more than 26.7 microns and have high comfort factors, and low number of medullated fibers will quickly improve the Pygora breed. (Remember, comfort factor is simply the percentage of fibers over 30 microns subtracted from 100%. Fiber over 30 microns has a stiff feel and is usually not used next to the skin. Fiber over 30 microns is still useful for projects that require more strength but it usually sells for less money.) Also, remember, in general, as any animal ages the fiber gets more coarse and more guard hair gets produced which is why getting tests on the parents of kids before you buy is a good idea. If breeders will spend the small fee for the fiber tests, they and PBA will reap the rewards. Other breeds have improved quality through selective breeding and so can we. You don’t have to be a breeder to get value out of fiber testing. I think that anyone who is selling fiber will help their sales by displaying fiber reports on their sale fiber. Before I close, I want to really thank my two committee members, Lisa Roskopf and Lisa Zietz, for taking time out of their busy days to come to some long sessions with a lot of numbers and graphs. They graciously and unselfishly contributed their expertise in evaluating the reports. Thank you both !!
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