RED DEER – A devalued lambskin is often the result of careless management.
Insect scars, urine stains, manure balls and seed damage are some of the common problems a Colorado pelt trader sees every year.
“If you can keep the animal clean, it is a big plus,” Richard Grossman told the Alberta Sheep Symposium held in Red Deer on Nov. 17. His family’s company trades about one million pelts a year.
The most valuable skins are those with a double face where one side is suede and the other is white wool. These are sold to Turkey and made into sheepskin coats.
Read Also
Dry summer conditions can lead to poor water quality for livestock
Drought conditions in the Prairies has led to an decrease in water quality, and producers are being advised to closely monitor water quality for their animals.
“Whenever double-faced coats are in vogue, we get a good price,” he said.
He expects a good demand from Turkey this winter and predicts heavy discounts for poor quality pelts.
Lambskin with the wool left on is also used for shoe linings and paint rollers.
There is real money to be made with high-quality pelts. Unfortunately, Grossman said he does not always see high quality coming from Canada.
The first problem is cockle damage caused by insects biting the skin during the winter. A rough scar results and devalues the skin. An insect control program on the farm and at the feedlot is necessary to cure this.
“This is a big problem we have with the northern states and Canadian skins in particular,” he said.
A second complaint is seed damage. Spear grass, anise and other grasses have sharp seeds that work through the wool like corkscrews and embed in the skin. White spots appear when the skin is tanned. This discounted leather is often used for shoe linings.
“These linings are available worldwide for very little money.”
Many pelt buyers prefer white wool without lanolin or urine stains. While colored sheep are popular among wool spinners and weavers, tanners do not want them.
Hair sheep pelts are also less valuable, although South African tanners use them for high quality leather.
Problems with pelts go beyond the farm.
It is not uncommon for a feedlot lamb to rub wool off its shoulders as it struggles to get its head through a fence to reach the feed bunk. This constant rubbing leaves a callus on the shoulder area as large as a man’s hand that has to be cut away by the tannery.
Careless skinning at the packing plant leaves cuts in the pelt.
Grossman said he had to throw away 17 percent of the hides he received from Western Canada in 1998 due to skinning damage. The average level of damage is around two percent.
While many lamb producers don’t know what their pelts are worth, the final price they receive for their animals lists the pelt credit, which varies from 10 to 20 percent of the total value of the animal.
Some packers return that information to producers, while others do not.
