Description
Fade Away Scourable Wool Marker
Wool marking sprays threaten processing – a collaborative solution to the problem.
After hearing ongoing reports from the NZ Wool Industry about the problems farmers have with their wool clips in regards to stained wool from wool marking sprays, and the National Council of New Zealand Wool Interests Incorporated taking out full page advertising aimed at ALL NZ WOOLGROWERS with a clear message that “wool with raddle and spray markings cannot be scoured and has NO VALUE”, my company AHD Ltd went about finding a solution to the problem.
“Wool classers can remove stained wool before it reaches the market”, says Bruce Abbot, National association executive director.1
“Staining on wool must be stamped out at source – on farms”, says Nigel Hales, New Zealand Woolscouring Chief Executive.2
Working in conjunction with Chemz, a local aerosol company, we scientifically developed and tested a fading, Fade Away Scourable Wool Marker formulation. We then trialled the product on several properties, on 360 sheep, and with the support from CP Wools and Kells Wool perfected the formulation.
The outcome is Fade Away Scourable Wool Marker. The blemish on the wool is scourable (independently tested through a wool scouring plant) leaving little to no trace of tainting of foreign contamination.
Fade Away sits on top of the wool and is not absorbed into the fibre. What colour does creep into the fibres is scourable, unlike other spray wool markers on the market that stain even further if the fleece gets wet. Fadeaway does not behave in the same manner.
Fade Away Scourable Wool Marker has shown to last up to 5 months on the fleece allowing plenty of time to identify marked stock.
Fade Away has been developed by New Zealand companies for New Zealand farmers, has been approved for use by MPI and is proudly distributed by AHD Ltd 1229 Maraekakaho Road Hastings Hawke’s Bay.
Fade Away is available from your local rural outlet or veterinarian.
Richard Kettle
Managing Director
AHD Ltd
References
1 Farmers weekly 1 November 2019 – Spray markers can cripple wool prices
2 Farmers weekly 7 November 2019 – Wool stains could stop processing
Understanding the properties of wool
Dry wool will absorb up to 30% of its own weight of moisture. Because of its chemical structure wool absorbs dye readily, the dye accessibly is due to the abundance of the orthocortex (Inner fibre structure) material which absorbs dyes between the macrofibrils of the orthocortex.
Fadeaway contains an ingredient to reduce dye penetration into the wool’s inner fibre. This ingredient offers protection properties so the wool fibre on one hand repels the Fadeaway application while allowing it to settle on the top of the outer fibre and keep the integrity of the products visibility.
