Corriedale breeder Mike Deppeler with his top of the crossbred catalogue certificate from Fox & Lillie Rural.

CERTIFIED non-mulesed crossbred wool producers are enjoying significant premiums for their clips, and especially for lines with low variation in diameter.

Condah Croydon Corriedale breeder Mike Deppeler was happy to top the Fox and Lillie Rural’s Melbourne crossbred catalogue last week with a price 935c/kg greasy (1262c/kg clean) for his 10-bale line of 25.1 micron wool from mixed age Croydon ewes.

“This would be the best price I’ve ever had, but it has never been 25.1 micron before either.”

Mr Deppeler estimates his clip was 0.5 micron finer than last year due to genetic selection and the season.

He said with the infusion of New Zealand Corriedale genetics and selection the clip’s average diameter has come down from around 28 micron over the past 20 years.

The top-priced 10-bale AAACD line yielded 74.1pc with a vegetable matter content of 0.4pc and a coefficient of variation in diameter of 23pc and a comfort factor of 81.2pc. The Croydon flock has been RWS-certified for three years. Mr Deppeler said the 935c/kg price was about 400 cents higher than his previous highest price.

Fox & Lillie brokerage and technical manager Eamon Timms said finer crossbred clips are enjoying significant lifts in price, especially for wool with a low coefficient of variation in diameter (COVD).

“Low COVD lots are worth 200-250 cents clean higher than the loose CVD lots.”

This applied to lots with a CVD under 23pc, but especially to sub-22pc lines, with fewer coarser fibres, enabling them to be blended with Merino wool for a better top, Mr Timms said.

Premiums for Responsible Wool Standard-certified crossbred clips has varied between 70-120c/kg on a greasy basis. However, Mr Timms said the RWS non-mulesed premiums also seemed to increase as crossbred clips broadened in micron.

“It probably shows there is a shortage (of RWS-certified wool).”

This could be due to non-mulesed crossbred clips being difficult to find, or that some NM crossbred clips are not yet certified, he said.