Жүн балаусасының стандарты және тарихы

Standardized pack of compressed wool
A wool bale is a standard sized and weighted pack of classed wool compressed by the mechanical means of a wool press. This is the regulation required method of packaging for wool, to keep it uncontaminated and readily identifiable. A "bale of wool" is also the standard trading unit for wool on the wholesale national and international markets. The minimum weight of a bale is as of January 2016.

Packaging of wool has not changed much for centuries except that the early wool packs were made from jute, prior to the use of synthetic fibres. Jute packs were relatively heavy, weighing several kilograms each. In the 1960s polypropylene and high density polyethylene packs were manufactured and used to make wool bales. Loose fibres from these packs caused contamination of the wool in the bale and led to nylon becoming the regulation fabric used in Australia. In South Africa woven paper was tested but discontinued in 1973 due to poor wet strength and high cost. Regulation standard white nylon packs now have a label sewn onto the top flap of the wool pack for inclusion of the farm brand, wool description, bale number, woolclasser stencil number and bin code. Each bale of wool packs contains 50 packs that measure x and have flaps.

Very early wool presses were made from wood boards and had a wire winch mechanism to compress the wool and also hollow logs where the wool was tramped into a pack. During the late 19th century various forms of wooden wool press became the standard. Most popular models were the Koerstz and the Ferrier. The Koerstz was a smaller press than the Ferrier. The Ferrier press was manufactured under license by Humble & Nicholson (later Humble & Sons), Geelong, Victoria, and they had sold 2,000 presses between about 1871 and 1918. These presses were distributed throughout Australia, but were also sent overseas to New Zealand, South America, and North Africa. The most popular wool press in New Zealand was the Donalds Wool Press which was manufactured under patent. The steel Ajax wool presses were also used. Wool pressing with a manual wool press was hard, tiring work that required tramping the wool into a box and then pressing it further with a manually operated lever activated cable. Nowadays power operated, self pinning wool presses with inbuilt scales have made a major contribution to shearing shed productivity.

Pressing and branding are typically carried out by a wool presser in the larger shearing sheds. In small sheds, the pressing may be done by the woolclasser, wool handler or sheep owner. A wool presser may perform the combined duties of wool pressing and penning up the sheep for the shearers. The latter arrangement means less interruption to the flow of the wool across the table and into the wool bins. The presser is responsible for completing the wool book and then branding the bale head and face with the owner's brand, contents description, number and wool classer ID. to merino wool winter skirts. There are about 80 brokers and agents throughout Australia. The traditionally displayed bales of wool on the floor are opened for examination by the brokers, buyers and wool growers. The sale by sample lots will have their grab samples displayed in boxes across the show floor. Catalogues are prepared by the woolbroker, listing all test and other details of each lot of wool. A valuation of every lot, based on current market rates, is also made by the brokers' staff, this being used by the growers as a guideline for the subsequent auction. The lots are sold by nominating each lot in turn and it is sold by open cry auction. After the wool is sold at auction the bales are usually "dumped", i. e. compressed to a higher density, still in the original wool bale, for shipment to overseas mills in containers. Three bales that have been dumped and secured with a metal band are known as a "tri pack".