Sorting the Fleece by Fibre Diameter: The Value Gained, the Labour Charged, and the Wage at Which Sorting Stops Paying

A fleece is not one material. Across a single sheep, and more across a flock, fibre diameter spreads widely enough that the fine portion could serve against skin while the coarse portion belongs in a rug, and selling the whole as one lot prices every kilogram at a discount for the worst of it. Sorting is the obvious remedy and the obvious cost: experienced hands, working slowly. This paper computes both sides from a stated diameter distribution and stated grade prices, deriving the premium that sorting captures per clean kilogram and the hourly wage at which the labour of sorting exactly consumes it. In the computed results, the fine pct is 22.1; the medium pct is 42.9; the coarse pct is 35; the sorted revenue per clean kg is 8.88; the unsorted revenue per clean kg is 7.8. Sort when the labour available costs less than the computed break-even wage, and do not sort when it costs more. The study is simulated, not measured; all inputs are stated assumptions, printed in the accompanying computation, which readers may replace with their own values and re-run.