She Tortures Wool for a Living: Meet the Woman Helping Revive Commercial Wool Testing in the US

Voices in Wool with Clara Parkes

In 2020, the American wool industry lost an extremely important link in its production chain when the Yocom-McColl wool testing lab closed. That lab had been in operation for more than 50 years. And by the time it closed, it was our only remaining commercial wool testing lab in the country.

Why does this matter?

Because any kind of trade, whether it’s buying or selling of wool, requires accurate commercial measurements to know what you’re buying or selling. Testing for things like cleanliness. How much dirt is in this wool. How greasy is it? How fine is it? How great a variation is there between the finest and the roughest fibers? What am I really getting?

These are all important things to know because wool comes off a living, breathing animal. It doesn’t come out of a spigot, it’s not out of a test tube. It’s not an easily controlled substance, and there’s lots of variation.

When Yocom-McColl closed, American producers had to send their samples to New Zealand for testing. And while New Zealand has some extraordinary facilities for testing wool, and they can do it very quickly, they’re in New Zealand. Which is a long distance for wool to travel on a routine basis from the United States.

It would be easy to add this to the list of tragedies to befall the American wool industry, to point to it as another sign that everything is disappearing, but that’s not actually the case. Before Yocom-McColl even closed, industry stakeholders began working on a plan.
What’s involved in setting up a commercial wool testing lab anyway? What kind of equipment do you need, what barriers might you face, and why does any of this matter?

My guest today has very fresh experience trying to answer these questions. Dr. Dawn Brown is an obstetrician turned angora goat and sheep farmer turned mill owner who has recently stepped into what she calls a “bucket list” job opportunity. She is the manager of the new commercial wool testing lab that’s being added onto the Bill Sims Wool & Mohair Research Laboratory at Texas A&M’s Agrilife Research and Extension Center in San Angelo, Texas.

And by January 2022, the lab is set to be up and running. It will join the April, 2021 newcomer Wasatch Wool Laboratories in Midvale, Utah. The United States will go from no commercial wool testing to two labs.
We discuss how the lab in San Angelo came about, what she does at the lab (hint: it involves destroying lots of wool), how she managed to get $400,000 worth of equipment to Texas from Australia, and what her hopes are for the future—not only of the lab and wool testing but of wool in general.

Full transcript.

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