A team of Texas A&M AgriLife Research (AgriLife) scientists is evaluating the new FibreLux—a field-friendly, reasonably priced fiber measurement tool—and comparing its results with that of the OFDA2000, which has been used for several years and has the confidence of the industry for accuracy in measuring greasy or raw wool for average fiber diameter, according to AgriLife Today.
The FibreLux is small, portable and sells for around $2,000. The much larger OFDA2000 sells for about $75,000.
“Both were developed as field units to give wool producers an easy, accurate way to determine average fiber diameter of raw wool staples,” said Dr. Ronald Pope, AgriLife Research scientist. “But the OFDA2000 can be sensitive to transport since it has several moving parts that must stay in alignment to operate. And the OFDA2000 measures and calculates more attributes than average fiber diameter, whereas the FibreLux computes only average fiber diameter.”
But average fiber diameter is the only measurement important to most producers, Pope said, because diameter fineness of individual wool fibers largely determines the value of the fiber. The finer the fleece, the better the wool and the better the wool, the higher its price.