AWEX-ID

This site uses AWEX-ID for the appraisal and description of the non-measured characteristics of your wool. A price estimate is determined by combining the AWEX-ID with the objective measurements (test results).

Note that Woolcheque does not use all possible codes (such as the VM type) from AWEX's published AWEX-ID type table. Download a full AWEX-ID table. (PDF 66Kb)

For the purposes of easy data-entry on this site, the AWEX-ID has been split into three parts, namely PRIME, STYLE, and QUALIFIERS.

PRIME codes represent the main characteristics of the wool, consisting of the Breed and Wool category. This categorises your wool into a range of broad-based types: e.g. MF (Merino Fleece), MP (Merino Pieces), etc.

 

Prime Code Description Comments
MF Merino fleece Adult fleece.
XF Crossbred fleece
MWF Merino weaner fleece Combing weaners (50mm and longer). Generally the result of a first shearing of young sheep. Will usually have a spiral tip, thin staple, and will often be irregular in length and strength.
XWF Crossbred weaner fleece
MP Merino pieces Merino skirtings containing sweat and frib points.
XP Crossbred pieces
MB Merino bellies Belly wool. Lines containing mixed pieces and bellies should also be appraised as Bellies.
XB Crossbred bellies
MLF Merino lambs fleece Carding lambs (50mm and less) Wool from young sheep up to 6 months of age. Identified by its short spiral tip, with the visual appearance of single staples.
XLF Crossbred lambs fleece
MC Merino crutchings All crutchings, including stain-crutching types.
XC Crossbred crutchings
MZ Merino locks Includes table locks, as well as stained locks.
XZ Crossbred locks

 

STYLE codes are a ranking scale related to the visual appearance of your wool. AWEX-ID normally utilises 7 styles from highest (1) to lowest (7), however this site restricts you to only entering style in the range from 3 (Spinners) to 7 (Inferior/Stain).  

Style 5 is the most widely used style within Australia. Style 4 types are usually grown in the higher rainfall areas, while drought affected wool containing medium-to-heavy amounts of dust will typically be appraised as a style 6.

The following table attempts to describe each Fleece style according to its visual characteristics.

Style Density Character (Crimp Definiti-
on) 		Length Regular-
ity 		Tip type Visual Colour Visual Dust Pene-
tration of staple 		Indi-
cative yield range
3
Spinners 		Dense Good Good Square White Light 76% -
86%
4
Best 		Good Good Good Square, some tippiness White, Some Cream Unscourable Light (5-10%) 69% -
79%
5
Good 		Good, Some Thinness Good, Fair Some variation All Good Creamy Unscourable Light Medium (8-25%) 62% -
73%
6
Average 		Increasing thinness Good, Fair, Poor Some variation All Good Creamy Unscourable Medium Heavy (25-60%) 53% -
63%
7
Inferior 		Thin Wasty Open Good, Fair, Poor Some variation All Good Creamy Unscourable Heavy (60%+) 30% -
55%

 

QUALIFIER codes are optional and are used when certain characteristics are visually present in your wool. It is common for a line of wool to have no qualifiers, so do not feel compelled to add these to your AWEX-ID. Characteristics covered by the qualifiers include those in the table below.

Qualifier Description Comments
H1 Light/odd unscourable colour Refers to colour that is not able to be removed by normal scouring, and includes canary stain. It is not applied where the colour is a scourable 'creamy' colour.
H2 Medium unscourable colour
H3 Heavy unscourable colour
C1 Light/odd cott Used when cotted (or matted) wool is present in the wool.
C2 Medium/Soft cott
C3 Heavy cott
A1 Light/odd dermatitis Usually seen in the wool as odd sticks of pencil dermatitis. H1 or H2 is also often present in these lines.
A2 Medium dermatitis
J1 Odd jowl Refers to cotted wool removed from the lower jaw and upper front neck. Most often found in pieces lines.
R1 Light/odd brand Used when sheep brands are still clearly evident at shearing, particularly on short wool.
S1 Light/odd dark stain Urine and dung stain on pieces, bellies, locks and crutchings. S2 and S3 must be appraised using style 7.
S2 Medium dark stain
S3 Heavy dark stain
Q1 Light/odd dag Can be used in conjunction with dark stain qualifiers.
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