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> Wool is a free by-product

I can't believe how common this erroneous view is. Sheep reared for wool were bred specifically for the quality of their wool. Those that produce the best wool are not used for their meat. Wool is not a free by-product of anything, it is the product.

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If we look at breeds or volume, wool breeds accounted for roughly a third. If you look at meat breeds that account for the majority of sheep, the majority has medium quality wool. For such breeds, shearing is a necessity. So that carries the weight that it is a free by-product, in general.

>Those that produce the best wool are not used for their meat

You can eat delicious merinos. If anything, you could see their meat as a free by-product. Same caveat applies, meat processing is not cheap.

I think the erroneous view is just how things work unless you look at luxury/high grade market, which obey fundamentally different economics.

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