The study was conducted using about 93 000 records from the Swedish Sheep Recording Scheme (SRS) during the years 1983, 1985 and 1987. Fleece characteristics studied were: colour of fleece, size of curl, scores for colour, curl distribution and firmness, quality of hair and hair density. Litter size and age of lamb at assessment influenced almost all the fleece traits, and this was consistent over the years. The heritabilities of the fleece characteristics varied between 0.11 and 0.62. No genetic relationships were found between lamb weight at assessment and fleece characteristics. Breeding for heavier lambs can therefore be done without impairing the fleece quality. No unfavourable genetic correlations between the fleece traits were found. The results suggest that the reliability of the fleece inspection from a genetic point of view has not changed much over the last 20 years, although the fleece characteristics have been improved considerably during this period.