The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Marketplace => Topic started by: tizaala on April 05, 2012, 06:55:38 am
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Found this site that might be useful for getting rid of small quantities of rarebreed wool .
http://www.organicpurewool.co.uk/fleece.html (http://www.organicpurewool.co.uk/fleece.html)
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I wonder what organic folk do about flies - not Crovect presumably?
Watching my friends who have an organic, soil association inspected farm, it seems like a big deal......?
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Perhaps they keep organic flies!......... easycare = don't care.
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:D
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Perhaps they keep organic flies!......... easycare = don't care.
??? Are you saying organic producers don't care about the welfare of their animals tizaala?
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well i must rank in the don't care category we never treated or done prevention for flystrike last year
well why would i April was the good dry month last year and it did not dry up to march this year and bluebottles don't fly at these times of year o and the sheep are checked at least twice a day :farmer:
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Fleecewife, I'm sure he was saying that he didn't care about fly prevention methods, organic or not, since he keeps easy care sheep and so it's not a problem for him :-*
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No, I'm just having a dig at an "aquaintance" who's idea of "organic " is to go round picking up dead sheep rather than be there and help them lamb, and to leave his cows ringworm untreated , self shedding fleeces all over his grass etc, as the finacial return doesn't cover the cost of sheering.
So don't take my comments personaly.......
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Ah, yes I know an 'organic' farm like that too :P Dints your faith rather in what can be presented in a 'holier than thou' way.
Plus the two shearlings I bought at the York sale, which came from an 'organic' place were in very poor condition. So much so my nieghbour and my dad both said they didn't think they'd survive, when they saw what I'd bought. In fact with proper TLC they have come on well, one of them is the mum in my 'first lamb' pic.
Well anyway, I'm sure there are also good organic places and like a lot of us here, good low input places too :)
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It's actually an interesting discussion although probably not the right thread to discuss it on. We are not Organic in the official, inspected by the soil association way, but all our growing is done without harmful chemicals. Our animals however are a different matter. Partly there is no financial incentive to fork out masses of money for inspections but I decided early on that if I feel an animal needs a particular medicine then I'm going to give it rather than wait for permission from a 'body' somewhere down in England. We do use antibiotics if required, although we don't give them prophylactically. We do use wormers as required, following the recommendations of the Mordun Institute, which is the Scottish livestock research body. We do use anti-flystrike products (crovect).
I have seen a sheep keeper who thought he was doing the right thing by not using anti-flystrike products and his sheep were crawling with maggots. We eventually persuaded him that vaseline is not enough, especially when he couldn't catch the animals anyway. Whether that was because he was 'organic' or not I don't know, but 'Organic' should not be treated as meaning 'don't care' - it is a well-thought out and successful way of growing and raising food for human consumption, if its tenets are followed carefully - or so I believe.....
It would be interesting to have the opinion of someone who does raise their animals in a truly 'Organic' way (I hate the word 'organic' because most things on earth are fairly much organic with a slightly different meaning). I'm sure there are methods of good husbandry whereby livestock can be raised without any harmful medications or chemically treated feeds, on mixed farms with an holistic approach, and I would like to learn more about how that is done.
I commented tizaala because you made a huge generalisation - which may or may not be true.....
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Unfortunately the company selling the organic fleeces will not be interested....believe me I know having worked in the wool industry for a long while!
On the subject of organic....under proper organic conditions stuff such as crovect and Clik and wormers ARE allowed...but to treat a problem not just to prevent it...with flystrike its a bit different as you are allowed to use a product IF you suspect the conditions might precur strike happening.
Unfortunately there are those around who equate organic to non intervention and no drugs even when animal is ill....they are certainly not proper organic farmers but idiots!
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Couldn't agree more val, The same " farmer " I was having a pop at once let a ewe die after she drank old engine oil ( as they do ? ) that he left lying around, " cant get a vet out , I'm organic " was the excuse for non treatment.
Why is everyone on here just lateley so ready to defend themselves? is it the weather? or did I hit a nerve ?
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Lack of sleep?
I'm the worst for it, I read other peoples post and feel like the replies are aimed at me even though I haven't even joined in the discussion yet!
There was one recently on the rabbit bit about burning hutches or something and I was incensed! It took hubby ages to calm me down and remind me that it wasn't aimed at me ;D
I need a night of unbroken sleep, and I haven't even started lambing/kidding/calving or whatever it is when it's pigs doing it (pigging?) yet!
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Well, I'm not organic, but I don't use anti fly strike products either. But I do keep my sheep well wormed, so they don't have mucky backends and I keep a close eye on them in flystrike weather. It's actually quite easy to spot and treat those that have maggots while the maggots are still tiny and before they have got to the flesh eating stage.
But I do realise it's not as easy as that with large flocks spread over several acres - so please don't think I'm getting at anyone.
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"Farrowing " Collickeywoman, Pigs farrow, whether they are organic or not makes no difference they still farrow, Probably include a lot of mud in the deal so they are properly organic.
Whats with the Bunny Boiling ?
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Oh someone on here was narking at the sizes of someone elses rabbit runs or summat. I assumed in my ocd paranoid sleep deprived state that it was a personal dig at me (even thought I wasn't involved on said thread I don't think).
It was in answer to you question as to why peeps are defensive at the moment. I think most will be running on auto pilot and are absolutely knackered cos of lambing/ farrowing (every day a school day!) etc. I know it makes me defensive and the rest of the forum have far more to do than me, how they cope is a miracle!
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I find the comment about leaving fleeces from shedding sheep all over the place kind of odd.
Thats what happens with shedding sheep. Doesn't do anything any harm to have shed fleece about the place.
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OK Steve, so the fleece is left on the grass which then gets made into hay , haylage, silage and it is then fed to your animals , goats, horses , cows etc, the wool then gathers in the animal's stomach causing a blockage, needing an opperation , which it might or might not survive but you will certainly have to pay for......Starting to get the picture ?
I'm begining to wish I'd never posted about the outlet for your fleeces, I thought i was doing some people a favour and all i'm getting is flack. sod it, this is market place not a debating forum.
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OK Steve, so the fleece is left on the grass which then gets made into hay , haylage, silage and it is then fed to your animals , goats, horses , cows etc, the wool then gathers in the animal's stomach causing a blockage, needing an opperation , which it might or might not survive but you will certainly have to pay for......Starting to get the picture ?
I'm begining to wish I'd never posted about the outlet for your fleeces, I thought i was doing some people a favour and all i'm getting is flack. sod it, this is market place not a debating forum.
If that actually happened, I doubt anyone would keep any of the shedding breeds. It rots/gets picked up by birds etc. Its wool not nylon.
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Tizaala, it was useful and I'm going to apologise here because maybe I started the problem wondering outloud about the organic side of fleeces and what such folk did to treat flies. I was actually interested because I'm about to need to treat my Shetlands whose fleeces I want to spin, but it was probably that that started all the woffle...... :-[
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Steve , I know at least two people with horses that have ended up with huge vet bills because of this . I have to examine the haylage bought in for my arabs very closely after finding lumps of wool in the first bale that we opened. I does rot , but not quickly , It tends to ball up in a soggy lump just waiting for the unwary. And this is a problem that will get worse as farmers go over to easycare sheep driven by cost of sheering and the price they get for wool, economics. So, doubt away , I know it happens.
No problem Jaykay, you weren't to know that particular scab was not ready for picking.