The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: mowhaugh on May 25, 2015, 08:43:38 pm
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I have someone coming to clip my Kerry Hills and Angus and William's shetlands tomorrow (I asked OH to do them now, earlier than everything else, and he made a rude gesture!), and I am hoping I might be able to sell or at least find homes that will be appreciative of, the shetland fleece.
What I'd like advice, please, on is what I actually do with them tomorrow - how do I store them, what in? Thanks in advance!
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only a beginner as far as selling fleece, but from the few experiences I have had so far......
Make sure all dirty bits from around the back end are pulled off.
Make sure the fleece is rolled correctly. (my goodness they moan if its not)
I bag mine individually in large pillowcases, seem to have an endless supply of them out of relatives houses!
I tag each bag with breed of sheep, age, date of shearing and the ewes name so I know who its from!
Keep in a cool, dry place.
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Thank you!
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Can I add a wee bit to that?
# First off lay your fleece out somewhere very clean (new tarp) in the sun, cut side up, for half an hour to dry. Sheep are quite sweaty and damp fleece stores badly.
# Crawl round the whole fleece and pick off all the daggy and draggly bits. As well as the backside, the neck wool is often completely full of old hay trash, so if it is, just pull the whole bit off, wool and all - it's never going to be workable if it's bad.
# You might as well check the staple quality while you're there. Take out a small staple of wool (a bit which is held together by the tips). Hold each end tightly in your hands, hold it near your ear, then snap your hands apart. This should make a nice twang. If the sound is soggy, and the staple tries to pull apart, you have a weak staple which won't sell. It could just be that the shearer has shorn below the 'rise' so check it carefully.
# Lay your fleece cut side down, make it as neatly oblong as possible, fold in a third along each side, then roll up from the tail end towards the neck. For fleece for selling, don't do this tightly (as you would for the BWMB) as when a hand spinner looks at the fleece they will want to open it up, and for it to be light and lofty. I don't twist and wrap the neck wool round the bundle, as the neck wool can be really fine, and twisting it makes it more difficult to prepare for spinning.
# I store mine in new woven polypropylene sacks - you sometimes get these with feed in - turn them inside out before using. Pillow cases are great too for smallish fleeces, anything with absolutely no access for clothes moths. Stuff your fleece in neatly and tie very tightly at the neck. Never use polythene bags.
#Hang up in a dry, cool place with a through draught, no sun as this degrades the polypropylene. Never store bags of fleece on a floor, or anywhere damp.
When people are viewing your fleece, whether at your home or elsewhere, they will probably want to unroll it for a proper look. I'm in two minds about this: I would always want to examine any fleece carefully, but a fleece which is unrolled more than, say, three times is going to start falling apart, so think how to deal with that. Other buyers are happy just to squeeze the sack and take a small staple from the top of the bag to look for quality.
There are a lot of Shetland fleeces out there for sale, so you may have difficulty finding buyers, but don't give up.
Have a close look at your Kerry Hills too, especially any first shears. That's far more unusual, bigger too, so if you have some good ones it would be worth hawking a couple of those around with the Shetlands.
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Can I add a wee bit to that?
# I store mine in new woven polypropylene sacks - you sometimes get these with feed in - turn them inside out before using. Pillow cases are great too for smallish fleeces, anything with absolutely no access for clothes moths. Stuff your fleece in neatly and tie very tightly at the neck. Never use polythene bags.
#Hang up in a dry, cool place with a through draught, no sun as this degrades the polypropylene. Never store bags of fleece on a floor, or anywhere damp.
I bought my polypropylene sacks on eBay when Fleecewife advised this info previously. Everything looks quite professional, all labeled up, in matching sacks :)
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Can I add a wee bit to that?
# First off lay your fleece out somewhere very clean (new tarp) in the sun, cut side up, for half an hour to dry. Sheep are quite sweaty and damp fleece stores badly.
# Crawl round the whole fleece and pick off all the daggy and draggly bits. As well as the backside, the neck wool is often completely full of old hay trash, so if it is, just pull the whole bit off, wool and all - it's never going to be workable if it's bad.
# You might as well check the staple quality while you're there. Take out a small staple of wool (a bit which is held together by the tips). Hold each end tightly in your hands, hold it near your ear, then snap your hands apart. This should make a nice twang. If the sound is soggy, and the staple tries to pull apart, you have a weak staple which won't sell. It could just be that the shearer has shorn below the 'rise' so check it carefully.
# Lay your fleece cut side down, make it as neatly oblong as possible, fold in a third along each side, then roll up from the tail end towards the neck. For fleece for selling, don't do this tightly (as you would for the BWMB) as when a hand spinner looks at the fleece they will want to open it up, and for it to be light and lofty. I don't twist and wrap the neck wool round the bundle, as the neck wool can be really fine, and twisting it makes it more difficult to prepare for spinning.
# I store mine in new woven polypropylene sacks - you sometimes get these with feed in - turn them inside out before using. Pillow cases are great too for smallish fleeces, anything with absolutely no access for clothes moths. Stuff your fleece in neatly and tie very tightly at the neck. Never use polythene bags.
#Hang up in a dry, cool place with a through draught, no sun as this degrades the polypropylene. Never store bags of fleece on a floor, or anywhere damp.
When people are viewing your fleece, whether at your home or elsewhere, they will probably want to unroll it for a proper look. I'm in two minds about this: I would always want to examine any fleece carefully, but a fleece which is unrolled more than, say, three times is going to start falling apart, so think how to deal with that. Other buyers are happy just to squeeze the sack and take a small staple from the top of the bag to look for quality.
There are a lot of Shetland fleeces out there for sale, so you may have difficulty finding buyers, but don't give up.
Have a close look at your Kerry Hills too, especially any first shears. That's far more unusual, bigger too, so if you have some good ones it would be worth hawking a couple of those around with the Shetlands.
Thanks Fleecewife, brilliant post, just the info I needed now that my shearer has been today :wave:
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Only just seen this, so apols for not replying sooner.
Not that FW didn't already tell you everything you need to know! :D
Give me a shout if you want some pointers or help marketing them. (Best Ravelry groups, and so on. Plus I have contacts in some of your local spinning groups/guilds, if you don't.)
Ravellers love to see pics of fleeces, so if you haven't got all of them wrapped and bagged already, take a few 'lock shots' ;)
As FW says, there will be quite a lot of Shetland fleeces about, and they're not all very special ;) - but if yours are anything like as nice as Chad's would be (if he hadn't rubbed it off himself in stages ::)), they'll be highly desirable. :excited: :spin:
And the Kerry Hills will have scarcity value. ;)
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Do you want some Charmoise ones (!)
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Do you want some Charmoise ones (!)
Ummm... yeah, I'd love to see one! Can you send some up to Woolfest?
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Errr, yes, dunno. By courier? What is woolfest!? Prefer rams, ewes... what do I need to look for? All I know about wool is I need to cut it off and roll it up (preferably, but not always, the right way round)
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Sending you a PM, Me.
Generally shearling untupped ewe or wether will be the best - although some girls' fleeces do improve with age.
Tups can be okay but sometimes smell rather tuppy.
If the fleece holds together like a mat, it's no good for spinning (but someone may like it for peglooming or needlefelting.)
There's a great guide to what to look for in a fleece for handspinning here (http://www.woolsack.org/AssessFleece)
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What size poly sack ? Llanwenogs are VERY wooly!
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I just got potato sack size. My Ryelands are even more wooly but, with a squeeze, got one in each bag ok
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Thank you, everyone! Baby Isobel decided to have an all day feeding marathon, so they just ended up in the wool sheet, but have printed to advice out for future. Love this forum.
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so they just ended up in the wool sheet
:'( :'( :'(
Glad to hear that baby is doing well, though :D :thumbsup:
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Only just seen this, so apols for not replying sooner.
Not that FW didn't already tell you everything you need to know! :D
Give me a shout if you want some pointers or help marketing them. (Best Ravelry groups, and so on. Plus I have contacts in some of your local spinning groups/guilds, if you don't.)
Ravellers love to see pics of fleeces, so if you haven't got all of them wrapped and bagged already, take a few 'lock shots' ;)
Sorry to jump onto this thread but Ive got 3 fleeces to sell, one is a lovely romney which I think is really worth selling rather than dumping as it is so nice. Ive had a look on Ravelry but not sure where on there is the best place to advertise. Any tips please? :wave:
As FW says, there will be quite a lot of Shetland fleeces about, and they're not all very special ;) - but if yours are anything like as nice as Chad's would be (if he hadn't rubbed it off himself in stages ::)), they'll be highly desirable. :excited: :spin:
And the Kerry Hills will have scarcity value. ;)
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Ok, sheared the Charmoise tups and it all went well until the last one which fought like Mike Tyson - therefore I must admit I just threw the fleeces in the wool bag with the others (appologies Sally IN). However, I'm shearing two dry Gotland ewes and a wether for someone next week and am led to believe they often have nice fleeces - would anyone like them? West Wales area
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lesbri, you've put your text in the middle of my quoted text but I think your bit is
Sorry to jump onto this thread but Ive got 3 fleeces to sell, one is a lovely romney which I think is really worth selling rather than dumping as it is so nice. Ive had a look on Ravelry but not sure where on there is the best place to advertise. Any tips please? :wave:
There are several places you can use, but the simplest is probably the 'FOR SALE - FLEECE' thread in the group 'the-uk-fleeeece-people' linky (http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/the-uk-fleeeece-people/715921).
If for some reason you didn't get any takers there, there is a For Sale thread in UK Spinners (which is a 'no chat' thread, so any ongoing conversation has to be in the associated 'For sale - feedback/chat' thread, which is all a bit complicated I know!) or you can create a thread just for your own items in the group UK Classifieds. Shout if you need any further help - I know that Ravelry is huge and somewhat daunting when you are new to it!
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Ok, sheared the Charmoise tups and it all went well until the last one which fought like Mike Tyson - therefore I must admit I just threw the fleeces in the wool bag with the others (appologies Sally IN). However, I'm shearing two dry Gotland ewes and a wether for someone next week and am led to believe they often have nice fleeces - would anyone like them? West Wales area
Gotland fleeces at this time of year are usually a mat only fit for a dog bed, unless they have been clipped in the autumn too. But you may be lucky and get a good one. My Gotland x Texel ewes have some nice bits this year, but the pure Gotland ewe is the same as ever... I will clip them this autumn though, as they won't be lambing next spring!
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Oh well, thats my good deed for the spinning world out the window then! :knit:
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Thanks for this advice, very timely as my shearer is due any day now and it will be the first time!
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Thanks Fleecewife! Sorry for the inept posting but many thanks for your advice. Ill try again on Ravelry! :)