The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Rosemary on July 22, 2008, 07:56:19 pm
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I now have three lovely coloured Ryeland fleeces, in boxes in the garage. Since this will be the best clip we'll get from the girls, I would really like something done with them, that we can keep - jumper, rug etc etc.
I will never do it myself. I can get a hand knitter relatively straightforwardly but I can't find anywhere to get the wool spun.
Can anyone help?
Also, is there anything I should do with the fleeces to keep them in good condition meantime?
Thanks
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Diane Fisher and her mum Jane spin fleece by hand; they did this from one of my ouessant fleeces not that long ago.
If you need details just let me know they are UK based;
(http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd278/SperedBreizh/ciskashawl.jpg)
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Get together with some more coloured ryland breeders, make up a batch of 25 kg and get in touch.....I can sort it for you to have it commercially spun!
If you just want your own spun you will need to go down the hand spun route :)
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Thanks for this - I'm on it today!
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I have my first ryeland fleeces ready in boxes. I am having a spinning lesson tomorrow. Will let you know how I get on :-X
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I spoke to a hand spinner today - she charges £4 per oz to spin. It takes 35-40oz to knit a jumper.
We have about 10kg; that's 22lb or 352oz; 2/3 will be spinable ie 230oz i.e. £1000.
Expensive jumpers!
How much is it commercially, wooly shepherd?
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I just took 34 kilo of coloured ryeland fleeces to the wool board and got an advance payment of 2p per kilo.
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Surely you get more than that!
I was really wondering how much it was to get it spun commercially but I'm gob-smacked. 2p per kilo isn't the final price surely
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Total amount I got for last years coloured fleeces were 0.09p per kilo. I also took in 68 kilos of white fleece and had an Interim payment of 0.12p per kilo. Legally you are supposed to be registered with the wool board if you have (I think) over 3 sheep. I think personally that we are being ripped off., just look how much a pure new wool anything is.
Any idea what I can do with next years coloured fleeces and my one alpaca fleece?
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I checked the BWMB website - if you have four or more adult sheep, you are required to register with them. I will be looking into this more. On their webite the opening page it had prices but I can't make head nor tail of them. I think I will give them a ring - the website's not clear to me. Do I HAVE to register with them if I'm happy to sell my own fleeces or what.
I should have stuck to pigs.
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hello Rosemary,
on the tv a while ago a farmer was saying he was getting about .5p a fleece for the good stuff, and was losing on the lower quality . He , however , was shearing over a thousand sheep .The same farmer also said that in the late 60's and early 70's , you could pay the rent of a farm for a year or buy a tractor with the money you got for a thousand fleeces, now you can't even fill the fuel tank with the money from the same amount. Anyone with only a few sheep really would be hard pushed to make any money IF, they sold to the wool board. All wool has to go through them (if you have over 4 sheep) it was meant to stabalize the price of wool ....lol. If , however , you have 4 sheep and then Dan has 4 sheep and then an aunt has 4 an uncle has 4 , then there is no need to register and sell at a loss to the wmb. As for spinning the fleece, if you don't have enough to get it done comercially , then you could spin it with a drop spindle. Very easy to learn how to use, and it is amazing how much you can do in a short time. I think i did enough for a woolly hat in an evening years ago , and that was when I was still learning how to use it !!!. My late mum knitted the hat though .
cheers
Russ
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At those prices I would not sell to them on principle >:( I had my spinning lesson and did not do too bad. Someone is going to lend me a wheel to practice on and if I am happy I hope to have one bought for my significant birthday in October ::) I can knit and fancy a waist coat to wear at home during the colder months and then I will be able to turn down the heating a degree or so. I'm not fussy what it looks like as I will only wear it at home. As I get better I hope to sell some of the wool to knitters at work :)
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Try finding somewhere to store that many fleeces.
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The woman teaching me to spin tells me that she paid £20 for her first fleece :o I have seen Jacob fleeces for sale on ebay at around £5 - not sure if this includes P&P. Have also seen alpaca fleeces but not sure of the price. Is there not a local spinners guild that would buy them from you for more than you are selling them for now. I hate to be or see people being ripped off.
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There is a saying around here that they are Cardi's (not very free with their money). Have found a mill in Brecon that will spin wool in quantities of 25 kilos, so will be looking into that. Have had a sign outside my place for the last week "Alpaca Fleece For Sale", not even one enquiry.
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I rang the woolboard as I have 6 ryelands and my mum wanted the fleece to spin. I was told i needed to register after four or more sheep unless it was for my own (or mums) use then I was allowed to keep it. They even said good luck to mum for her spinning enterprise.
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Been away but back now!!
Yep about 5p per fleece from th BWMB is about right And NOOOOOO you do not have to register with the BWMB!! ...............well yes in theory, but hey whose going to stop you doing what you like with your fleeces......def not them!
Commercial spinning costs about £25 per returned kg of yarn. This can then be sold for about £50-70 per kg and it takes about 800g to knit a blokes jumper.
Market it right and you are onto a winner! Get the wool spun, then woven and you have cloth worth a lot in the right designers hands!
As I have previously mentioned, get together and do a joint spin with other breeders as it keeps costs down!
Good luck!
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Roughly (I know there will be many factors) how much of my fleece would be returned spun from 10kg raw fleece?
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depending on several factors beyond my knowledge you get about a 60% return......rest of weight of a fleece is grease etc :)
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Yeah, I think we have a few bits of etc on ours :-[
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Oooh, what an interesting thread, I just joined the forum to find out I'm already being recommended, thanks Kanisha ;)
Rosemary, handspinning isn't necessarily that expensive. If the fleeces are clean and free of straw etc, and don't need much preparation then handspinning will work out at much less than £4 per oz. Of course it depends on the thickness you want the yarn. Obviously 1kg of laceweight will take much longer to spin than 1kg of chunky. I work on an hourly rate rather than by weight as it is the fairest way for the customer and for myself.
Out of a recent batch of Ouessant which I spun the yield was about 75% of the weight of the raw fleece. Also bear in mind that if you do send your fleeces to a mill in a batch with someone elses you will not be getting back your own wool but a mixture of yours and someone elses, which doesn't sound like what you wanted.
I hope this is of some help, if you need any more advice or decide to go for handspun I would be happy to help if I can.
Diane
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Can guarentee Ouessant is a lot less greasy than some others! Really does depend on breed!
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Check out your local womans rural institute- someone there probably can spin, or knows someone who spins as a hobby, and they might spin your fleece for free, or maybe ask for some of the wool as a payment. I could name at least 3 family friends who have done that in the past for us.
Beth