The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: tizaala on June 30, 2012, 01:07:50 pm

Title: Fleeces
Post by: tizaala on June 30, 2012, 01:07:50 pm
What is the going rate for Castlemilk Moorit fleeces? We have a lady interested in them for spinning but need some advice on what to charge.
Thanks
Title: Re: Fleeces
Post by: woollyval on June 30, 2012, 01:11:19 pm
If good clean and well rolled etc ask £5 per fleece
Title: Re: Fleeces
Post by: Brucklay on June 30, 2012, 01:18:42 pm
This came up earlier


http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=24547.msg238703#msg238703 (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=24547.msg238703#msg238703)


Good luck with your sale - let us know how you get on  :fc:
Title: Re: Fleeces
Post by: jaykay on June 30, 2012, 01:35:00 pm
I think £10 for a nice fleece. I'm a spinner and I've happily paid that for a BFL fleece.
Title: Re: Fleeces
Post by: woollyval on June 30, 2012, 10:54:43 pm
slight difference between BFL and Castlemilks!!! BFL is the best of the best where fleeces are concerned!
Title: Re: Fleeces
Post by: jaykay on June 30, 2012, 11:08:53 pm
BFL is nice. I haven't ever spun Castlemilk.
Title: Re: Fleeces
Post by: Fleecewife on June 30, 2012, 11:46:36 pm
As well as all the criteria of quality discussed elsewhere, you also need to take into account the overall size of the fleece and the popularity/rarity of your product.
I have never spun a CM fleece, but they are quite rare and would be popular with re-enactors for spinning at events.  I would ask £8 for a good one, clean and well grown.  Unless she has recently started spinning, your customer will know what she wants and what is a good fleece.  You could ask her to show you how she chooses her fleeces which will help you to produce what your customers want.
Title: Re: Fleeces
Post by: Fleecewife on June 30, 2012, 11:56:39 pm
slight difference between BFL and Castlemilks!!! BFL is the best of the best where fleeces are concerned!

I would say the best of the best are some of the Polwarth crosses, which are the fleeces which fetch £40, or superfine merino, kept coated .
BFL is lovely - and funnily enough that's what I'm spinning at the moment - but they are readily obtainable in various preparations, from raw to tops, at a fairly standard rate.  Castlemilks are much more difficult to find and I have never seen prepared CM tops (doesn't mean it's unobtainable of course) so that raises the price and makes them more comparable to a mainstream good quality fleece.  As Tizaala gets more knowledgeable about his fleeces, shears and prepares them with fleece quality in mind, and advertises them widely, so he can raise the price above £10  :sheep:
Title: Re: Fleeces
Post by: tizaala on July 01, 2012, 10:28:11 am
Thank you all for your good (as usual) advice, the " Lady "  that was interested suddenly lost interest when I refused to give them to her for nothing , cheeky bitch, anyway I've stuck them on  ' marketplace ' at a low price for AS members  , If anyone out of our area wants them and is coming up for the Royal Welsh Show you can collect them then. Gabi brought one into the house for me to look at and it has been taken off cleanly with no daggy bits , feels nice and soft. PM me or call with any questions,
Title: Re: Fleeces
Post by: Chris H on July 01, 2012, 10:44:40 am
CM can be wonderful, but like many it depends on age and care. a good one spins with ease and you have a super colour as well. I would pay a bit more as you have the rarity value as well. BFL is in my experience pretty boring, for a better weaving thread I would go for a Leicester longwool and comb for worsted.
Each breed offers a perfect thread for a specific need, there is not a 'best' it depends on the need ;)
Me I get excited with a Herdwick and a Blackface, but then i am a rug weaver :thumbsup:  I think I can say i have spun just about every breed, and the pleasure is the diversity, a well sheared fleece from a healthy and well cared from animal is a joy what ever the breed.
Title: Re: Fleeces
Post by: woollyval on July 01, 2012, 10:54:06 am
CM can be wonderful, but like many it depends on age and care. a good one spins with ease and you have a super colour as well. I would pay a bit more as you have the rarity value as well. BFL is in my experience pretty boring, for a better weaving thread I would go for a Leicester longwool and comb for worsted.
Each breed offers a perfect thread for a specific need, there is not a 'best' it depends on the need ;)
Me I get excited with a Herdwick and a Blackface, but then i am a rug weaver :thumbsup:  I think I can say i have spun just about every breed, and the pleasure is the diversity, a well sheared fleece from a healthy and well cared from animal is a joy what ever the breed.

Very good advice here! I have processed hundreds and hundreds of fleeces of possibly every different kind...cannot really think of a breed I havent handled! CM ranges from very nice to not so good! It will needlefelt beautifully but will not wet felt without lots of persuasion!
It really is a horses for courses thing with wool as every breed was developed or improved for a specific purpose eg Herdwick is like wearing brillo pads if made into jumpers  ::) but for rugs its magic and hardwearing....what it was supposed to be :thumbsup: Good luck with fleece sales all....there is a good market for flecces at the moment!
Title: Re: Fleeces
Post by: SallyintNorth on July 01, 2012, 12:23:42 pm
I've just been offered the fleeces from a small Heb flock so I've said I'll cover the cost of shearing, use two myself, and see if I can sell the rest to my spinning and weaving local friends.  The owner is interested in seeing spinners spin, so I'm hoping I'll be able to organise it that he can see some of his own fleece getting used at a Guild or Fibre Group somewhen.

I hope they're nice ones when I get them!
Title: Re: Fleeces
Post by: Fleecewife on July 01, 2012, 02:48:36 pm
I've just been offered the fleeces from a small Heb flock so I've said I'll cover the cost of shearing, use two myself, and see if I can sell the rest to my spinning and weaving local friends.  The owner is interested in seeing spinners spin, so I'm hoping I'll be able to organise it that he can see some of his own fleece getting used at a Guild or Fibre Group somewhen.

I hope they're nice ones when I get them!

Eeek!!  Heb fleece can be lovely but it can also be matted and unuseable.  Have you looked at them on the sheep Sally?    :wave: :sheep:
Title: Re: Fleeces
Post by: SallyintNorth on July 01, 2012, 05:57:40 pm
I've just been offered the fleeces from a small Heb flock so I've said I'll cover the cost of shearing, use two myself, and see if I can sell the rest to my spinning and weaving local friends.  The owner is interested in seeing spinners spin, so I'm hoping I'll be able to organise it that he can see some of his own fleece getting used at a Guild or Fibre Group somewhen.

I hope they're nice ones when I get them!

Eeek!!  Heb fleece can be lovely but it can also be matted and unuseable.  Have you looked at them on the sheep Sally?    :wave: :sheep:
Nope.  There aren't a huge number, so I realise I am taking a punt.  It's a very nice man, a friend of a friend.  If they're not right this year, I can at least tell him what would be needed another year.  He absolutely won't screw me any more than I'll screw him.  At worst we'll both learn something so that hopefully the fleeces will be good enough to use next year, at best I get some nice Heb fleece for spinning this year and so do some of my friends.  It will of course in fact be somewhere between the two...
Title: Re: Fleeces
Post by: Fleecewife on July 01, 2012, 06:26:33 pm
Oh goody, sounds like a plan  ;D  - I hope you get some nice ones then  :sheep: