[Fleecewife]

Prepare somewhere suitable to salt your skins.  This must be where your livestock (all species) cannot get access to it.  It is best to lay the skins on a sloping board for drainage. Buy DVP salt from agric merchant (Dry Vacuum Packed - comes in either 20 or 25kg) Wait at the abattoir until your sheep are killed, collect the skins (by prior arrangement) and rush home with them - ideally salt them within 2 hours of slaughter. Lay each one out wool side down, on a board covered in polythene or similar.  Wear waterproof clothing and rubber gloves.  Check for lumps of fat or meat and scrape these off with a knife, taking care not to pierce the skin. Remove the 'purse' if it's still there.  Split the leg skin so it will lie flat. Trim any scrappy bits from the edges if necessary but don't overdo this - they will trim at the tannery. Use a scoop to spread salt all over the skin, unrolling the edges as you go, and rub in of necessary.  I spread a layer thick enough so that I can't see any bare skin.  The next skin can be stacked on top, up to 3 or 4 at a pinch, again wool side down. Repeat the spreading.  I then cover the pile or piles with a loose piece of polythene, or old feed sacks as this reduces the amount of moist air which will wet the salt and also keeps the mice off. Store your unused salt in an airtight container or it will absorb water from the atmosphere and be spoilt.  Check every day and add more salt if it gets pink and wet. I usually change the positions round so the same skin is not always on the bottom of the pile.  After about a week if it's cold and dry or several weeks if it's warmer and damp, the skin will be salted - no more moisture should be coming off it.  Shake off all the old salt (choose your spot - it will be wet with blood) and respread a thin layer.  Roll the skins like a sleeping bag ie each edge into the middle so it's 3 layers thick, only wool showing, then roll tightly from one end.  Place the roll in a plastic feed sack and roll up.  Once you have two or three rolled, put all the sacks into another feed sack and close with waterproof tape ready for posting.  Make sure the outer sack doesn't leak. Your skins should store like this for several months if they are properly salted.

[andywalt]

wow thanks very much for your time to explain, I will paste this onto a document so I will have it for next year and give it a go, what do you do with the skins once returned? and what are there worth? obviously understand certain breeds will be better than others !!   thanks very much


andy

[Fleecewife]

I find pricing skins very difficult as it depends on various factors. The base line is that imported NZ or Chinese fleeces sell at £30 each, for fairly small ones. The quality of skins varies from sheep to sheep and from breed to breed. I have sold luscious Jacob fleeces for £60 or £70 depending on the pattern, whereas a good Hebridean one will be £50.  White cross-breds have gone for £45-50, but were really worth more than that as they were big, soft and dense.  I think you could advertise them online and sell that way for a good return.  The processing price seems to have gone up since I last had any done, so the selling price would be higher too.

[andywalt]

Thanks very much

[woollyval]

I find pricing skins very difficult as it depends on various factors. The base line is that imported NZ or Chinese fleeces sell at £30 each, for fairly small ones. The quality of skins varies from sheep to sheep and from breed to breed. I have sold luscious Jacob fleeces for £60 or £70 depending on the pattern, whereas a good Hebridean one will be £50.  White cross-breds have gone for £45-50, but were really worth more than that as they were big, soft and dense.  I think you could advertise them online and sell that way for a good return.  The processing price seems to have gone up since I last had any done, so the selling price would be higher too.

Spot on re the price for reselling!!! Gotlands and Wensleydales I have sold easily for £100

[Fleecewife]

Gotlands and Wensleydales don't do well up here - too wet, and it's the same with breeds such as Merino, unless they are housed.  I did keep a Gotland but her fleece had always cotted before it was shorn, and I had no tup for pure breeding (skins and fleeces from her Xbred lambs were lovely).  But if you can keep these finer skinned types then the returns are better as the tanning costs are the same = more profit  .
Are your Gotlands and Wensleydales coloured or white?  Do you find the coloureds more popular or less so?

[woollyval]

I don't keep big sheep anymore, just a horde of Ouessants as too busy with everyone elses wool.....but often sell skins for friends! Coloured skins are always more popular than white and wensley and gotland crosses are VERY popular!

[Bright Raven]

Thinking about colour, could you use an organic die like beetroot on the returned fleece and fix it or would you try to change the colour before processing? I know there is beauty in the natural product but just wondering if anyone has tried?

[Fleecewife]

Never have - most of our sheep are naturally coloured and the occasional white makes a pleasant change for us.