[Remy]

When the time comes to take some to the place I shan't mention, I am hoping to keep some of the skins and cure/tan them for pelts.  I know nothing about this however, is it fairly easy to do?

I was also told that to take the skins I have to have a Category 3 animal by-product license - does anyone know about this and how do I go about getting one?

[YorkshireLass]

 

I've used Nicki http://www.organicsheepskins.com/www.organicsheepskins.coms/info.php?p=6
She was extremely helpful in talking me through what I needed to do, what forms etc. You can only do certain times of year.

Essentially, the abbatoir I used waved away the paperwork and I took the skins home in a big bucket about 20 minutes after I dropped off the sheep in question. I then had them on a pallet in a draughty barn, and completely overloaded them with fine salt  before wrapping and sending them to her for tanning.

You can cure them yourself but it seems to use some nasty chemicals which I had no means to safely dispose. Or there is the "brain tanning" method that uses natural fats.

[TheCaptain]

has anyone ever kept horns? I've heard that the horns from Portlands are revered by button makers?

[lachlanandmarcus]

I asked for the horns from a young ram and the abbatoir were ok with that, tho you do need to ask before and remind them on the day. Its the work of a moment to remove them with cheesewire thing. Vet also offered to remove them from our ram when he was PTS so we have those too, one is going off to a friend and is destined to be used in Jewish religious services so will live on !

[tizaala]

Ouch,,circumcised by blunt sheep horn, makes me cross my legs just thinking about it.

[woollyval]

Remy....you have choice of the organic tannery above or Devonia in Buckfast! With your gotlands its vital their wool does not get to full length as it tangles in the process. However a tanned gotland skin is worth over £100 and usually more as 3 years ago i was selling gotland skins for that very easily!

Horns...I have just had 2 pairs back from abattoir and they do not need licence and you do have to ask for them BEFORE killing, and like skins pay a few quid extra!

[Blacksheep]

Hi Remy, we have also taken skins to Nikki Port at the organic tannery in Herefordshire.  You can download the form needed from the defra website, you need 3 copies one for the abattoir to keep, one for you and one for the tannery - which should accompany the pelts in transit, its just a very basic form to fill in.  Nikki's tannery uses a process which makes the pelts safe for use for babies as comfort lambskins, but was a little more expensive than Fenland tannery which has now gone out of business.  It may be worth speaking to the abattoir beforehand just to make sure they will let you have the skins back - they should do, but one we used was reluctant to do this.
Nikki gave us an instruction sheet for the curing process which needs to happen before the skins go to the tannery - loads of salt and as soon as possible!

[Remy]

Hi Blacksheep, thanks for that - which forms are they, can you post a link?  The abbattoir I'm going to use will let me have the skins but says I need this license.  However have spoken to Animal Health and they say there is no need for it if it's only a few skins.  Anyway if I have the forms that would be great 

[woollyval]

abattoir will give you licence

[Fleecewife]

Incidentally the salt to use is DVP - Dry Vacuum Packed - which is sold in 25kg bags by your agric merchant for a few £s.  Once you have covered the skin side with salt (paying special attention to unrolling the edges, opening out the legs etc) , leave it for a week or so, topping up the salt where it goes pink.  Fluid will drain off and once this stops you can shake off all the old salt, re-cover with a light fresh layer then roll and send the skin off to the tanners.  The best time to do this is in a dry cold autumn so the air humidity is low, but Nov is the latest to do it because any later and the 'rise' has begun, so the wool comes off during the tanning process
I lay my skins on a sloping surface to help the liquid drain off, with old straw to catch it on the floor.  The wet straw can then be burned.  You can stack the skins to about 4 high, swapping them round once halfway through the salting process.

[Blacksheep]

found the form - here is the link    http://archive.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/byproducts/documents/commercial-skins.pdf