[Remy]

If you plan to sell the fleeces, do you wash them and if so, how?  Or if they aren't particularly dirty do you sell them as they are?

[tizaala]

As is, don't wash.

[jaykay]

Washing them is more about removing the lanolin than 'dirt'. You 'skirt' them, ie chop off the dirtiest bits, before you wash them anyway and pick out as much vegetable matter (VM) as you can. This will take me hours with mine, my sheep roll in moss......I can now understand why some spinners put those jackets on their sheep 


So you could advertise your fleeces as 'in the grease' or 'washed' .


Washing - the critical thing you don't want is heat, agitation and wet all at the same time since that's what makes felt! Since you need heat and wet to wash them, agitation is what you must avoid. And running water or expanding from hot to cold is enough agitation to felt.


One of those old fashioned plastic washing baskets is useful - I have one from Lakeland.


Fill the bath with hot water (60C) and washing up liquid. Put picked and skirted fleece in basket - lower very slowly into bath. Leave to soak for a few hours. Lift out slowly. Replace water with 60C water, no detergent. Lower fleece back in, leave to soak. Repeat til rinsed. Lift out and let drip. Dry on mesh over bath.

[Bramblecot]

Jaykay,

Thank you for the tips on washing fleece  really useful.  Now I know why chucking them over a gate and hosing was no use  .  OH will never know what the new downstairs bath is used for 

[jaykay]

Yeh, I forgot to say - no-one had better need a bath for a few days 

[Fleecewife]

If someone wants a fleece to be washed before they buy (usually for export) I wash it in cold rainwater.  This removes any dirt but leaves in the lanolin, which is consistant with what Customs wants.  Otherwise as Jaykay says, just skirt the fleece thoroughly by pulling off any dags or contaminated bits around the edge, and any large amounts of VM.  Don't go crazy about it though as it will take up a lot of your time which you won't recoup from the selling price.  Just do enough to be able to present an attractive fleece for the buyer, who can then do most of the prep him or her self.
Mostly I sell my fleeces skirted but not washed, but if I do have to wash them then I charge extra.
 
To wash in rainwater, I use an old dairy trough which has a drain hole in the bottom.  I place the fleece onto clematis mesh (but I love your idea of the plastic washing basket Jaykay  ), dunk it gently into the rainwater, leave to soak for half an hour, remove and change the water, repeat til vaguely clean.  I sometimes put a drop or two of Ecover washing up liquid into the first wash, to help with the dirt, rather than the lanolin.  I then spread out the mesh and carefully open the fleece to its approximate shape, so as not to mess it up too much, and leave it to dry, which can take a couple of days.  We don't have a bath  so using the dairy trough is useful for fleece.

[NickiWilliams]

Hi everyone, have read your posts on fleeces with real interest. We're new to the small holder game and in the process of buying a bigger small holding to include sheep.  Could I please ask, once you've got your fleece and its been treated in the way you've suggested, what is the next stage, and who would it go to. Apologies if this is a really silly question, just trying to get the process clear in my head! Any help would be appreciated 

Thank you. Nicki

[jaykay]

You can sell fleeces directly to spinners. Your local Spinners, Weavers and Dyers guild will have a group. Spinners want fine fleeces on the whole not carpet-breed fleeces (Shetlands, Ryelands, downs breeds rather than hill sheep as a very broad example)


Or you can send fleeces to one of the mills that will card fleeces and then sell it to spinners as carded sliver or tops ie 'ready to go' for a higher price. Or some mills will spin it for you too, then you can sell it as yarn or get it knitted into things.


The more processing you do, the higher the value but obviously you have to pay for the processing.

[NickiWilliams]

Jay Kay, thank you so much. That's really helpful  We were looking at Kerry Hills so that, potentially would work out really well. Now have more research and reading to do. How exciting!!!!  Thank you, again. Nicki

[Fowlman]

Shetland fleeces are wonderful.

[jaykay]

I shall have my first home-grown ones this year. Looking forward to them, should keep me in spinning for a while 

[Fleecewife]

Shetland fleeces are wonderful.

I agree     The Shetland is an excellent all-rounder, with something for everyone.  There are Shetlands with superfine fleece and others with coarser wool, especially over the britch, for outer wear or weaving.
However, there is such a huge variety of British fleeces out there that it's worth trying some others to suit a variety of spinning or felting projects.   Jeeps - I sound like an educational broadcast 

[NickiWilliams]

Jaykay, congratulations!!! Hope they keep you happy and out of mischief!! 

Fowlman, will keep peepers peeled for superfine fleece shetlands 

Fleecewife, the most interesting educational broadcast I've read in a while!! 

Thank you, all, very much.

[Haylo-peapod]

We're new to the small holder game and in the process of buying a bigger small holding to include sheep.  Could I please ask, once you've got your fleece and its been treated in the way you've suggested, what is the next stage, and who would it go to.

Unless the rules have changed, 'in theory' once you have more than a handful of fleeces (3 or 5, I think) you are supposed to sell them to the Wool Board or get an exemption from them to use/sell them yourself. The price of wool has gone up in the past 2-3 years so finally farmers are starting to recoup their shearing costs from the sale of their fleeces. One thing to watch for though is the cost of transportation to the depot. If possible you would want to deliver the fleeces directly into an intermediate depot and then there wouldn't be any transportation costs.  The fleeces have to be delivered to the depot in the proper wool bags (called wool sheets) - each of these holds around 25 to 30 fleeces. At the time of delivery, a peppercorn payment is made for the wool, the balance of the payment is made the following year. Price depends on weight, type and quality of the fleece.
 
Obviously you are a long way from all of this and, as with many smallholders, you may decide to handle the sale/use of your own fleeces and not be bothered with the Wool Board.   I've only just registered with the Wool Board, after 8 years of owning sheep, as I now have too many fleeces to know what to do with them all. 

[plt102]

I agree about shetland fleeces being great. Small enough to wash and handle and they stay together wonderfully when you wash them so you can bundle them better at the end. Did 5 shetland fleeces in two days whereas it is taking me about a day per grey faced dartmore fleece. Haven't tackled the leicester longwool fleeces yet. They are huge!