[daveh]

My OH is a novice spinner and is currently spinning the fleeces from our four recently shorn Castlemilk Moorits. The staple is short and she has remarked that it would be easier to spin with a longer staple. The obvious choice to achieve this would be to acquire a couple of ewes of either a Leicester or a Lincoln longwool. But before I go down this route any futher, are there any downsides in keeping these breeds?
Regards, David
 

[sc12011]

Hi, I've just bought a few wensleydales which are very similar and they are lovely. I read that they have the softest wool of all the longwools, it does feel lovely and soft but ive never seen any others so I can't really compare. They had quite a lot of wool around their back end and down their legs so you might have to pay more attention to dagging than some breeds? But just a guess really as these are my first sheep, they might all be that wooly!


A couple of big farmers have said that I've chosen one of the trickiest breeds, health/problem wise! One of my ewes has had a bit of bloat but I think she's fine now, other than that I haven't had any problems. The lady I bought them from said they lambed quite easily (first lambs) just before I bought them.


The wool is very long, 6inches+, they were only sheared 5wks ago and their wool is growing like mad!

[sc12011]

Actually scratch that about it measuring 6", I just pulled a piece out which measured 9" which looks about average for my fleece!

[Yeoman]

Bambles?  They can easily get stuck in the spring.

[Fleecewife]

Spinning longwools can I believe be quite difficult, especially if you are trying to spin woollen.  I don't spin worsted but no doubt someone who does will be along shortly with comments on that. Your OH might like to try spinning a variety of different breeds with bought fibre before committing to the longwools without trying them.  The easiest fleece to spin is probably something like a Jacob or Shetland with a fibre of about 3-4".  Very short fleece is often difficult to spin especially if you haven't had time to build up plenty of experience.   I have seen it suggested that longwool fleece might need to be cut in half to make it more easily spun - so it would then come within the 4" or so bracket.
 
For keeping longwool breeds - I have never kept them but I imagine that if you have very muddy ground they would soon become very bedraggled - but beautiful 

[shygirl]

we had a few wensleydales at one point. one of ours always had a mucky bum, even though she was wormed and checked by a vet etc. so that long hair did get mucky and she rattled when she ran.
i found shearing quite tricky as they are very thin/loose skinned, great care needed not  to nick them.
we were complete beginners when we had them so would maybe have enjoyed them more with more experience behind us. our grazing is just rough so ours could have done with better quality grass really. weight-wise and thistle wise. you dont want to ruin that lovely fleece by getting thistles stuck in it.
tall and bonny sheep though, the wensleydales.

[Padge]

Lincoln Longwools were the first sheep we kept.......big greedy sheep....you need a lot of grass.......flystrike....dag more often.......but.......I loved them...beautiful sheep...tho we don't keep them now...OH says...'pain in the ars$e '     

[SallyintNorth]

Wholeheartedly agree that it would be best to get your OH to try the wools of other breeds and find out what she likes best.

The longwools are the most labour-intensive breeds to keep, I'd think.  We are just considering getting some Teeswaters ourselves, and will do more research on exactly what it would entail before jumping in.  Certainly lots of dagging. flystrike would be a real risk if you were in the sort of place where you get a lot of flies, BH thinks I'll need to keep them washed, as well as dagged, and I expect to have to clip twice a year to keep them comfortable.

Spinning-wise, longwools are a different kettle of fish altogether.  Too long for carding, you had better like combing!  And even when starting with commercial tops, it takes a bit of doing initially to do the low-twist worsted spin required.  (I'm getting there....)

I agree with Fleecewife, the easiest fleeces spinning-wise are those in the mid-range of staple length.  A nice Shetland you can comb, card, or spin from the lock, however the mood takes you.  It'll felt too, if you fancy a bit of felting.

If you want to be helping a rare breed, you could consider a down breed (Oxford or Dorset Down), or the Hill Radnor or Dorset Horn - or the delightful little Portland, which would be more like your Castlemilks in looks and temperament, but have a more readily spinnable fleece.  Some Portlands have superb fleeces for spinning, some a bit more ordinary - but you could select your foundation stock on the basis of fleece quality, and breed to improve.

Do keep us posted on what you decide and how you get on!

[Bionic]

Ditto what Fleecewife and Sally have said. Get her to try fleece from different breeds before you commit to buying the ewes.
I bought some CM fleece and find it difficult to spin as its so short but it felts well. I keep Ryelands and that fleece is much easier and the sheep are easy keepers too. No escape artists here. Very laid back.
Recently I was given some Romney fleece and that was lovely to spin as was the Leicester Longwool fleece I had that is years old. Just about to try some Bluefaced Leicester

[daveh]

Thanks for all these replies.
 
The OH has been trying to spin other fleeces. The Merino turned out beautifully and the Jacob turned out well, mules and Texel crosses less so.
 
I will look into the suggestions for Wensleydales, Teeswaters, Portlands etc. Whatever I decide it will have to be a breed on the RBST list. Availability is one of the other issues so I would probably try and source sheep at either the Melton or Stoneleigh rare breed sales in September.
 
Yeoman, good point about brambles but I don't suffer that problem at my pal's farm where I keep my sheep. I see from your profile that you are in Byfield, I'm just up the road in Everdon.
 
My pal is very accomodating and puts up with what he believes is a very strange breed of sheep, viz Castlemilks. His idea of a good sheep is a healthy, easy to keep, thifty, quick fattening commercial cross breed with a large leg at each corner. He just doesn't get my outlook that the sheep should look good. He is also amused by my choice of weaners to fatten - large blacks - and cannot understand why I don't buy a pink cross bred pig at half the price.
 
To sell the idea of keeping a couple very woolly sheep to him will be fairly tricky. What do folks think of the idea of buying the sheep, keeping the fleece myself and going 50/50 with him on the lambs in exchange for the keep. Though using one of his commercial tups i.e. crossbred Texels, Suffolks, Mules, Charolais, might lead to some interesting looking sheep.
 
Regards, David
 
 

[shygirl]

traditionally it was the wesnleydale ram that was used to mate hill sheep to give a better carcus weight of lamb.
we had xbred wensleydales and they were kinda fuzzy wuzzy 

[SallyintNorth]

What do folks think of the idea of buying the sheep, keeping the fleece myself and going 50/50 with him on the lambs in exchange for the keep.

50/50 on the lambs sounds like a very very steep rental - or is he doing a 'full livery', ie., grazing, forage and hard feed, meds, routine care (eg feet)?


On using one of his tups - for nice fleece, I'd go for the Charollais every time.  Our Charollais puts a lot of quality into the fleeces of his crossbred offspring, although his own fleece is rather short and ordinary.

[Marches Farmer]

Lots of problems with Charolais and CX in these parts this year due to thin-skin/fleece on the lambs - just not hardy enough.  We crutch our ewes with two cutter's width of strip each side and down below the vulva and the underside of the tail before the ram goes in.  This generally keeps things reasonably clean until shearing. 

[SallyintNorth]

We're in north Cumbria - can't remember exactly where you are, Marches Farmer, but I suspect our weather is at least as bad as yours.

The trick with Charollais is to get a tup with wool on his head - his lambs will have more fleece than a smooth-headed tup's.

The thin skin reaps benefits in terms of ease of lambing - the thinner the skin, the less friction!

We keep the plastic macs on hand, and if it's wet at lambing, we put jackets on any thinner-skinned individuals.