FiB and I have been chatting on Facebook about keeping sheep's fleece nice(r) for spinning, and having written several notes, I decided I'd copy them over here for safe-keeping!
First off, give any fleece a jolly good shake, in a strong wind if poss, to remove anything that's happy to fall out without a struggle. If you're clipping your own, do this before rolling, before any bits get embedded
Straw isn't too much of a problem, it shakes out pretty easily whenever, and is easy to pick out if it didn't shake out. Hay is less well-behaved, seed heads especially. Thorny or prickly stuff can be a nightmare - if you do wash the fleece, take *great* care when washing fleece containing prickly things, as the prickles cause agitation and hence felting. (Ask me how I know. Sob.)
VM-y fleece is best combed, not carded. Combing leaves not-fibre behind, carding is more likely to incorporate it.
You can comb using a dog comb (cheap) or similar, you don't have to invest in pukka wool combs. (But if you have a lot of VM-y fleece you'll probably feel the benefit of some purpose-made tools.)
"Sticky tips" are often first fleeces; the 'lamb tips' or 'milk tips' are the ends of the locks the sheep was born with. Not surprising they don't open out without a bit of a fight! The flick carder was invented for this job, you just tap the end of the lock with the flick carder (with strong material, or leather, under the lock protecting your leg
) and it opens. A dog comb also works.
Sticky tips aren't *always* first fleeces, sometimes it was just a muddy winter. You can either do as above for lamb tips, or can tease the tips when washing. Deb Robson
describes this well in her blog. (Find the para beginning "I find a spot where, for example, the tips of a lock are holding some dirt")
Now the before-they're-sheared stuff... Yes, try to feed them hay in ways that embed less of it in their fleeces. When possible. (And just sling any that's too full of bits to be fun. They'll grow more for next year
). It sounds obvious, but try to have them clean when they're sheared. Don't house them wet and muddy; house them when they're clean and dry.
In the old days they used to 'wash the sheep' by dunking them in the 'sheep wash' two or three times before shearing. We don't get the summers now, plus it'd pollute the watercourses... In our climate it isn't always possible, but if they've been on good clean grass and it's rained and then been windy, they'll probably be fairly clean ?.
When collecting them for shearing, keep things clean and dry. Straw is better than mud or poo. But dry, clean (not dusty) concrete is better. Clean grass better yet.
Keep the shearers' work area clean. Get daggy stuff off and out of the way quickly and wipe the surface clean.
Keep sheep wormed, fluked, and topped up with minerals (licks or drenches) as necessary to keep their bottoms clean. Dag them if they are dirty - as a flystrike prevention measure as well as keeping them clean for shearing
Back to hay... I think I wrote about this on TAS recently... if using racks, feed at chest height, plenty of room at the rack for all of them so they don't have to climb over each other / pull hay across each other, and don't have to reach up for it so it falls into their neck wool. If feeding hay outside, spread it well out so that again, they aren't all clustered around it, pulling it across each other.
Topic: Sheep for fleece (Read 2461 times)
