Oh, it would be lovely to have someone else do the carding for me. I don't have enough fleece to justify it though. Still, it will be interesting to know how you get on fleecewife.
There are lots of mini mills Sally which will card or spin as little as one fleece, or 1.5kgs. The min at the NFCo for just carding is 10kgs, and I can certainly send that much for each of two breeds. The cost there for carding on its own is £14-17/kg, which is pretty much exactly what it cost to have the yarn spun last time I had some done there. The spinning cost is now £35-45/kg ish - beyond what I want to spend, and anyway I still have a fair number of balls of yarn I still need to sell.
Buttermilk - I had a couple of large batches of Heb blended with alpaca spun up at Halifax. I was virtually passing their door (well not quite but close enough) so I dropped off the sacks of raw fleece there in person. The guys were so kind and friendly, gave me a tour and a cup of tea. I really enjoyed the visit. I may well get these fleeces carded there, depending on their backlog, although I won't be passing the door again so postage costs come into it too.
I'm just wondering what alternatives there are. There are several mini mills, and alpaca only mills, but I need somewhere a bit bigger.
I live just a few miles from New Lanark, but the last I heard was that you have to scour your own fleece first, as they have no licence to do that there. Otherwise New Lanark would be my first choice.
I had a bad experience with carding only a few years ago, (not from any company mentioned here), which was an expensive mistake and wasted 5 beautiful Shetland fleeces. I fancy a change from doing all that carding at home before I can sit down to spin. I'll still comb special fleeces, but for a while I will be able to do some production spinning.
I'll try to remember to report back