Preparing the FleecePreparing the Fleece
Read This Before You Call The Shearer
By Chet Parsons
In recent years, the price of wool has been so low that shearing has become just another chore and added expense for many producers. Small producers are sometimes further frustrated because it is difficult to find professional shearers who want to stop and shear a small flock. Shearing doesn’t have to be a bad experience. With a better understanding of the shearing process, producers can do a lot to make it a more rewarding experience.
Parlez-Vous Degree of Skirting? Tippy? Staple?
By Nadine Chounet
Hello again to everyone. Over the course of this series of articles I have had several people ask me:“Yeah, but what do all of those terms mean when my fleece is judged?”
To Blanket or Not to Blanket: That is the Question
By Nadine Chounet
Blanketing is a highly controversial subject among sheep breeders. It can produce exquisitely clean fleece and it can produce absolute train-wrecks for fleeces.
Read more: To Blanket or Not to Blanket: That is the Question
Don't Fleece Yourself Out of a Great Fleece
By Nadine Chounet
•Know your breed. What type of fleece should it produce? Are your fleeces within those breed standards? Does your Romney look like a Romney? Or a poodle? The hand spinning market is a discerning bunch of buyers – when they want a certain breed of fleece, you can be sure they come armed with the knowledge of what type of fleece should be coming off of that breed of animal.
So You Say You Have The Perfect Fleece
But There’s This Ewe and She’s Still Wearing It
By Nadine Chounet
So you’ve read all the articles and books, fed your animals for their breed standard, picked and cleaned,
lectured or blanketed, worried and fretted ...and there it is! You think you have grown the perfect fleece but what now?? How do you get that creation off the back of your animal and to the NH Sheep and Wool Festival? Or into the hands of an appreciative hand spinner? Or sold for top dollar to a commercial enterprise that values great fleeces?
