Feeders are a great tool to use when trying to keep vm off the sheep’s backs and out of the wool. We only use the feeders during lambing season, when the wool is short. The feeders help keep the vm off by not allowing the hay to fall down onto the sheep, they also work well when trying to keep hay waste to a minimum. Below first is our long feeder is fed with a tractor, but it still needs altered so the lambs cannot crawl through it. Our smaller feeder is made out of rebar an

Skirting a Raw Fleece When we shear, I skirt all my fleeces directly after they are shorn off the sheep. My shearers remove the belly and topknot, before the fleeces even make it to the skirting table. Once my fleeces make it to the skirting table, I spread them out, dirty side up so everything that needs to be removed is easily visible. Next, I check the fleece for soundness, or breaks in the staple. I do this by grabbing the staple at each end and giving it a snap. If it b

How to Process Fine Fleece into Nep-Free Yarn Neps are best described as dense, tangled clumps of the short fibers of the fleece. Some people don’t worry about neps and allow them to form to add texture to their yarn, but others prefer a nep-free, smooth yarn. There is no specific advantage to either, whether you like them or not is based off a personal preference. But, when attempting to make a perfectly smooth yarn, I often recommend three things: pick a sound fleece, make

Improving the Quality of Your Fleece Vegetable matter, or vm, is a problem all spinners know too well. Keeping fleeces clean and healthy is a year round battle. During the spring and summer, we fight burrs and thistles, and just when we’ve won that battle, we have to fight hay and straw throughout the long winter months. Protecting fleeces from vm is not always an easy task, but there are a few actions that can be taken to reduce its presence, therefore, improving the overall