I’m super excited to be getting a duvet (comforter inside a case) made from the bulk of my second-quality wool – FOR ME!  The St. Peter Wollen Mill offers this service. I send them 8 pounds of greasy (but skirted and sorted) wool and they return a 90″ by 90″ duvet.  I also intend to take them up on their service of sewing the zippered cover once I figure out what 10 yards fabric  I will send to them.  I will be cozy this winter snuggled under my flock’s old coats!

Things appear to be taking off on the fiber front. I prepared materials explaining my fiber offerings for sale and sent them to a couple of potential customers and received good feedback from both. North House Folk School in Grand Marais, MN and Blue Heron yarn shop in Decorah, IA both expressed interest in buying rovings. I will continue to do direct market sales at fiber events but this will enable me to move more volume. The direct sales margins are better but the time invested is also seriously greater.

Brochures highlighting rovings for retail outlets and class materials use.

This coming weekend is one of Minnesota’s big events for fiber folks. It’s held at the Washington County fair grounds in Lake Elmo, an eastern suburb of St. Paul. In addition to lots of classes on everything from fiber animal care to dying fiber for special effects, there is a LARGE assortment of vendors with their wares.

I will be selling my Babydoll and Shetland fiber at the Natural Fiber Alliance booth. It will be in all conditions from fleeces “in the grease” to spun yarn and batts. My first lot of processed wool will be back from Dakota Fiber Mill, so there are even more colors to choose from – think coated black lamb!!! Another new item is rovings made from a Babydoll/alpaca blend. Scrumptuous!

http://shepherdsharvestfestival.org/

A sampling of the fiber that will be for sale next weekend (or any day on-line). It does not include items yet from this year’s shearing, like super black lamb and a wool/alpaca blend.

Saturday, March 21st, was a beautiful sunny day and a fine day for shearing the flock.  The work crew assembled for lunch prior to the activity and final set-up for the maturnity pens was completed.  We had a crew of six plus the shearer himself.  One person fetched the sheep, one shut opened and shut the gate, one flipped the sheep on their rump, one scooped up the fleece, one folded and bagged the fleece, and the final one swept up the belly wool between animals.  It was quite the circus.  I was the one fetching the sheep, which also entailed removing and, when time permitted, replacing coats on the yearling ewes.  The fleeces look wonderful and I’m hoping for some time between Lamb Watches to get some skirting done. Preliminary weights of unskirted greasy fleece are: 35 pounds off-white Babydoll, 31 pounds colored Babydoll, 2.5 pounds silver Shetland and 2.75 pounds black Shetland.

Fred with Noir on deck for shearing.

Mature ewes awaiting shearing.

Sara with newly completed runs for expectant ewes and new families.

The harvesting of J.C.’s megafleece.

The newly shorn yearling ewes with coats reapplied.

Yours Truly with bags of fleece hung for drying in the greenhouse.

Yesterday I picked up the first batts made from the wool of my Babydoll Southdown sheep from the fiber mill. They are wonderfully lofty! Each weighs approximately 12 ounces and measures 24″ x 36″ x 3″. Because of the layering manner in which they are made, they can be easily split to half that thickness (1.5″), if desired. I’m planning on playing with one myself – not sure if I’ll make a vest or a lap robe insert first. The rest are available for purchase at $18 each.  I have 5 off-white and 2 dark brown. 

A couple friends and I trimmed the sheeps’ hooves yesterday and seized the opportunity to check on fleeces and take some new photos.  I was especially interested to see the prelimiary effects of coating the 2014 ewe lambs.  We tried to have a yardstick in the photo frame to show the girls’ height at shoulder level, but the depth of field wasn’t adequate for that to be in focus.  As a substitute, I will note the size of their current coat which is the lenth in inches from neck to top of the tail.  Since I will be marketing their fleeces and also most of this year’s lamb crop, I will include some commentary on their genetics and fleece characteristics along with their photos.  

Olivia, daughter of Claire.  Like Nina, her half sister, she appears to have a longer than average staple.  I was getting caught up on skirting yesterday and was excited at the percentage of her mother’s fleece from 2013 that was longer than the 2″ minimum required by my processor, Chris Armbrust at Dakota Fiber Mill.  Claire’s 2014 fleece wasn’t quite as outstanding, which reminds me to take data every year.  My guidebook indicates staple length as a yearling has an average heritability of 47%, with a range of 17 to 60%. Olivia is now wearing a size 31″ coat.

Penny, daughter of Fergie. I was surprized at the lightness of Penny’s surface coloration in spite of the coat.  It’s still hard for me to guess the color of the wool once the exterior, interior and middle get blended in the rovings.  From her surface color I’d call her Milk Chocolate!  She’s on the verge of outgrowing her 29″ coat.

Rachel, daughter of Hattie. The “saddle” of Rachel’s fleece under the coat has stayed nicely dark and clean.  She was one of the 3 first to be coated on August 15th.  She is now wearing a 29″ coat.

Rhonda, daughter of Hattie.  Rhonda has not had a coat on so far, so has acted as a “control” for the other coated black ewes.  Her fleece does not appear to be especially dirty and the color on the surface of her fleece has not faded much at all compared to Penny, but has faded compared to Rachel or Tammy.  Her mother, Hattie, carries the fading gene so the color of the fiber next to the skin may also be light.  Hopefully the next set of photos will document that. We did coat her as of Monday (January 19) with a 29″ coat.  By the way… I did change my mind and register her.  She is the only black ewe yearling with a clear face (like her mother). 

Sara, daughter of Iris.  The cleanliness of her fleece under the coat was the most striking.  She’s had one on since September 6th.  Her current coat size is 27″.  Although her mother, Iris, is the oldest ewe in the flock, her fleece is one of the softest – bucking the trend for greater micron count (fiber diameter) with age. According to my reference (Kruesi’s The Sheep Raiser’s Manual), “fleece grade” has only an average heritability of 35%, BUT I’m hoping there will be some effect.  This coming season, I plan to have the wool of some of the sheep tested for micron count. 

Tammy, daughter of Katie.  Tammy’s fleece under the coat has stayed dark and the coloration of her head wool has also stayed dark to the roots.  I get to give her scratches each day, so I know these things.  However,  in dogs the head color can age differently from the rest of the coat, so stay tuned for the next set of photos.  Tammy is still wearing a 27″ coat.

The Tour this last weekend was a great success, at least in my estimation. I took my two youngest ewe lambs and a truckload of other paraphrenalia to Melodee Smith’s yak farm near Welch, MN (Clear Spring Farm) where she had a pen and yard space awaiting me.  There were lots of interested (and interesting) people touring and I had a great time telling anyone who asked about my precious Babydoll sheep and the products they produce and help produce (fruits from my orchard).

It was easy for me to assume the role of Babydoll Southdown spokesperson for the weekend – with enthusiasm.  I had assembled a poster that spells out the advantages of the breed and had it on display when the wind speed allowed.

My display also included rovings, combed top, and hand spun yarn from my flock, and some preserves made easier by my 4-legged groundskeepers. 

The combined Smith and Anderson families did a great job of entertaining and educating visitors about their yaks.  I was amazed at the delicateness of the fiber from these large animals.  The kids handled their 4H food stand with skill and courtesy.  The wares were mighty fine, as I can attest.  I sampled extensively, but missed out on the yak meatballs. 

I was kept busy with the number of visitors taking advantage of Saturday’s balmy weather and must have had my hands in my pockets on Sunday since I missed out on lots of photo opps of the yaks and the ewe lambs on display. I did catch a few photos of Larissa Walk’s lovely dyed wool items from her display and demo (see below) inside the most un-barnlike barn I’ve ever seen.

I’m already looking forward to next year and hope the Tour continues.

Demonstration: Yarn being dyed in a walnut bath.