Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
a separate fee. The wool that you get can be combined with your clip to pro-
vide income, or if you are a spinner, the best could be selected out for your
spinning projects.
Wool in Bedding
Batting for wool-fi lled quilts, comforters, and pillows can provide good
income. Though the quantity needed for mattresses and futons is probably
beyond the capacity of a very small fl ock, when these items are made with
wool, they are comfortable, warm, and lucrative. Despite polyester's supposed
advantage of washability, quilts fi lled with polyester pale in comparison with
wool ones — they are not warm enough in winter and are too hot in the sum-
mer. Some home quilt makers make their wool-stuffed quilts washable by
fashioning the quilt into a big pillow slip like a duvet cover — removable for
washing — leaving the wool batting quilted between two cotton muslin sheets.
Three of the 6-foot-long (1.8 m) batts from one of Patrick and Paula's Cottage
Industry Carders fi lls a standard-sized quilt.
Wool Sales to Handspinners
The great interest in handspinning has created a specialty market for good
fl eeces. Selling fl eeces to handspinners in and of itself probably isn't going to
create a big cash fl ow from a fl ock of sheep, so add other options, like selling
breeding stock or locker lambs, to increase your income.
By keeping the fl eeces clean and relatively free of grain, hay, burrs, and
other vegetation; shearing your sheep carefully (minimizing second cuts);
and handling them properly after shearing, you will have a product that is
valuable for handcraft use.
After shearing, set aside your best fl eeces, which must be absolutely dry
for storage. If you have nice fl eeces to sell, it's unlikely that you'll have to hold
them very long before they're sold, so for the short term, they can be stored
in a plastic bag. For longer-term storage, gently place an unrolled fl eece into
an empty paper feed bag, one fl eece to a bag, or lay it out into a large, shallow
box. You can shake out much of the junk and second cuts before bagging to
make the fl eece more valuable.
The fl eeces that are usually in demand by handspinners are those with
unusual natural coloring or those from some of the long-wool breeds that are
highly lustrous and easy to spin. For your own handspinning or for marketing
to handspinners, consider some of the more exotic breeds, such as Shetland,
Icelandic, Cotswold, and Cormo. Even Finnsheep, although not noted for
