Shari’s Gone Country

Ok, so I’ve got about 25 trash bags of fleece that is unacceptable to most hand spinners. It’s not enough to send to the “co-op” as you really need at least 100 times that amount.

The chickens are all comfy in their wool-lined nests and won’t need new wool for many months.

Experiment time!

I’ve heard about wool being used for erosion control when you need to soak up (or divert) moisture as there is a company in Oregon who is making such a product. They’re also making dog beds with 75% wool and 25% cedar chips (odor control).

Here on the desert, we rarely need “moisture control” aside from when the snow melts too fast, or we get a rare summer deluge. What we need more often is a way to keep our sand from going to the neighbor’s, and another neighbor’s sand from coming to visit our acreage.

Believe me, it’s not a pretty sight. You can’t breathe when sand is blowing all around, including into your house!

My thesis: Lay down raw wool on high erosion areas after clearing the area of any small vegetation. Weigh it down temporarily until adjacent blowing sand can impregnate the air around the fibers. In theory, the trapped sand will be unable to escape. That includes any sand trapped by the fibers as well as the sand underneath the wool.

I’ve read a number of studies out of eastern Canada and the United Kingdom regarding the use of “wool waste” for soil amendments, so perhaps we can get an additional benefit. With virtually no way to irrigate our acreage, whatever is eventually planted will need a relatively rich soil, with awesome moisture storage ability.

What I don’t really know is how long it will take for the wool to break down. I do know it’s pretty slow to decompose, however, I’m counting on UV degradation, as our sheep always have “sun-bleached tips”. I’m also thinking the abrasion from the sand will have some effect. If it takes a couple of years, and holds our sand in place, then that’s a good deal.

You go to auction!

Yeppers, after all my ruminations on what to do, I (all by myself) came to the conclusion that ram had to go.

And that was the least of my problems for a while…

Getting him to market was quite fortuitous, as our neighbor was sending his lambs to market and we could put both the mean ram and the ewe with the rupture on his trailer. That would save us having to borrow a trailer and drive nearly 100 miles round trip, spend many hours, and come home with less money than we spent.

So… How to break the news that I wanted to send the ram to market…

I got Cindy to agree with me, as she, too, had been butted around by him. She could see that he was dangerous and really didn’t want to have to put up with him.

However, Bev was the one who’d bought him to begin with. She’d made the deal, believing he was what we needed. After all, he came from a neighbor, was only two years old, looked awesome, and would be a good fit for our little flock. At that time, we had just two ewes (or so we thought).

I crossed an invisible barrier and simply announced to her that he was going to the auction based on his attitude, and his wool type.  I didn’t seek her input… and that wasn’t good or right.

When Clyde arrived with the trailer, at first it was “No, he’s staying here!”.

On my way to the pen to get the ewe, I told Al (the ram), “He was one damned lucky boy”, believing he was staying.

By the time we’d loaded the ewe, Bev reluctantly changed her mind and agreed to send him.

So, Al… you’re off to a whole new world!

Ever since we sheared the sheep, and I put up the “Our Fleeces” page, we’ve been struggling with negative feedback regarding the staple length. What’s a girl to do, ‘cept more research!

I called folks all over Utah, and finally found some nice “sheep people” in both Oregon and California who were able to provide detailed information on what kind of sheep we have, and what we’ll need to do to improve our little flock.

Now, I’m the one who is most adamant about our “hobbies” providing some kind of return whenever possible.

The chickens provide us eggs, which we sometimes sell. Of course, since that’s Mom’s hobby, she gets to keep any egg money for her own use.

The horses are strictly for our own enjoyment. Besides, I’ve met few horses that ever paid for their own keep, let alone their own feed.

The sheep, though… they’re a “cash crop” in my eyes. We breed them. They produce lambs to both increase our flock size and to sell for meat. I also expect them to provide some wool to sell… and that’s where we’re having an issue.

These sheep were represented as black “Merino” sheep by the person who sold them to us. I believe her as she was led to believe they were “Merino”. Only one small problem… their fleece isn’t as “fine feeling” as the Polypay, and that’s not right.

Shortly after I got here (Dec 2006) we bought a ram, who was represented as 3/4 Merino x 1/4 Suffolk. He’s a big boy and over the past winter, developed a rather nasty attitude.

After much searching around, I believe what we really have are a type (not sure of the breed) of sheep called “marker sheep”. They are the one’s large sheep stations use to help them count their sheep. By maintaining about 1 black sheep per 100 white ones, they can easily count the black one’s and know if they have the whole flock in sight.

What’s all this mean?

Well, it means the fleeces we have for sale, are no longer for sale to spinners, as there’s no way they can meet the quality standards. It also means the ram we have is not the right ram for us. He can’t improve the fleece, and with his attitude, he’s really too dangerous for we women.

Now, this has caused a bit of consternation around here, as I pretty much did the research, presented the “bad news”, and set forth to make corrections without much input from anyone else… not the best decision I’ve ever made.

I am making the fleece available for alternative uses.

For example, we use it to line our chicken nests. The girls love it! They snuggle down in it and when they lay eggs, they are so nice and clean. With the cost of straw, our fleece is very cost effective.

You can also use fleece (wool) as insulation, or even as a permanent mulch as it will “felt” in time.