| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| therealshari |
Posted - Sep 22 2008 : 09:04:35 AM
Do you have fiber producing animals? Sheep, goats, alpacas, rabbits?
I'm willing to help form some kind of "round table" on alternative uses of fiber, as well as work to identify and find our target markets.
I have sheep who produce less than pristine wool. It may be good for socks or blankets, but I'm not sure it's economically feasible to get the wool processed. Obviously, I could use some direction.
My "short-term" solution has been to market my wool as "garden mulch". I simply bag up each fleece as it is sheared and put it into plastic garbage bag. I've found that it will sell at the local Farmers' Market for $5.00 a bag.
That said, is it possible to get more than $5 per fleece profit by processing it and selling it as a "value-added" product?
Let's start the discussion, and find some experienced folks to help.
Shari Thomas
Who's giving serious thought (j/k) to changing "Four Country Gals" to "Ms McDonald's Farm" as we're now adding a preggie cow, due in early September. |
| 11 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| prairielandherbs |
Posted - Sep 28 2008 : 3:34:01 PM
i really, REALLY think that given those, ahem, "opportunties" (it's not a limitation, it's an opportunity!), online retail or wholesale could be great for your wool. My shop is in the middle of cornfields, so I know what you're talking about. folks just aren't gonna wander by and find us, KWIM? I think the online wool/spinning community would be, in the long run, a great place for you to network.
Just my 2 cents! but I'm totally biased. I LOVE online retail. LOVE it. :) |
| therealshari |
Posted - Sep 27 2008 : 3:16:26 PM
There are two of us who work on things together, as we both have the same kind of sheep. There is a third neighbor who has Shetland and Jacob sheep, but rarely gets around to doing much with them. She prefers to shear them herself for her own use later... not sure what that is, as she's got way more to do than take care of the fleece.
We're all 17 miles from the nearest town and there isn't a lot of traffic out here, as we're over 6 miles from the highway.
It is possible once my first neighbor retires from her job (this winter), she'll have more time and inclination to help with some of these ideas.
Another small fly in the ointment, we're not LDS and don't intend to become so. We're in SW Utah where ALL our neighbors, and most of the folks we meet are LDS. When you're not "in the church" your opportunities to "network" get a little limited.
Don't get me wrong, we absolutely love our neighbors, and everyone is very helpful, but we're "newcomers and outsiders", who have to work harder to make connections.
I'd love to get more information as we can work to tweak it to fit our needs. For example, at the Farmers Market, I'll bet if you sell yarn it's ok, but if you sell a finished product it's a "craft".
Shari Thomas
Who's giving serious thought (j/k) to changing "Four Country Gals" to "Ms McDonald's Farm" as we're now adding a preggie cow, due in early September. |
| soapmommy60543 |
Posted - Sep 27 2008 : 10:20:51 AM
Shari - I am not a wool producer. I don't even own a sheep (wish I did, but...). Anway, a young lady near us who does raise sheep formed a wool co-op. She and her family have 13 sheep (all named after the fruits of the Spirit in the Bible-very clever). Anyway, they were kind of in the same jam as you. They got together with some other sheep folks they new, and now they have a cute little shop that sells their yarns, roving, fleeces and also offers classes in knitting, spinning and dyeing. You mentioned that there are other farmers in your area with sheep. Is it possible to form some type of co-op with them to try to get better pricing for you all? Kind of like a sheep union... I would be happy to forward her info to you if you wanted to learn more. |
| Jami |
Posted - Sep 23 2008 : 11:41:28 AM
I agree that just because it's Suffolk doesn't mean it's not got any value-added potential and the added breeding of Merino might really be nice. Most upscale yarns sold in catalogs (Knit Picks, etc.) have Merino wool in them.
It's great you don't have any parasite issues. Organic would be a great way to market your wool if you can get there.
Jami in WA
Farmgirl Sister #266
http://woolyinwashington.wordpress.com/ |
| prairielandherbs |
Posted - Sep 23 2008 : 11:07:53 AM
I'll be in more to yak about this, but for now - let me say this, just because it's suffolk wool doesn't mean it's bad, by any means. Suffolk are not thought of as a "wool" sheep around here - but in europe they are (as I understand) one of the favorite for spinners and knitters. My friend processes literal tons of local wool, and she LOVES Suffolk. she makes a blend she calls "woolymo" that sells like mad to spinners in my area, we all love it. it is 75% suffolk, 25% mohair, it is gorgeous and makes the most longest-wearing socks -AND, it does not felt! Which we LOVE for socks and mittens. |
| therealshari |
Posted - Sep 23 2008 : 10:14:42 AM
Great ideas, Jami!
Around here, we don't worm anyone but the horses, and we've never seen any signs of worms in them. We have cows, sheep and chickens, as do most of our neighbors, and no one in our "mile square" does any kind of medicating.
The one exception is if you have to pull a lamb or calf by reaching into the animal. Then the mama gets a couple rounds of LA 2000. Of course she's not going to market immediately, and any offspring are well past any withdrawl dates before going to market.
Shari Thomas
Who's giving serious thought (j/k) to changing "Four Country Gals" to "Ms McDonald's Farm" as we're now adding a preggie cow, due in early September. |
| Jami |
Posted - Sep 23 2008 : 08:22:36 AM
Shari:
Do you worm your sheep? I can't ever go organic due to this factor...I hate wormy sheep. Parasite control is an issue in sheep and most livestock animals so for that reason there are few organic sheep flocks in the US. More power to 'em.
Wool batts cost about $7-$8 a pound to have processed in my experience. I just had 5" batts done up from Texel fleece at Silver Falls Spinnery in Oregon. I send it prewashed to save on the $4 pound washing fees. Shipping is another $30 dollars there and back(for a couple of washed fleeces (at least). To make it worth your while, you need to try to get 100 percent profit so $14 pound would be an estimate there....a pound of batt is a lot however.
Your staple length and quality might make nice batts. Another thought might be to have needle-felted batts made up. I do that with my crossbred fleeces and it makes a very useful sewable product. I make all kinds of things out of of this, dog coats, purses, etc. It does need to be lined for items like that but can be dyed. It makes a wonderful pillow form if stuffed with the batts and also makes a nice quilt batting although can only be up to 4 feet wide from Silver Falls. I don't know anyone who makes up the wider ones for quilt sizes like queen size, etc.
Just a few ideas.
Jami in WA
Farmgirl Sister #266
http://woolyinwashington.wordpress.com/ |
| therealshari |
Posted - Sep 22 2008 : 6:36:02 PM
Alee, I appreciate your support. I have no idea at this point what the cost would be. I don't even know for sure if I have the right kind of wool. As for organic, I can't claim to be organic since I can't prove (by paperwork) that our alfalfa has been raised organically. It may be, but my supplier hasn't offered it as organic.
I can tell you that we don't use any medication. We "pen raise" our animals and they stay on alfalfa year-round as we have no acceptable pasture.
Shari Thomas
Who's giving serious thought (j/k) to changing "Four Country Gals" to "Ms McDonald's Farm" as we're now adding a preggie cow, due in early September. |
| Alee |
Posted - Sep 22 2008 : 2:14:27 PM
Shari-
If you could find a way to make it into a batting and if you could keep the price down to around $5-6 a pound I would buy a few pounds and I know you would have a lot of business from other Waldorf Doll makers out there if you raise your sheep organically.
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
Please come visit Nora and me on our blog: www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
Put your pin on the farmgirl map! www.farmgirlmap.blogspot.com |
| therealshari |
Posted - Sep 22 2008 : 1:12:24 PM
Hi Jami,
For us, it's a matter of having a breed that was misrepresented. What we were told were black Merino/Suffolk cross have turned out to be much more Black Suffolk... the old "marker sheep" type from the range flocks.
The staple on our sheep comes in at less than 3 inches. I've not had it tested for micron diameter, but knowing it's more Suffolk than anything else, I would be it would have considerable thickness.
Interestingly, we have very little "grease" in our wool. Maybe it's because of our desert sand and harsh weather. Also, because we have to wait until about 2 to 3 months after lambing to shear, we tend to have "breaks" in the wool.
This fall we'll be using a Polypay ram to introduce a little finer wool into our flock. We have one Polypay ewe lamb that may or may not breed this year as well as our four older gals (all black Suffolk) and their ewe lamb offspring (one black and one an "off white").
As for wool pools, there are none here for the small producer. We're pretty much left to our own "smarts" to either figure out a way to sell it or continue to fill the barn with no purpose.
Shari Thomas
Who's giving serious thought (j/k) to changing "Four Country Gals" to "Ms McDonald's Farm" as we're now adding a preggie cow, due in early September. |
| Jami |
Posted - Sep 22 2008 : 12:35:29 PM
Shari, what breed of sheep do you have fleeces from? I have had wool processed into about everything but knowing what breed you have would help me give you some feedback on the processing that might be worth it for you. Processing of any sort is quite expensive with shipping, etc. You're right, to make it worth it, it's best to process it according to its best purpose. Commercial wool pools have been paying about $0.47/pound for "down" breed wool (Suffolk, black-faced, coarser varieties) the last few years around here...so if we do the math--if a fleece weighs 9 pounds you'd get $4.23 per fleece (tags are paid much less and must be separated) so your $5 for mulch at the farmer's market is pretty good if the fleece quality is poor especially. Not sure if the quality is poor or not, just saying that's how it's priced. White-faced breeds like Columbia, Corriedale, Targhee, Polypay, Rambouillet, etc have been paying on the commercial pools about $0.80/pound the last few years and are finer wools.
Anyhow, will try to keep up on this thread and see where it heads.
Jami in WA
Farmgirl Sister #266
http://woolyinwashington.wordpress.com/ |
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