Weighing the Pros and Cons

Since last spring/summer, I have scoured 3 partial fleeces I bought at local markets that were from coated sheep, and one full fleece that I tracked down from a rancher south of here that raises for market.  That one I had heard about the breed and wanted to try it.  Not a shepherd that practices raising for the spinner, and not a covered fleece.

I completed the carding of these four fleeces the end of January, and just recently weighed the finished batts. And interestingly, I have practiced some record-keeping with these fleeces that allowed me to calculate the percentage of weight loss from pre-wash to post-carding.

Now, a shepherd that raises with spinners in mind will sell, as I mentioned, a fleece from an sheep that has been coated, which means that once sheared, the critter gets a blanket belted on that prevents all sorts of hay, seeds, and debris (common verbage labels this as vegetable matter, or VM) from becoming embedded in the wool and glued to it by the lanolin.  As the wool grows, the blanket is adjusted to accommodate the longer growth.  So there is an investment in both equipment and time with coating sheep.  In addition, the shepherd will sell the sheared fleece skirted, which means all the undesirable portions are already removed…the doodly bits from the behind, the dirty, stringy leg wool, all that isn’t covered and isn’t prime wool.

This all makes for a difference in cost, don’t you know.  Such as this, I paid $25.00 for 10 pounds of the uncoated, unskirted fleece from the rancher, and $46.00 for 2.6 pounds of coated, skirted fleece from a well-reputed shepherdess from the Estes Park Wool Market.  Seems like a huge difference and that for some extra work on my part, a dirty fleece might be a bargain.

Not so much.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

My before and after calculations show, that after my own skirting, and the additional loss due to veggie matter, I lost 66% of the weight of the dirty fleece resulting in a price/oz of  $2.20.  The other in the above example, which is typical of the three coated fleeces, resulted in a weight loss of 23% and a price/oz. of $1.43.  With a LOT less work, and a much better result…I still have debris in the batts from the dirty fleece.

For further consideration, the fleeces considered here were all fairly comparable, and none out of line with the others in quality in manner of luxury or fineness.

I love it when I can put pen to paper and come up with hard facts.  And also justification for paying the price for quality.

Heh heh heh…like I need to buy more wool…I am not saying how many pounds I have waiting to be spun.

I like to think of it as preparing for retirement.