Adult Fleece Pictures

Here are some adult fleece pictures from our flock. These were not taken from the neck or shoulder, but from the last rib. They are good representative samples of what each sheep looks like throughout.


Christmas Holly will be two this spring.



Persia will be three year's old this spring.



Constantinople will be four.

Cor de Nuit will be five this spring.




QAL will be four.

 

Itasca will be three this spring



These are all nice Appendix A-type fleeces. Not too long, not too short. The thing that’s misleading about these fleeces is that they spin up so nicely, and the yarn has such elasticity. It gives us so many options in terms of products that can be made from them. There is no need to separate the two coats, because the fibers are very consistent. The fleeces appear shorter on the hoof, but that’s because they are so crimpy. Most are four to six inches when stretched. I would much rather have that than six-to-eight inches with no crimp at all.

We don’t expect all of our sheep to be super fine, but we do expect them to have soft, crimpy fleeces. The above ewes are not super fine, but they have wonderful fleeces that can be used in “next-to-skin” items. There is very little waste with these fleeces since the uniformity extends quite far back on the sheep. The britch wool is usually very functional. I really dislike Shetlands that fall off greatly in the hind quarters. Many do, but it limits what you can do with the fleece. You can do lots of stuff with that back one third of the sheep, but why feed a sheep for 12 months and only get half to two-thirds of a fleece that you like? The point here is that there is more to a Shetland than the front 25%.