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This is Scrooge, born April 18, 2012. He is much sweeter than his name sounds. He is for sale for $100. We would consider giving him to a child for a 4-H project.
Please contact Sharon Valley Shepherds at gretchenlee@comcast.net.
It was a great year for Sharon Valley Shepherds at the 2011 New York State Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck. The breezy fall day was perfect for all those knitters to model their latest creations: colorful sweaters, fingerless gloves, and feather-light lacey shawls. I respect and admire the knitter who created an absolutely gorgeous jumper for a four-year old girl I saw, complete with matching hand-knit tights.
For many fairgoers, the biggest news of the weekend was the disappearance of the beloved chicken potpie vendor. Some wool fanatics, who shall remain nameless, had been known to wait in line for over an hour for one of his delicious pies. For our family though, the news was much happier. The freshly shorn fall fleece of our lovely two-and-a-half-year old ewe Tucker won “Primitive Fleece Champion.” In addition to a blue first-place ribbon, we received a very big purple champion ribbon. Her spring fleece took third prize. This year’s show exhibited 683 fleece. (The show awards prices in three categories of wool: white, natural colored, and primitive. In the first two groups there are prizes for fine, medium, and long wool; in the primitive class, all fleece compete together. A grand champion is selected from those seven first-place winners.)
On Friday I had dropped off six fleeces for show and sale. Given Tucker’s second place win last year, I raised the prices. Over the last few years I have learned how to prepare the fleece for competition, but pricing still remains a mystery to me. Some hand-spinning friends complain that the Rhinebeck prices are too high. I wasn’t sure how far I could push the envelope, so I was very pleased that all six fleeces sold on Saturday.
What I do know about pricing is this: what we all ask for our nicest fleece does not come close to covering the cost of feeding, caring for, and shearing a ewe. I am fortunate that we shear twice a year; each ewe does double duty toward earning her keep. In the last five years, I have come to appreciate the work of farmers and handcrafters who demand what seem to many to be unreasonably high prices for their vegetables, organic milk, hand-felted purses, hooked rugs, woven scarves and hand-knit mittens. It is nearly impossible to produce these wares in a volume that compensates the creator justly.
I only show the fleece of my three youngest girls, who have wool far superior to that of my older flock members. Tucker, Matilda, and Princess Leia all share very long wavy fleece of a subtly variegated color. Each shearing, or clip, is different, depending on the season; the fall wool tends to be the best, as summer is a far less stressful time for animals than the winter. All that green grass must have something to do with it. And the wool of all three girls continues to lighten as they age. Tucker’s has less brown than her sister Matilda’s and her cousin Princess Leia’s. Her wool glistens in its shadings; it almost sparkles when the light hits it a certain way. And now shorn, she exhibits fewer dark specks than the others. Tucker’s fleece is ever so slightly longer. It is in a word: amazing. Her late mother, Peep, was a lovely light reddish-brown, classified as fawn in Shetland terminology, and her full-blooded Shetland father, dark brown. He certainly improved the flock’s genes.
The fleece is scored on a scale of 1 to 5 for six different qualities: uniformity, density, handle, crimp, length, and weight. Here is a picture of one of the score labels.
There is great debate among Shetland breeders as to what is “classic” Shetland, what is original, and what has developed over the centuries. Our fleeces tend toward the “primitive,” that is with a very long staple (length) and wavier rather than tightly crimped. Hand spinners have their preferences too. Our efforts were certainly boosted by the flock’s cleanliness. We keep the fields clear of burrs, thistles, and other enemies of wool. I use only straw, no wood shavings, as bedding; we are careful to feed hay so that it does not fall onto the sheep or otherwise embed itself in the wool.
After discovering our win, I spent Saturday comparing fleeces, watching the bred-ewe auction, and viewing the sheep show. I made my way through all the vendor buildings, touching wool, mohair, the coolest felted hats, and hand-dyed yarns. (I am not allowed to purchase any more materials, given our unending supply at home.) I ran into friends from home, our sheep shearer, Donald, and, while waiting in line for delicious artichokes, made new friends, who recognized me as a native Pittsburgher after a brief conversation!
On Sunday I returned with the boys, a fall ritual we never miss– in the car they plan what they will select for lunch. They still enjoy the usual kids’ festival activities. Our family favorite is watching the Frisbee dogs. We watched the natural-colored sheep show and were amazed at how the judge consistently favored the large meat breeds over the small wool breeds like the Icelandics and the Shetlands. It would be nice if the show added a separate class for these traditional wool breeds, as the fleece show does. When you get down to it, it is like comparing apples and oranges.
For her part, Tucker is unmoved by her new status as champion. She continues to mingle with the mere mortal sheep of our flock and eat the same grass as the rest! She is a naturally skittish girl, but she willingly takes a treat from my hand, before scampering off. Starting this week Tucker, Matilda, and Princess Leia have been enjoying some grain in the evening, which strengthens and prepares them for breeding. In early November it is their turn to take a road trip – to meet a handsome ram. We hope they pass those excellent fleece genes on to the next generation!
At last weekend’s 38th Annual New York State Sheep and Wool Festival, the Northeast’s mega wool show for fiber fanatics, Sharon Valley Shepherds, as we call our tiny operation, won second place in the primitive breed division of the annual Fleece Show and Sale. This was quite a surprise and cause for celebration.
Fleece competitions classify the wool according to type, usually fine, medium or long. These categories are derived from each breed’s individual fiber diameter: generally, the smaller the diameter, the finer the wool. Some fleece competitions have breed categories, some color categories. The Rhinebeck show includes fine, medium and long wool classes, as well as the primitive breeds and a natural colored class.
Primitive sheep are the very old, unimproved breeds. Many come from northern Europe. Finn Sheep, Icelandic and Romanov originally from Russia, are other examples. They are usually short-tailed and are noted for their prolificacy. Because the genetics of the unimproved breeds have not been tampered with, for example, to increase milk production or improve meat quality, these sheep are extremely hearty with an excellent ability to survive and thrive in the harsh environment of places like the Shetland Islands or Iceland. They are considered easier to raise than the improved breeds and their wool shows a wider acceptable range of color, type, and length.
Most commonly, the Shetland and Icelandic breeds represent the primitives in fleece competitions. Icelandic and some Shetland have double-coated wool. It is the soft, very fine wool from the undercoat that is prized in the famous Shetland knitted shawls. The longer coarse guard hairs of the outer layer protect the soft undercoat from the elements and are separated in processing to be used in harder wearing fabrics. My sheep do not have a true double-coated fleece. Although they are not pure bred, my beautiful yearling ewes did have a nearly pure Shetland father.
The judging takes place quickly under the eagle eyes and deft fingers of experienced, knowledgeable judges. They moved from bag to bag quickly to get through the 500 or so fleeces accepted into this year’s competition. Fleeces are judged on a number of characteristics, including character, handle, luster, durability, length, and consistency. Character refers to the fleece’s overall appearance, handle to its feel in the hand. Both are important. Is the crimp (the natural waviness of the wool) consistent throughout? How soft does the wool feel? A good judge can also read stress on the wool. The crimp can loosen or the fiber can break at a weak spot that corresponds to a time of illness, lambing or other stress. The length of the fiber is called the staple.
The judges will dismiss a fleece quickly if it contains too much vegetative matter (straw, hay, grain, burrs). Second cuttings are also taboo; these are the small cuttings that result when a shearer passes over a section of the sheep more than once. The shepherd recognizes them by their short length and two straight cut edges. Short pieces are responsible for rough yarn or yarn that pills easily. They are present in all shorn fleece, but an experienced skirter identifies and removes them.
The fleeces are presented unwashed; the handspinner will wash the wool after her purchase. A little dirt is okay and is to be expected. The quantity of lanolin varies from breed to breed, so the washed weight of the fleece will be less than purchased weight. (Shetland have less lanolin than many of the breeds.)
Some shows also judge on the basis of whether a sheep wore a protective coat or not. Opinions vary. A couple of years ago, I purchased some covers for the sheep. The use of such blankets is challenging, to say the least. If they are too large for the individual sheep, they pose a threat. The sheep can get stuck on a branch, a leg can slip out. And although they are used to protect the wool and keep it clean, the covers can actually damage and even ruin the wool. As the fleece grows, one must exchange the coats for a larger size. The wool will felt under the pressure of the coat if the covers are too snug. One experienced judge I spoke to last year said that she preferred fleece that grows uncovered. She maintained that the she could spot the difference and that unexposed fleece somehow lacked some luster. I have learned that if the barn, barnyard and pastures are clean enough, I can avoid the headache of managing coats on the flock.
The last four years have taught me that the secret to success is all in the preparation. A shepherd must raise her sheep in the cleanest environment possible. Fall clippings are generally cleaner because the sheep are out in the summer, not confined to a barn or lying in too much straw in bad winter weather.
Preparation also means being ready for the shearer. Once he begins clipping the sheep, things move fast. If time allows, it is ideal to skirt, or clean the fleece of inferior wool, immediately. The less the shorn fleece is handled, the better. Squashing the fleece into a plastic bag and coming back to it days or weeks later is not ideal. Extra hands make light work. Helpers are encouraged. (Let me know if you are interested!)
The fleece should come off the sheep in such a way that it can be loosely rolled up and then quickly transferred to the skirting table, where it is unrolled and lies shorn-side down, as close to the shape of the sheep as possible. If the shepherd recognizes the legs, neck, and rump, her job will be easier. Real experts will divide the fleece into different types of wool for different purposes. Most of us, though, remove the inferior portions and sell the remainder as a unit. The handspinner may select the finest neck wool for her softest, finest yarn. Others will spin all usable wool together.
The shearer will have tossed out the belly wool. At the skirting table I then remove the soiled and shortest edges, the second cuts, the britches (the outside of the hind legs considered the worst quality wool), and the short wool from the center of the back that has weathered the elements the most. Inevitably there are a few pieces of straw or hay to pick out. Thankfully, our new set-up has very clean pastures, and this month I found no burrs, or thistles, which will render large portions of the fleece useless.
When finished, we reroll the fleece from rear to front, first folding the long sides in. If you tend to hurry, as I do, it helps to have a patient helper at your side, or one who at least checks in on you and reminds you to take your time, and not to be afraid to toss out what you feel is not good quality. Like architecture, less is more. So thank you, Randy.
Of the three fleeces I entered in this year’s show, all from last year’s ewe lambs, Princess Leah, Tucker and Matilda, one was head and shoulder’s above the others. I had managed to transfer it from shearing floor to skirting table intact: it was spotless, long and lustrous. The other two were similar in color, length and sheen, but were a bit more jumbled up. They did not look quite as impressive opened up or in the big, clear plastic bag. I regret that I did not mark each fleece with the name of the ewe this year, as I have in the past. The shearer was moving fast and I forgot. In the future, I need to track the quality and characteristics of each sheep’s wool more closely.
I succeeded in selling all three bags of wool, yes sir, yes sir! I charged slightly more for the fleece that went on to win second place. It also weighed just three pounds, versus the other two, which were each a pound heavier. Our instincts were right – with a bit of experience you know a good fleece when you see it. Next year, my prices go up!
The whole family was thrilled to win the red ribbon. Many of the other competitors have been raising sheep far longer. Most gratifying is the fact that we learn more each year, successfully bred our original ewes to good stock, and finally learned how to keep a clean barn. I hope my boys will see that one can learn something new, and continually get better at it, even if you are as old as mommy.
Did you know that if the purchaser also gets the ribbon, when she buys the winning fleece? The ladies running the show could see that I was disappointed, so they rustled up another ribbon for me. It is hanging on the barn wall.
