I have repeated this conversation about the sheep a million times. When someone finds out I have sheep, it always goes the same.
Oh, so you sell the wool?
No, they’re hair sheep, they shed their wool, it is of no value.
Oh…. So what do you do with them?
They are a meat crop- lamb, you know?
Oh, I see….
That is usually where a pause occurs. Most people don’t want to think too much about where meat comes from. Or, they’ve just never thought about it before this moment. Or, maybe they prefer to think the meat is a byproduct of something else- loin chops that simply must be eaten as an artifact of the need for producing wool… But to just raise meat solely for the sake of raising meat- for many people, that is something to chew on (no pun intended).
But a few arts-and-crafts types want to know more. They catch the mention that there is wool, just that it sheds. And they want to know, is there something that could be done with it? Well, yes, I suppose so, given the infinite creativity which some artists possess.
One of my coworkers is such a creative person, and she was interested to actually see what comes off these shedding sheep. So I brought her a chunk of shed wool in the spring. She quickly re-sealed the ziplock bag, making a face over the smell of lanolin and animal. Apparently the smell of grubby sheep does not seem very “natural” in the cubicle environment.
My coworker is a felter, and so this is what she made- just a sample rectangle, mixed with some Romney wool. It’s very scratchy (and sheds), from all the hair fibers that hair sheep have, so certainly could not be worn as a garment. But it could make a cool craft or piece of artwork. It has a lot of texture, variation and depth. Mixing colors could make an even more interesting piece. It doesn’t smell at all anymore: she washed it enough that it just smells subtly fresh, like soap.
The practicality of shedding sheep is that it’s not that easy to harvest their wool, unless you were to shear. And the whole point of shedding sheep is to not have to do the work of shearing, because it’s a lot of work. And if you’re going to do the work, then you might as well shear a highly productive wool breed.
When hair sheep wool sheds, it usually falls off in small bits, more like how a dog sheds. Most of it is lost to the wind, wild birds, or ground into the soil by hooves. A few of the sheep shed in big chunks, but even that doesn’t render a lot of volume compared to a wool sheep. So, I think it remains more of a crafting curiosity than something which has serious artistic potential.
I did have a lamb hide tanned once, with the hair on- pictured here with a yardstick to see the size. Tanners and taxidermists are few and far between these days; but I had learned about a woman in a remote part of Washington who does very good work. You freeze the hide and ship it to her in a box insulated with fiberglass batting; and she mails it back, finished, months later. I think the hide is pretty, and interesting to have on display. Something for people to touch, since most of the live sheep are too wily and dirty to be touchable. The hide seems to have some potential, for making Eskimo-style boots, or something. I think this one cost about $75 to tan. That would make a few pairs of fancy Uggs!
September 6, 2013 at 8:46 pm
I tanned several rabbit hides when I was in high school. I can totally understand why it would cost $75 to tan a lamb’s hide. In fact, it hardly seems enough!
September 6, 2013 at 9:29 pm
Ooh, do you mind sharing the info for the person you found to do the tanning? Everyone I ask out here (Kitsap) says they send them to like Pennsylvania or something. Someday I’d like to learn to do it myself, but I have too many projects for the time being.
September 6, 2013 at 10:16 pm
Jomegat- I know, all that scraping and brushing to get it all clean and pretty! It doesn’t seem like the hourly pay is very good…
September 6, 2013 at 10:16 pm
Lauren, I will PM you.
September 7, 2013 at 12:22 am
With enough washing, I always thought the hair would make good stuffing for a pillow.
September 7, 2013 at 12:50 am
Michelle, I have heard of sheep’s wool being used as insulation in houses. Is that true?
September 7, 2013 at 3:00 am
Virginia- yes, I have seen it advertised before. It is very expensive, and I believe doesn’t have nearly as good of an R-value as fiberglass; so it’s not really competitive with that product. I think the same is true of recycled blue jean cotton insulation batting, I have seen that before too. But I think some people still buy both out of a desire to be eco-friendly, or if they have health concerns about fiberglass and don’t want to handle it during installation, or the formaldehyde that is used in some fiberglass batting (though the latter seems to be going away, presumably driven by consumer demand?).
September 7, 2013 at 3:50 am
Maggie, I suppose it would!
September 7, 2013 at 2:57 pm
I also see wool being used as mulch. Not very high level use but useful. It seems collecting the wool from hair sheep would be similar to cashmere. You can comb it out or you can shear. In either case you then need to dehair it to get it cleaner and that is best done by machine. As I understand it some cashmere goats are best sheared if their hair and cashmere are about the same length. Been a while since I looked in to that. I was once interested in the topic until it became clear that my husband wasn’t interested in doing the fence work required for goats. Although he is rather fond of goats. I like cows better but the goat size would be better.
September 7, 2013 at 4:14 pm
Cathylee, wool is like any hair, it takes many decades to break down in the soil, so I’d be wary of mixing too much into my garden soil, fearing making a regrettable mess over time. I have heard of people putting it around trees, in places where they want to discourage weed growth permanently. I think it would look unsightly, though? As far as cashmere goes, I think cashmere is such a lovely and valuable product, it’s worth the labor of harvesting and cleaning it. Scrubby ol’ Katahdin wool, I’m not sure warrants the labor investment, it seems like if you’re going to do the work, you might as well get a good wool breed.
September 7, 2013 at 5:35 pm
Tree planting may be the best use for the wool mulch. The mats can be very good at keeping weeds out and lots of people use cardboard with straw and compost mixed on top. So appearance shouldn’t be too large an issue in that setting Raspberries can’t get through the mulch so not a great use there. But in Strawberries you place runners where you want them so probably a good use there. Just poke a hole in the mat and plant away. I wouldn’t mind having some if it was sold locally. My neighbors put some out from their Icelandic waste in a regular garden setting without top dressing and I agree it didn’t look great.
I’d like to try wool mats in my gooseberry and currant patch. I have been fighting Canadian thistle this year. I thought I got it dug out but it seemed to come back with many more daughter plants. Just cut it all back yesterday to decide on my next attack plan. Probably going to paint on herbicide.
September 11, 2013 at 4:52 am
Cathylee, indeed, and I think operations that shear a lot of “junk wool” probably produce enough to make a good volume of mulch. Out of 50-some sheep shedding here, I only get a few hunks big enough to pick up, so it’s more of a novelty than anything.
I have a lot of Canada thistle as well. My understanding is that it’ll root off of cuttings, so mowing it or digging it can actually make it spread more. I haven’t found a good way of eliminating it, it does seem like chemicals may be necessary. I continue to mow it to at least limit it from seeding out, and hope that the grass will out-compete it over time. But it is a challenge for sure!