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For Farmers and Crofters

Our services are aimed at small scale shepherds, whether you have one favourite sheep that you want to process the fleece of, or a small batch - transforming their precious wool into clean fluff, carded batts ready for crafting or selling!

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These are some things to consider with your own wool:

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Breeds

There are so many different breeds and crosses, and each of their fleece types have qualities to make them suitable for various purposes.  The Woolist has a great guide to get you started.

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Shetlands spin up lovely soft yarn, Hebrideans make gorgeous felted fleece rugs, Cheviots have bouncy fleeces good for filling cushions, Scottish Blackface have hardwearing fleece for rugs and carpets.

Sheep Care

Fleeces show the tough times of the year, so good nutrition and minerals are really important for a good fleece - to prevent breaks and ensure high quality fibres.  Shelter can help with cotting, your method of feeding (particularly hay) can make a big difference to how clean the fleeces are, as can the seeds and field scrub present.  Minimise markers and paints too.

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Fleece Preparation

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Have you ever prepped fleece for mill processing before? It's a more thorough process than prepping for the wool board or for storage, and will be new to many of our farming friends who haven't tried a mill before. All fleeces sent to the mill should  be skirted, cleared of all dags and clags, with any vegetable matter picked out.  Though  some will fall out during our picking and carding processes, how thoroughly picked through the fleece is initially will determine the quality of the final product.  Our equipment is smaller than at the industrial mills, and we do a lot of the process by hand, so working with you is an important factor in the quality of the final product we deliver. Also, as we charge per kilo incoming, you don't want to pay for VM that's only going to end up on our prep floor!

If you've never prepped fleece for a mill before, contact us to learn about ways we can help you with the process.

Type of processing

The type of processing that suits you will depend on:

  • the sheep you have, their fleece type and condition

  • the use you or your customers will put it to (eg carded batts for felting, combed tops for spinning, fluff for cushion stuffing)

  • how much you want to invest  in the processing

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