My 10yr. old daughter would like to purchase some wool sheep.We have had meat sheep,but which breeds are the best for spinning?thanks for your answers.

-- teri (mrs_smurf2000@yahoo.ca), July 08, 2001

Answers

Paula Simmon's book "Raising Sheep the Modern Way" does a pretty thorough discussion of many of the different sheep breeds, including characterisctics ranging from "flightiness" to mothering ability.

It's difficult to answer this question without knowing more. There are many wool breeds to consider, but not all will do well given specific local conditions.

Some questions to ask yourself:

Do you want colored sheep or white? What's your weather and pasture like? Do you get a lot of rain, is it dry, do you get a lot of hot weather or really wicked cold weather? Do the pastures tend to get marshy or stay wet at certain times of the year? Are you going to shear them yourselves? Is size a consideration? What do you want to do with the wool - do you want a fine wool, medium wool, long staple, short staple?

Paula Simmons is a handspinner, I strongly recommend reading her book and then if you still have questions ask us again. I think the book will take care of you though.

-- Sojourner (notime4@summer.spam), July 08, 2001.

Teri, I spin the wool from my babydoll southdowns. This is not the best wool to choose from, but it works for me. The babydolls are easy to handle and fun to raise. Since you are already set up for sheep. it would be easy for you to add a couple for starters for your daughter to try. The longer the wool, the easier it is for a beginner to spin. Shetland, Icelandic, Merino, and Border Leicester breeds have great wool for spinning. The shetlands are a small breed and easy to handle and come in several colors. There are several breed I didn't mention that would be great. Good luck and have fun!!

-- cowgirlone (cowgirlone47@hotmail.com), July 08, 2001.

My partner and I have just started a small flock of Icelandic sheep. We love them. They produce beautiful wool and are sheared twice a year. They come in a variety of colors and are horned or polled. They are much more like goats in their diet (think about the summers in Iceland) and have great personalities. My vote is for Icelandic!

-- Pat (PSRoll@aol.com), July 08, 2001.

We use to raise Romney, my wife liked the wool for spinng.

-- Hendo (redgate@echoweb.net), July 09, 2001.

Sojourner...who's we?

-- teri (mrs_smurf2000@yahoo.ca), July 09, 2001.

Teri,

My daughter raises wool sheep also. She showed hogs one year and dedicided that she whouldn't show anything else that had to be butchered. We looked at Icelandics but around here they were very expensive. We then found Jacob sheep. They are great, small very nice fleeces and they are cute. We found a farm a few hours away that offered, because they were for 4-H and not to be butchered and they took to my daughter right away, we only paid $50.00 each for them. When she showed the ram, the judge told her it was one of the nicest rams he has seen in a long time. Check them out. Joanie

-- Joanie (ber-gust@prodigy.net), July 10, 2001.

Paula's books are a great starting point...does your daughter know how to spin? Will she spin yarn for knitting, weaving, felting? Different breeds/wools have their own unique charecteristics/best uses. Some might be perfect for rug weaving but too coarse & scratchy for a knitted baby blanket, scarf etc...Some wools do not felt easily (great for knitting into socks) but bad if you want to make felted items. We raise triple purpose sheep- Wool, Meat, and Milk, combining East Friesian/Dorset, Coopworth, Icelandic, Romney, Tunis. Our fleeces consistently win ribbons at fiber shows, sometimes outplacing purebred fleeces.We have wools suited to all uses, knitting, weaving, felting, dollmaking...in colors ranging from black, browns, grey, white. Advice I'd give to anyone buying animals of any type - Buy the best you can possibly afford, by the best, I mean first of all HEALTHY! Make sure they fit into your "program" - we are raising our animals organically(without antibiotics, hormones, conventional wormers, milk replacers, dips etc)And our sheep are 100% grass fed (no grain ever) and are on pasture year-round, therefore they Must be good mothers, easy lambers, and finish on grass-we direct market our lambs and wool- so quality is important! Not every breed out there (although their wool might be nice) fits into our "program", But again, your style of raising sheep might be different, try to buy from a farm that has the same breeding goals as you do...don't buy anyone's culls no matter how "cheap" they are...sick or dead animals are never cheap! I would highly recommend learning to spin, sampling many types of wool and see what your daughter enjoys spinning...That said, if I had to choose which wool is easiest to spin, it would be Romney or a Romney cross. If you'd like any samples of ready to spin roving let me know. We're in Wisconsin.

-- Virginia R Goeke (ecowool@frontiernet.net), July 11, 2001.

I vote Romney. Good all purpose homestead-type sheep: wool for easy spinning; meat for eating; easy births (relatively speaking;) resistance to wool rot (from rain on their backs;) and resistance to liver flukes; good mothers; gentle; and usually fairly docile rams. If you live anywhere where it rains frequently (or even anywhere else), this is the breed for you!

But of course, I'm prejudiced a bit!

-- sheepish (the_original_sheepish@hotmail.com), July 11, 2001.