Month: May 2014

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Yolo Wool Mill

Today I went to pick up half of my fleeces from Yolo Wool Mill.  They washed, picked and carded my fleeces together.

When I arrived they had both the carder and the yarn machines going.  Pretty cool to see!  Below is the big, old carder they use.

carder

Here you can see the roving being pulled up by the machine to be spun.  It works so fast and produces beautiful results!

yolo yarn millyarn spools

Here you can see the wool being spun.  They are at the same time pulling wool from already spun spools to create double ply yarn.

Follow the link below to see a quick video watching this machine in action.  It’s so fun to be there when the machines are humming along and working with so many different, gorgeous fibers!

yolo wool mill in action

 

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Shearing Day

Waiting for shearing

Shearing day is always stressful but exciting!  This was the first time I got to measure what a difference once a year shearing creates versus twice a year.  The flock was sheared in October and then again recently.  I had read some papers that reported that on average sheep will grow a pound of wool more when sheared twice a year.  For my flock it turned out to be half a pound per head more on average.  The fleeces were so clean and had very little vm in it though.  I only had to lightly skirt most of them and some of them not at all.  I was able to keep almost all the wool that came off of them!

everyone in line for shearing

All is well now that shearing is done!

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May Heat Wave

two sheep in front of fan

This is the third day this week of over 90 degrees here in Cloverdale.  Today is supposed to reach 95 degrees which in my opinion is too hot for May!

The animals seem to prefer cooler temps too.  The ducks now hide in the shade and come running any time they hear the garden hose turn on.  They love a refreshing shower!

The sheep stay hunkered down in the barn with the big fans and I try to keep plenty of cool, fresh water around.  They go out to graze in the morning and evening but lay low in the heat of the afternoon.  Poor little darlings!

Luckily the heat is supposed to break a bit tomorrow and be in the 70s by this weekend- thank heavens!