We have been trying to send in a fleece a month to the mill that processes our fiber here at the homestead.  We missed out on January, just got side tracked!  Good thing anyway, we were a little low in the whole budget category anyway!   But we did manage to get off a fleece for February and it was sure pretty.

Our big Angora whether Sam provided the fleece for this month.  He has a beautiful steel gray fleece and lots of pretty curl.  He’s a big boy and he’s a funny one…  he loves to be up high, the higher the better.  He has a big spool that he sit on in the afternoon sun and scans the farm yard like some king on his throne.  He’s Miss Buttercup’s favorite fella.  He likes to get his head caught in the fence now and then.  He’s a goof.

Sophie kitty really likes the smell of the raw fleece and how soft it is.  We had to shoo her away several times!

Since fleece is sent in and processed by the pound, it’s a good thing to make sure all you send in is good!  So we take the time to skirt and pick the fleece and that makes for a much better roving that returns.  We shake it out super well, and then pull it apart to loosen up more dirt.  The mill prefers to clean the fleece and we don’t mind at all.  It takes a lot of washing and drying to get a fleece all clean!  But we sure do look through it for nasty bits of this and that as well as straw, hay and burr seeds!  Last year, all the goats got into the far back weed patch and managed to get quite cluttered up with nasty little seed bits.  It was a real struggle to get rid of all that we could find!  The mill will take care of the rest, but still, clean fleece in, even cleaner fleece out!

Such pretty fleece…  a nice heathery steel gray with just a little sunbleaching on the tips.  It will wash out and be a nice uniform color.  Can’t wait to see how it looks when it comes back.

Look at that pretty little wavy bit!  Looks like the 1920’s ladies with their permanent wave hairdos!

Sam’s picked fleece weighed in at just a little over 5 pounds.  Not too bad.  We really skirted it hard, just wanting the perfect good stuff in it.  The leftover bits we save if they are not tooooo nasty.  They make great stuff for cat toys and such.  The cats just love the scent of unwashed goat.  Apparently, its quite the acquired aroma!

Sam’s fleece will be back sometime middle to end of March.  Next up is Miss Lefty’s lovely light brown fleece.    And then we will have Shetland and Finn sheep fleeces to start sending in!  Can’t wait!  Shearing season is just around the corner and then comes lambing… spring is nearly here!