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Adopt A Sheep
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The way it works is that you adopt a sheep for an entire year. Your sheep will emailed you a photo of itself and a short note from your sheep ( which I type for them) about what is going on right now. I try and do this several times during the adoption year, depending on what is happening on the ranch.
At the moment, I have many older sheep, that are not going to be adopted out. Due to my work schedule and running the ranch, I must limit the number of adoptions. This gives the adopted sheep more time to write you letters and notes. I get many inqueries every month about adoptions, and sometimes run short of time and can't acknowledge them all. When I have a sheep available for adoption, I'll respond to those I have put on the waiting list.
The adoption fee is $150.00, which includes the washing, carding the fleece to roving, and shipping of the fleece. An average fleece weighs about 4-6 pounds once it is skirted and washed and carded into roving. Sometimes due to weather or when I can get the sheep shearer out to the ranch, the fleece might be delayed in getting to you by a few months.
Then at the end of the year, I have the sheep shorn and wash the fleece and mail the fleece to you.
I also have a friend that has an adoption program for Shetland Sheep. You can see her adoption page at: http://woollymanor.com/adopt.html |
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In regards to the size of a fleece:
After I wash the fleece and then have it put into roving, the fleece weighs about 4-5 pounds, if it's less than that, I give the adopted moms a choice of extra fibers for blending. Usually every one picks a pound of the combed silk top I sell to fill in. I do reserve the right to substitute with a similar fleece if something happens. Sometimes and this has only happened once, if the sheep gets sick and runs a high fever, the fleece will get a wool break in it, and that ruins the entire fleece and that is an unforeseen disaster. I was able to save the sheep with the help of the vet, but the fleece was trash! The mom understood and selected a different fleece. |
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I keep a dozen sheep back for personal use, and a few of them are very old and are past the average life expectancy for sheep. Average life expectancy is around 10 years. I have 1 that is 11 and one is 16...and 4 that are 10 years old. I don't breed a ewe after they turn 8 years old as I feel they deserve not to have that stress put on them any more, plus it makes their fleece nicer if they don't breed. |
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If by some chance you choose not to spin the fleece and would like to felt it, Yolo Wool can turn it into large batts of wool for an additional $8.00 per pound. It is also very spinnable from the batt form. Then if you are not that much of a spinner but would just like to weave, knit or crochet your own fleece, Yolo Wool will turn the fleece into spun yarn, The prices on that vary as to if you want a single ply bulky or a knitting worsted weight two ply yarn. The prices on that run between $18 to $20 a pound based a spun finished weight. |
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Please email me for more information.. The photos of all the sheep are listed in alphabetical order by their names. I have named all my sheep after Star Trek characters as I'm a Trekkie from the original television series. |
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