Stephanie Fehler

I just started with sheep/goats three years ago, and i did ask everyone around me (in my neighbourhood) for advice, and i took a lot of that advice - a lot of people in my area worm twice a year. I was lucky, a neighbour invited me over to help him do his goats - i got a TON of experience doing sub-q injections on his animals before i had to do my own. I moved out to the farm for a lot of reasons, but assuming it would be a little more socially isolated. But it's far more interconnected than it ever was in town. I need other people, and i can be useful to them, too. I like it

I thought I'd post one more idea that my friend gave me - it's actually not just for scurfy wool, but for the little gross crotch bits or belly bits that are more fetid. She said to collect those up and put them underneath plants as you plant them in the garden or in containers (but smell?) - over time, the plants are watered, the roots reach down to the rich poopy wool - and it gives them timed release fertilizer? Not sure if anyone's tried this, but i think i may

Travis Johnson wrote:Treat it with borax and use it as insulation. (You need borax because it repels rodents from using it for nests).

Thanks, Travis! I asked my other sheep friends around here, and one insulated an outhouse, one a chicken coop, and one other structure - so that's on my list, too!
I didn't know to treat with borax, would i just soak it in diluted borax and let air dry? (doable)

kadence blevins wrote:if there isn't tons of scurf in it I wouldn't bat an eye at spinning it. I have spun some that it wasn't noticeable at all. of course it was white wool and wasn't dyed which helps. black wool would make it more noticeable. but I noticed some of it carded out and I picked out a bit while spinning.

If there is quite a bit in it then it wouldn't hurt to spin it bulky and use it for a rug where it wont need to look super perfect anyhow.

what part of the world are you in?

Thanks, Kadence! I'm in northern Canada . The first few websites i read said to just discard it, but i DID want to make a new rug... we'll see. I'm new to spinning, too (watched some of your videos) - so we'll see how it goes

as a newer member, i just wanted to pipe up and ask any Gerts lurking to please come out and tell their story! I am a 42 year old wife, mom to eight kids, and i lived in town and had given up my dream of the rural life. I thought God had just said no, and we were getting older, and I'd just join some boards in town and do good where i was planted. And a friend got deported back to the States, and was selling her farm, and it just all fit together, and here we are. It's been three years, and i am still figuring it out. JUST got my "Back to Eden" garden started this year after three years of increasingly more weeds in my huge garden - swapped a piglet for the wood chips. Swapped some lambs for a nice big shed to hold my animal supplies. We've got a milk cow and a Jersey bull calf that i keep being assured will be sold this weekend, a milk goat, a small flock of sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits - i am probably doing too many things, but i'm having fun - built a fleece washing station last weekend and it works great to get fleeces clean enough to card and spin... I am lucky bcz my husband works in town. But even though i have to do most of the work on my own or with children helping , i'm so grateful, and he does see the good in what we're doing. Our first spring, we planted some fruit trees (we are very far north in Canada) - we thought none made it through that first hard winter, but this year we have apple blossoms ... I am looking for the creative thought that says "we don't need that, we can use.... instead" or "instead of buying X, let's make Y, with Z that we already have for free!"...

So, upon shearing, i realized that my llama has something like scurf, and so do some of the sheep. Apparently, shearing should help cure this - and i plan to worm them all after lambing is over. (but i am sad that Beyonce's fleece was unusable... ) Anyway, I am looking for ideas to use up the scurfy wool. I don't want to just throw it out, because i'm sure i can use it for something... but i need ideas!

Some ideas I've had - use it in the garden as a mulch? - cons - i've heard that it doesn't biodegrade easily.
use it to keep plants warm at the end of the summer (we live very far up north in Canada) - possible?
use it to insulate the greenhouse my husband says he will build me this summer? OR insulate lambing jugs in the pole barn? Even just the lower four feet or so?

Any other ideas? I'm going to see what i can salvage/wash/card/spin - but i have wool from fifteen ewes, one ram, and one llama. So, i have quite a bit of wool that needs to find a use which is not in my spinning wheel...

That was neat to see the results after putting in my answer. We have 24 acres, some woods (just poplar and some ash, mostly), some sheep, milk goats, chickens, ducks, and rabbits. We feed with our own hay, and i'm hoping to expand our sheep flock ... We have a big garden (50by 60) but with a family of ten (we have eight children), that's a nice "extra" - not even really enough to keep up with demand. But we're also fairly far north in Canada, so growing season is very short...