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#1
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FAO SlinkyToy
i have a cleaning question or 6...
Radar, the lovely Angora wether, is due for fall shearing this week (as soon as i get his polarfleece coat finished... can't have the poor thing freezing). anyway, being his typical obnoxious goaty self, he's got hay & such in his hair. do i try to wash & comb him out before shearing (he had a bath a few weeks after he was neutered & boy did that improve his appearance & smellg)? or do i have to hand pick a couple pounds of mohair? before or after i wash it? on the off chance he may have picked up lice while on pasture, how does one remove the remains without destroying the fiber? TIA. i ruined his kid cut lee |
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#2
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Recommend you plan to pick after you shear, unless you can keep him on
clean pasture after you comb him out. Combing WILL blow the lock structure so making Santa beards will be pretty much blown. Why shear now? Usually the fall shearing is for lambs born in the spring that are going to the locker, and for some breeds such as Icelandics that put on inordinate amounts of growth otherwise... On 3 Nov 2003 01:43:09 GMT, enigma wrote: i have a cleaning question or 6... Radar, the lovely Angora wether, is due for fall shearing this week (as soon as i get his polarfleece coat finished... can't have the poor thing freezing). anyway, being his typical obnoxious goaty self, he's got hay & such in his hair. do i try to wash & comb him out before shearing (he had a bath a few weeks after he was neutered & boy did that improve his appearance & smellg)? or do i have to hand pick a couple pounds of mohair? before or after i wash it? on the off chance he may have picked up lice while on pasture, how does one remove the remains without destroying the fiber? TIA. i ruined his kid cut lee |
#3
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SlinkyToy wrote in
: Recommend you plan to pick after you shear, unless you can keep him on clean pasture after you comb him out. Combing WILL blow the lock structure so making Santa beards will be pretty much blown. ok. he tends to get hay dropped on his back by the llamas, so hopefully leaving him coated this winter will help keep his spring clip a bit less messy. i should have clipped him a couple weeks ago before we started feeding hay again, but.... Why shear now? Usually the fall shearing is for lambs born in the spring that are going to the locker, and for some breeds such as Icelandics that put on inordinate amounts of growth otherwise... Angora goat. he *needs* to be clipped twice a year. i didn't clip him last fall & he had over 10" of dirty starting to mat hair when i did clip in spring. i ruined it (well, Tom did actually. i had to take the toddler somewhere so Tom "helped") trying to get it clean. he washed it before i skirted & picked... and he figured stirring it up would clean it faster. 10 pounds of dirty mohair in a 15 gallon bucket....it wasn't pretty. at least he's been on pasture & only has a little hay in the hair right now... lee |
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Hm, I've got friends who keep mohairs (what us ignant Texans call 'em)
and they only clip in the spring. Who knew This year send the husband off with the kidlet! On 3 Nov 2003 12:49:06 GMT, enigma wrote: SlinkyToy wrote in : Recommend you plan to pick after you shear, unless you can keep him on clean pasture after you comb him out. Combing WILL blow the lock structure so making Santa beards will be pretty much blown. ok. he tends to get hay dropped on his back by the llamas, so hopefully leaving him coated this winter will help keep his spring clip a bit less messy. i should have clipped him a couple weeks ago before we started feeding hay again, but.... Why shear now? Usually the fall shearing is for lambs born in the spring that are going to the locker, and for some breeds such as Icelandics that put on inordinate amounts of growth otherwise... Angora goat. he *needs* to be clipped twice a year. i didn't clip him last fall & he had over 10" of dirty starting to mat hair when i did clip in spring. i ruined it (well, Tom did actually. i had to take the toddler somewhere so Tom "helped") trying to get it clean. he washed it before i skirted & picked... and he figured stirring it up would clean it faster. 10 pounds of dirty mohair in a 15 gallon bucket....it wasn't pretty. at least he's been on pasture & only has a little hay in the hair right now... lee |
#5
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In article , enigma
wrote: SlinkyToy wrote in : Recommend you plan to pick after you shear, unless you can keep him on clean pasture after you comb him out. Combing WILL blow the lock structure so making Santa beards will be pretty much blown. ok. he tends to get hay dropped on his back by the llamas, so hopefully leaving him coated this winter will help keep his spring clip a bit less messy. i should have clipped him a couple weeks ago before we started feeding hay again, but.... Why shear now? Usually the fall shearing is for lambs born in the spring that are going to the locker, and for some breeds such as Icelandics that put on inordinate amounts of growth otherwise... Angora goat. he *needs* to be clipped twice a year. i didn't clip him last fall & he had over 10" of dirty starting to mat hair when i did clip in spring. i ruined it (well, Tom did actually. i had to take the toddler somewhere so Tom "helped") trying to get it clean. he washed it before i skirted & picked... and he figured stirring it up would clean it faster. 10 pounds of dirty mohair in a 15 gallon bucket....it wasn't pretty. at least he's been on pasture & only has a little hay in the hair right now... lee Lee you are right, it is better to not skip a annual clipping. I just worked with Llama fleeces. The owner of the llamas got very ill last year and the animals were not shorn, and ended up with nearly two year growth of hair. From the 28 lbs collected, only 8 lbs was good enough for spinning the rest went in the garbage. Matted and badly felted fleece. Badly tippy locks. Hay mad and other foreighn material all through the fleece. The minerals in mud do great damage to wool over long periods of time. The tips of the locks had totally disintegrated. Llama fleeces can be so nice and soft. Animals grown for wool, should be shorn at least once a year. Els -- I have added a trap for spammers......niet..... |
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#7
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In article , enigma
wrote: (Els van Dam) wrote in : snip snip Lee the eight lbs that were left over, I will have processed by a professional miller. She has alpacas and llamas as well. One fleece is white and the other brown and white, they are both lovely and I am looking forward to spinning it. While sorting the fleeces Ipulled out the Guard or kemp hair. I am going to try it in kumihimo braiding, it asked to be worked into something. One of the many jobs waiting in line. Good luck with the shearing of your llamas. Is it costly to have it done by professional shearers?. My friend who is terminal ill with cancer, did it with her husband. He used the hand snips (the ones you use for sheep) and she used her own hair clippers. Even when they had the animals well tied up between two fences, it was a big job. They did not have the money for a professional shearer, and it had to be done. I do hope to spin enough yarn so i can knit her a scarf to keep warm. Els -- I have added a trap for spammers......niet..... |
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