Now here are those lovely lamb pics I promised all taken before the lambs were 2 weeks old....in fact the white one and her black brother pictured here with their wensleydale mum were only a week old!
All the lambs were huge and all born very easily and quickly....I have concluded a Gotland x Wensleydale is a good idea!
I also want to show you some machinery.......that is very exciting!!
First take some weaving waste wool ends or old knitting wool, felt waste, insulation waste etc.....second take a chopper...thats the green machine dating from 1960 and feed in the wool and watch it shoot out of the end all chopped!
Next picture shows the chopped wool....different colour to the stuff I photographed going through the chopper....goes onto the wooden conveyor belt and is taken in through the rollers.....very well protected by a mesh guard as if you got caught in it ....you would come out in bits too....!!!
Third picture shows the other end and the beautiful web of blue it has turned into which can be made into batts for felt and insulation or tops for spinning or just fluff for blending with other wools and colours.
Final picture is a close up of the result.....amazing eh? We are the only people doing this as far as we can tell!
Get in touch quickly if you want a product made, want to make felt, want to recycle your wool, want to wash the wool from your sheep.....pics of the new solar panels powering the water for the washer next time.....
4 comments:
Val this is brilliant. I have always understood that wool insulation is more expensive than other forms of insulation and that's why it's not used so much. I really hope you can team up with other local businesses to produce some really exciting products. I'm a bit sorry we're too far away to be of any practical help! Best wishes as always
Gabrielle
Well isulation is VERY expensive mostly due to middle men costs and the costs of scouring(washing) the wool. I am going to do a blog soon on the story of why exactly wool IS so expensive. Many people are hoping I will go away and fail in my attempts to set up a sustainable business producing wool insulation BUT they have not reckoned on my bloodymindedness!
Great pictures! Looking forward to getting voer there to see it all soon, I hope.
MrsL
xx
Val! This is so awesome! I was showing my friend yesterday and we got so energised by what you're doing we were jibbering for hours!
I'm sad to read about you not keeping sheep anymore. But happy to read that you're doing it for a bloody good reason!
hen
xxxxx
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