Sheep Shearing to Yarn: 20 Tips for Better Wool

A fleece off your own sheep can end up as soft yarn or in the trash, and most of that is decided long before the spinning wheel. My book "Your First Year with Sheep": https://sheepwithrandy.com/ In this video, Colorado sheep rancher Randy Davis walks through twenty practical tips on raw wool, from shearing day to washing, drying, carding, spinning and selling. Whether you keep a few sheep on a homestead or a bigger flock, these are simple steps that keep your wool clean, save you work, and help you get more out of every fleece. Chapters: 0:00 Why should sheep be dry before shearing? 0:57 Does it matter which sheep get sheared first? 1:45 Can hair sheep run with my wool sheep? 2:47 Why is baling twine so bad for wool? 3:36 Why is one fleece thick and another weak and thin? 4:27 What should I pull off a fleece before washing it? 5:18 Why won't the dirt wash out of raw wool? 6:08 Should I scrub wool while it's washing? 6:54 How do I wash wool without wrecking my back? 7:43 Is it worth saving the lanolin at home? 8:30 How many times do I need to rinse wool? 9:18 Can I pour wool wash water down the sink? 10:00 Do I have to pick out every bit of hay by hand? 10:46 What's the best way to dry washed wool? 11:34 Should I pick wool before carding it? 12:22 Hand cards or a drum carder: which one do I need? 13:08 Why does my yarn keep breaking on the spinning wheel? 13:57 Why does my knitting twist out of shape? 14:44 What can I do with wool scraps that are too short to spin? 15:30 Can I make money selling my wool? If this helped, subscribe for more practical sheep-keeping tips. #sheep #wool #rawwool #sheepfarming #homestead