Showing posts with label shearing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shearing. Show all posts

Thursday, 24 June 2021

Hand Clipping Sheep

It's been a while since sheep have featured on the blog and I should say that these aren't mine! 
 

Some smallholder friends were struggling to get anyone to shear their sheep. The trouble is they only have 5 pet sheep. I lent them some hand sheers but I think a mixture of worry and lack of experience put them off. 

Thursday, 21 February 2019

Not Renting Land Anymore And Where Are The Sheep...

Something I've been putting off writing is how last year, towards the end of the summer, I sold the sheep.

Removing gates and other bits from the rented field

I've been feeling guilty about not blogging about it but also I've not been sure what to write.

Wednesday, 4 May 2016

Sheep's Wool As A Garden Mulch

It's fairly common knowledge that sheep's wool is a pretty low value commodity in this country, the cost of the wool only just covers shearing and that's not including your won time or taking it to the wool yard. 
It's a shame when you think that much of the wealth of this country was built on wool hundreds of years ago.
So I've been trying to think what to do with what I've got left from last year and one idea kept popping into my head - a garden mulch.
Covering a 4ft by 10ft bed
Reading about it there seems to have been a few people that have tried it and they all say good things. 
Here are a few of it's characteristics that will make it work well as a mulch - 
 It's good at suppressing weeds, 
Has good water retention, 
It's 100% natural, 
It'll bio-degrade over time, 
It'll hold the heat of the day and warm the soil, 
The lanolin in the wool acts as a natural slug deterrent  
It'll be great for the local bird population who'll have the best nests for miles around
As it rots it'll also put nitrogen back into the ground. 
Mulching between some newly planted Rosemary
I think this is worth a try so I've got a few fleeces out and set them in place and I've also added a few to sell on Etsy to see if other people are willing to give it a try.
What do you think? A good idea or not? anyone have any experience with using wool in this way?

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