Fiber

Fiber is obviously a very important aspect of sheep and goat production. Ninety percent of the sheep in the world produce wool. Angora goats produce mohair. Cashmere goats produce the most luxurious fiber.

Australian Wool Innovation Limited
Canadian Cooperative Woolgrowers Ltd.
British Wool Marketing Board
Europa Wools Limited
Harvesting of Textile Animal Fibers - FAO United Nations
International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO)
Lifetime wool: more lambs, better wool, healthy ewes
Mohair Council of America
Mohair South Africa
Ron's Fiber Home
Tectra - education and training in New Zealand's wool industry
Wool News.net
Wools of New Zealand
Woolwise: Australian Wool Education Trust

Fact sheets

Angora Goat - North Dakota State Univ.
Australian Goat Notes: Fibre growth and production
California Wool Growers Association Wool & Fiber Page
Economics of wool production - Purdue University class project
Glossary of Wool Terms - Colorado St. Univ. | PDF
Grades and lengths of grease wool - Colorado St. Univ. | PDF
Pygora University™
[PDF] Selecting rams for wool production
Wool - Ontario, Canada
[PDF] Wool grades - New Mexico State Univ.
[PDF] Wool Grading - Montana State Univ.
[PDF] United States Standards for Grades of wool
Wool grading by the American Blood Count System
[PDF] Wool quality - Alberta Wool

Fiber evaluation

Evaluating alpaca fiber
[PDF] Evaluating wool on a live sheep
[PDF] Judging wool and mohair
[PDF] Hand spinning fleece
[SlideShare] An Introduction to Wool Judging
Judging wool sheep - Colorado State Univ.
Wool judging article - PLF Karakuls

Fiber testing

Australian Wool Testing Authority
New Zealand Wool Testing Authority Limited
Wool Testing Authority Europe Ltd.
Wool Testing Bureau S.A.
Wool testing services in New Zealand
Yocum-McColl Wool Testing Labs

Do-it-yourself fiber processing

Dyeing wool in a pot
Felting: the fabulous art of removing air
Felting for absolute beginners
Fiberville USA
Hand carding instructions at Mielke's Fiber Arts
[YouTube] How to dye wool with kool aid
[PDF] How to wash raw wool in your washing machine
The Joy of Handspinning
Learning to spin and felt
[PDF] Simple felt making
Skirting a fleece for carding
Try dyeing wool fleeces in the grease
Washing grease fleece
Washing fleece
Washing wool
Washing wool
Washing wool fresh off the sheep
The Woolery
Wool Works: dyeing fibers

Shearing

Be nice to your sheep shearer - Purdue Univ.
[PDF] Bioclip®: natural wool harvesting system
Blade shearing [www.shearingsheep.com]
Brian McGee shears a sheep - Cornell Univ.
[PDF] Goat shearing - UMass Extension
Shearing: Sheep 101
Shearing: Sheep 201
Shearing and skirting - Daneke Club Lambs
[PDF] Shearing feeder lambs by Joe Rook
[PDF] Shearing feeder lambs improves growth . . .
ShearingWorld.com
[PDF] Sheep shearing - UMass Extension
[PDF] Shearing your sheep - Alberta Sheep

Marketing

The Alpaca Fiber Market - New England Alpaca Owners & Breeders
Australian Goat Notes: Fibre marketing
Australian Mohair Marketing
Cashmere America: the national marketing cooperative
[PDF] Cashmere: new marketing opportunities - SA
[PDF] Handbook for wool pool management - West Virginia Univ.
Handling and marketing wool - Univ. Maine | PDF
How a wool pool works: the Maryland Wool Pool
Producing and marketing high qualitly wool - Univ. Kentucky
[PDF] Value-added marketing
Wool @ Agricultural Marketing Resource Center (AgMRC)
Wool marketing - American Sheep Industry Association
Wool Marketing: Sheep 201

Fiber co-ops and warehouses

Alpaca Fiber Cooperative of North America
Illinois Greener Pastures Fiber Cooperative
Mid-States Wool Growers Cooperative Association
New England Alpaca Fiber Pool
Primary Wool Cooperative Ltd. (NZ)
Roswell Wool
Texas Wool & Mohair LP
Wool and mohair warehous es
The Wool Clip

Custom processors

Bartlettyarns Inc.
Big Sky Quality Wool
Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill
Briggs & Little Woolen Mills Ltd.
Canadian Mills
Coed Mawr Woolen Mill
Crescent Woolen Mills Co.
Custom Woolen Mills
Custom wool spinning with Harrisville Designs
Dakota Carding & Wool Co.
The Fibre Company
Fingerlakes Yarn Home Page
Frankenmuth Woolen Mill
From Barn to Yarn
Georgia Mountain Fiber
Going to the Sun Fiber Mill
Green Mountain Spinnery
Gretchen's Wool Mill at Quiet Waters Farm
Illinois Wool & Fiber Mill
Kayala Farms
MacAusland's Woolen Mills
Morro Fleece Works
New Era Fiber
Ohio Valley Natural Fibers
Ozark Carding Mill
Pufpaff's Fiber Processing
Spinderella's Creations Fiber Mill
Still River Mill
Stonehedge Farm & Fiber Mill
St. Peter Woolen Mill
Taos Valley Wool Mill
Twist of Fate Spinnery
Wool Mill at Jehovah Jireh Farm
Wool processing at Thirteen Mile Lamb & Wool Co.
Wooly Knob Fiber Mill Inc.
Yolo Wool Mill
Zeilinger Wool Company

Fiber festivals

Best of the Southwest Fiber Arts Festival
Big Sky Fiber Arts Festival
California Wool & Fiber Festival
Great Lakes Fiber Show
Fiber Fair - Lambtown, USA
Iowa Sheep & Wool Festival
Kentucky Sheep & Fiber Festival | Facebook
Maine Fiber Frolic
Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival
Massachusetts Sheep & Woolcraft Fair
Michigan Fiber Festival
Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair
North Country Fiber Fair
Northern Michigan Lamb & Wool Festival
NYS Sheep & Wool Festival
Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival
Pennsylvania Endless Mountains Fiber Festival
Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival
Shepherd's Harvest Sheep & Wool Festival
Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair
Southwest Fiber Fair
Taos Wool Festival
Tennessee Fiber Festival
Upper Valley Fiber Fest
Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival | Facebook
Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival
Wool Fest Cumbria (UK)
Wool Festival
World Sheep & Fiber Arts Festival

The Maryland Small Ruminant Page [sheepandgoat.com] was created in 1998 as an information portal for sheep and goat producers and anyone else interested in sheep and goat production and marketing. The web site includes original documents and images as well as a comprehensive list of links pertaining to small ruminants and related topics. The web site was developed and is maintained by Susan Schoenian, Sheep & Goat Specialist at the University of Maryland's Western Maryland Research & Education Center. Susan has been with University of Maryland Extension since 1988. She holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Animal Science from Virginia Tech and Montana State University, respectively, and also attended The Ohio State University. Susan conducts the Western Maryland Pasture-Based Meat Goat Performance Test at her research facility in Keedysville. She raises Katahdin sheep on her small farm called The Baalands in Clear Spring, Maryland. Please direct all questions, comments, or suggestions to Susan at sschoen@umd.edu.

Disclaimer: The links contained on the Maryland Small Ruminant Page [sheepandgoat.com] and its affiliated pages are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of any person, organization, business, or product. The author disclaims any liability in connection with the use of this information. Users of this web site and all external links are encouraged to use common sense and sound judgement when evaluating information. Always consider the source, bias, timeliness, and logic of the web site, as well as author's expertise and bias, when evaluating information from the web.

Last updated 09-Mar-2010 by Susan Schoenian.