October is International Wool Month! It's a celebration of the remarkable qualities of wool! 
A biodegradable, sustainable and infinitely useful fibre that goes way beyond just clothing!
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Let's see how the roving spins up!
#ontariofibreshed #localwool #allwoolisgoodwool #ontariowool #ontariosheep

Once throught the false twist & another set of rollers, it's roving. It's strong enough to go through a guide & wound into a "bump" or oblong ball of roving. There's still some VM left, but nothing compared to where it began.
#ontariofibreshed #localwool #allwoolisgoodwool #ontariowool #ontariosheep

The veil goes through the circular diz, compressing it, making a "rope". Next is a set of rollers, flattening the rope. The false twist compresses & "locks" the fibres together.
#ontariofibreshed #localwool #allwoolisgoodwool #ontariowool #ontariosheep

ONce on the doffer drum, it's taken off with the doffer comb. It looks like it's scraping it, but it is really being combed. The wool likes to stick to itself, creating a cascade of wool fibres.
#ontariofibreshed #localwool #allwoolisgoodwool #ontariowool #ontariosheep

The wool then gets transferred to the smaller stripper, then to the larger worker roller to be taken to the drum. This also cleans the wool and evens it out. 
#ontariofibreshed #localwool #allwoolisgoodwool #ontariowool #ontariosheep

Carding begins with the licker-in. It begins to distribute the wool along the rollers as evenly as possible.
#ontariofibreshed #localwool #allwoolisgoodwool #ontariowool #ontariosheep

Let's pick it again to remove more VM and open the fibre up even more to make carding easier.
#ontariofibreshed #localwool #allwoolisgoodwool #ontariowool #ontariosheep

After the first round of picking, the wool is called cloud. The locks of wool have been separated.
#ontariofibreshed #localwool #allwoolisgoodwool #ontariowool #ontariosheep

Once washed & dry, the wool is picked to open it up. It's the first stage of removing VM (vegetable matter). The fast-revolving spiked drum of the picker can be very dangerous. NEVER put anything close to it while running.

#ontariofibreshed #localwool #allwoolisgoodwool #ontariowool #ontariosheep

We just ended our breeding season and it looks like the ewes and ewe lambs are happy to see each other again!

We expect to see our first lambs around May 10th.

#farminfrontenac
#ontariosheep
#sweetsheep
#canadianwool
#happysheep
#ewecandanceifewewantto
#alltogethernow