Notes from Windward: #55
Taking a fleece to the County Fair
Unless you know what you're looking for, it's quite possible to
miss something that's right in front of you. That's almost what
happened with our sheep. I learned how to spin wool this spring,
and since our sheep are my main wool source, I became interested
in all the different types of sheep and fleece selection.
I especially recommend In Sheep's Clothing, A Handspinner's Guide
to Wool (Interweave Press) for it's close-up photos of over a
hundred fleeces. Our shearing is held in April and we had a
half-dozen fleeces stored "in the grease" (directly off the sheep
and not washed or scoured). When I compared samples from those
fleeces, I was amazed at how favorably they compared to
photos of some of the highest quality fleeces in In Sheep's
clothing.
Armed with my new-found knowledge, I decided to enter a fleece or
two at the Klickitat County Fair. My main interest was in
learning how the process works with an aim toward a serious entry
next year. I wasn't sure how to "present" the entry or how the
fleece would be judged. Although WSU Extension gave me a brief
pamphlet, I couldn't get much help on just what qualities the judge would be
looking for. I decided to give it a try and to attend the actual
judging to find out first-hand just what the criteria were. There
were three possible categories: natural colored, medium grade and
fine grade. I also thought "natural colored" meant dark colors,
but I soon found out that it means any color at all.
I entered a Suffolk fleece in the Medium Grade Division and a
Polypay-Columbia cross in the Natural Colored Division. The
Suffolk sheep are old and I knew the fleece was pretty dry. The
Polypay-Columbia was a good fleece, but I also knew it wasn't one
of our best. The really good ones had been used during our Wool Festival in
April. I went to the judging hoping to learn a lot, and I did.
The judge had raised sheep for over twenty years and really knew his
stuff.
I was back a ways in the crowd and couldn't tell for sure which
fleece he was always talking about, so I just listened. When he
judged the Natural Colored Division, I thought I could tell when
he judged our Polypay-Columbia, but the more I heard, the more I
thought I must be wrong. "Incredibly fine, lots of twist, good
lanolin content, excellent spinning fleece. Give this one a
first."
All fleeces earning a First Place in the division were
then judged against each other. We were awarded the ribbon for Champion Fleece!
For those of you familiar with fine wool, I'm proud to note that our fleece won out over
two Merinos, the breed which is widely considered to be the best. And, oh yes, our Suffolk fleece also
won a third place ribbon. Since Suffolks are considered "meat sheep", we're proud of them as well.
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