No matter how hard you try, or which technique you use, you will never
get a "strong" wool to feel like a "fine" wool. You can certainly
"ruin" a fine fleece with bad technique and end up with a scratchy
yarn, but it won't have the durability or strength to be used as a rug
yarn.
As far as breeding for a fleece quality, start with a breed that has as
close to the characteristics as you want and then use selective
breeding to enhance one or two qualities that you desire.
Again, I took Black Welsh Mountain for the true black color, crossed
them with Romney for length. They're both considered 'strong' wools.
I was able to get consistent results. I then started crossing with the
merinos to improve the fineness. I've been getting consistent results
there too. It takes a good three generations to get what you want, but
it is achievable.
If you take a bunch of purebred dogs for example, and throw them in a
canyon together and come back in a few years, what would you find? A
bunch of mutts. You would sort them out by traits and characteristics
and selectively breed them to once again get Poodles, Dobermans, Fox
Terriers, Boxers, etc. But its going to take you much longer to get
those traits consistent again than it would to mix them all up.
Gabrielle Menn
www.fanfarefarms.com
Well, this certainly gives a different perspective from what I have
heard before. So, do you maintain two flocks if you want both baby
soft
fleece and stronger fleece or do you just rely on the spinning method
to
produce as soft a yarn as possible? Or maybe I just need to learn more
about the quality of a fleece when I feel it on the sheep. My
<snip>
I'd like to have both very soft, next to the skin fleece and stronger,
rug fleeces.
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