Ffarm Fach’s flock of Shetland/Ryeland ewes offer a number of fine-quality fleeces for sale. These are ideal for handspinning & are available in a variety of natural colours as follows:
1.70 kg: dark chocolate/moorit-type colour approx = £1.19
2.00 kg: dark grey+fawn/emsket-type colour approx = £1.40 (Sold)
2.20 kg: fawn on dark chocolate/mioget colour approx = £1.54 (Sold)
2.40 kg: mid-dark chocolate/moorit colour approx (damp hence only) = £1.40
2.60 kg: silver+fawn/musket colour approx = £1.82
2.60 kg: pure white fine No 1 = £1.82
2.80 kg: dark chocolate+fawn tips on silver/mioget colour approx = £1.96 (Reserved)
3.00 kg: silver+grey/musket colour approx = £2.10 (Sold)
3.75 kg: silver+some chocolate/musket colour approx = £2.63 (Sold)
4.60 kg: white fine No 2 = £3.22 (Sold)
Prices are based upon the British Wool Marketing Board’s average projected overall price for wool sold under their jurisdiction & so offers good value to those wishing to spin raw wool at home but who are otherwise without access to a ready supply of fleece. Please refer to the header photograph of our general ‘Sheep’ page for a picture of the fleeces in their woolsack, taken just after they had been sheared earlier this year.
I must stress that we’re not interested in making any profit on our wool; all we’re doing is helping to cover our shearing costs. Unfortunately we were not sent a Wool Ticket this year so as it would cost us around £70 to courier our fleeces to our ‘local’ Wool Marketing Board offices in Brecon, we’d be sorely out of pocket if we did so! Besides, I’d far rather see these lovely fleeces in their myriad natural colours go to good homes where they’ll be made into beautiful garments as they deserve; than used for loft insulation or whatever.
Please note prices are non-negotiable & are NOT inclusive of P&P should the purchaser wish to have their fleece delivered via Royal Mail.
Thank you for your interest & we’d be grateful for any photos of the resultant garments this lovely, soft wool produces!
I’m a spinner living in Dubai, UAE for 9 years. Would like to know what it would cost to send aprox. 2.5 KG fleece here to me? If it were mailed to NE Lincolnshire what would the cost be?
Also, the prices above are for what weight of fleece?
Thanks for your help
By: Gail DeVille on December 31, 2007
at 7:58 pm
“Hello out there in sunny Dubai, Gail –
I suppose you weren’t dreaming of a white Christmas so I hope the fact that it’ll be snowing on the Blog until 2nd January makes you feel more at home!
On the question of fleece prices, the actual weight of each fleece is underlined at the front of each entry above: I’ve actually categorised & recorded every individual fleece, they aren’t in groups (we only had eleven to start with!).
In terms of the size you’re after, I’d go for either of the 2.6 kg fleeces, one of which is silver & fawn, & the other is pure white & belongs to our favourite ewe, Angelica (or ‘Jelly’, as she prefers to be known!). So it depends on whether you’re looking for a natural colour, or for something to dye – in which case of course, you’d need the white one.
I’ll find out from Royal Mail the cost of despatch both to Dubai & to Lincolnshire – although it may be a couple of days before I can get back to you, as being New Year it’s a bit quiet at the mo!
There is a 2.4kg chocolate fleece available; but I’d prefer that any potential purchaser actually sees it first as it was damp when placed in the woolsack; whilst it’s probably fine I’m not a spinner myself (no time, alas) & I wouldn’t want a disappointed customer! If you’d like a chocolate one I’d suggest the little 1.7 kg fleece instead, it’s lovely.
Hope this helps & Happy New Year –
Jo.”
By: LittleFfarm Dairy on January 1, 2008
at 10:48 am
“Hi again Gail –
in answer to your question reference costs to send a fleece directly to Dubai, it would cost between £40-£95 depending on the size of the package as well as the weight (for air freight hold space is a premium). To send the fleece to Lincolnshire would, conversely, cost £8.24.
Please bear in mind these costs do not include packaging although obviously I’d do my best to keep those to a minimum for you.
There are several couriers offering their services on the Internet, charging a broad spectrum of prices; I dare say if you ’shopped around’ you could get the service for less. I’d do it mysef but as I’m sure you can appreciate time is of the essence here on the Ffarm….!!
Best wishes –
Jo.”
By: LittleFfarm Dairy on January 2, 2008
at 11:25 am
Hello, do you still have the:
2.60kg of the fine white no 1,
and the 2.80 kg: dark cohocolate+fawn tips on silver/mioget colour
If so can you give me a price including postage? I’ve moved from sunny london to cold scotland and want to knit lots of warm items in time for next winter!
Please email me, thanks, Abi
By: Abigail Faldrowicz on April 9, 2008
at 5:07 pm
“Hi Abi,
thanks for your interest. Yes we still have those two fleeces – prices as listed above. The two fleeces together would cost £3.78.
Unless Royal Mail charged me more I’d estimate P&P at approximately £18.50; this includes standard delivery for a 4 kg parcel @ £6.85. Owing to the length & girth of each fleece I’d have to send each one seperately (=£13.70 postage). I can’t specifically say how much wrapping materials for each fleece (& they’re big parcels!) would cost at this point. There’s also the time it takes to sort & wrap them; plus two trips into the local town (approx 15 minutes’ drive away), to buy the packaging & to deliver them to the Post Office for despatch.
Unfortunately as we only mail out fleeces very rarely we don’t keep a large stock of packaging materials on ’standby’ – it simply wouldn’t be viable.
I’m sure there must be cheaper methods of standard UK delivery if you wanted to explore those for yourself (i.e. Nightfreight, DHL etc) – but we do prefer to support our local Post Office; & unfortunately don’t have the time to do price comparisons of delivery methods – there already aren’t enough hours in a day, & we’re finding that owing to the relatively high cost of postage, people generally don’t buy fleeces ‘mail order’. Subsequently we have wasted a lot of time in the past, price-seeking for people who then haven’t come back to us to advise us they don’t want the fleeces after all!
As a result we’ve lost out more than once – as I do hang onto them if people have expressed an interest; so I’ve subsequently also lost sales to other interested parties.
Therefore I’m happy to reserve these for you, for 2 calendar weeks; but would sincerely appreciate a response – either way.
Very best of luck with the move to Scotland – lucky you, out of the ’smoke’ & into all that lovely fresh air – even if it might be a wee bit colder….!”
By: LittleFfarm Dairy on April 10, 2008
at 7:34 am
Hi,
Sorry I didn’t notice this page when I commented, must have been one of those days!
I am interested in the pure white fleece No1 if you still have it available.
Could you let me have an idea of the total price, I’m in Devon. I have a paypal account to send the money if that is any good or am happy to send you a cheque.
Perhaps you could email me with the details.
Many thanks.
By: Mindie on May 21, 2008
at 12:42 pm
“Hi Mindie –
yes the fleece is available; will have to get back to you next week ref delivery costs as very busy this week I’m afraid!”
By: Jo @ LittleFfarm Dairy on May 21, 2008
at 3:11 pm
Hiya, I’m looking for a fleece, but notice the site may not have been updated for a while……do you have any available?
By: Helen on November 10, 2008
at 12:30 am
“Hi Helen,
We do have some available although I haven’t had a chance to grade them as yet – nor am I sure as to what state they’re in as I haven’t looked at them for a while.
Probably best to call again after our next shearing – keep an eye on the Blog for news but I imagine it’ll be somewhere around mid-late June.”
By: LittleFfarm Dairy on May 15, 2009
at 6:45 pm
Hi,
I’m interested in buying some fleeces but am not sure what you have at the moment. I’m interested in pure white fine, and silver and fawn/musket. (I like any of the browns, creams etc )
We’re in winchester, Hants. Many thanks
Chris
By: Chris Bishop on May 9, 2009
at 4:02 pm
“Hi Chris,
sorry, nothing for sale at the mo as I just haven’t had time to sort through & clean & grade the fleeces we’ve got available.
To be honest I’ve pretty much given up selling the fleeces via anything other than local/direct sales, having become continually frustrated with spending a great deal of time & effort working out the cost of P&P for people who express interest in purchasing a particular fleece; for them then to not even acknowledge my reply (via comment & followed up by email).
Unfortunately I typically work an 18 to 20-hour day at present; so have precious little time to dedicate to fleeces which to be honest are worth too little to expend so much time over.
We sold many of the ewes at the beginning of the year; so just after shearing should have some white spinners’ fleece as well as one coloured fleece. I can weigh & measure the bundled fleece & if you’re willing to arrange shipping can take it from there for you.
Should know more in around 6 weeks when hopefully shearing will be done & dusted for another year.”
By: LittleFfarm Dairy on May 15, 2009
at 6:38 pm
Hi,
Many thanks for your reply. If I contact you in about five weeks time and maybe come down to the farm when you’ve done the shearing? Its just as easy for us to come to you and it gives us an excuse to have a weekend in Wales again. I love it there…and I notice that there is a local b & b!
I appreciate you are really busy so its just as easy for us to come to you. I’ve always wanted my own smallholding but as I am preparing for a nomadic existence in my caravan it doesn’t look like its going to happen here! Perhaps in France in a few years time…?
So if that suits you just let me know as would love some of the fleeces and are quite happy with however you wish to manage it.
Many thanks
Chris
By: Chris Bishop on May 16, 2009
at 11:20 am
“Hello again Chris –
yep, that’d be fine – & at least you’d get to hand-pick exactly the fleeces you want (as well as meeting the menagerie!). Obviously I’ll need to look at the diary a little closer to the time (I’m sure you can appreciate that the summer – & especially weekends – are our busiest time!); however I’m sure we can sort something out.
Grading, weighing, packing & despatching the fleeces all takes up quite a bit of time; & a ’round trip’ to the local town takes the best part of an hour not to mention fuel costs which I really don’t feel I can pass on to the customer as the fleeces themselves are worth so little & postage costs are so astronomical.
But it’d be lovely to see you & perhaps we can even persuade you to sample some gelato & do a bit of bottle-feeding whilst you’re here….?!
And it’s certainly a wonderful area to stay awhile, as the countryside is glorious; the mountains, stunning; the beaches, beautiful; & with so much in the way of mysterious ancient sites & settlements, romantic ruined castles & pretty little market towns there’s lots to see as well. Plus amazing local wildlife & – of course – fantastic local food….I only wish we’d moved here sooner. “
By: LittleFfarm Dairy on May 16, 2009
at 12:09 pm
Hi,
That sounds great! Just let me know when you have the time for us to visit and we would be more than happy to do some bottle-feeding. I used to do it when I was a child in Ireland when my father used to take them in when the local farmers had too much to handle.
We’d actually moved back to Ireland for a year and tried to get to some lambs but fate propelled us back here to Winchester so I never got my lambs!!
We can definitely be persuaded to sample some gelato…
Again, just let me know when it would be convenient for you and we will pop down.
Many thanks and good luck with all your work.
By: Chris Bishop on May 18, 2009
at 5:17 pm