What is harvested wool

In , 4. Although wool is grown around the world and processed by many farmers before sale The Futon Shop cuts costs to the consumer by purchasing raw wool bails directly! While it is not uncommon for manufacturers to use third parties to sort and garnett wool we purchase directly and garnett ourselves using our own machines!

The hard working sheep sheerers are to thank for getting us the best quality wool for any Non Toxic Mattress you see from The Futon Shop. Order one of our luxury chemical free mattresses with premium chemical free ingredients for a wide range of safer mattress options for your family while supporting those who believe in giving dignity, respect, and care, where it is due when working with animals.

The process of shearing usually happens once a year in the spring to keep sheep cool and harvest their fleece. Classers are advanced professionals with years of experience in shearing and are also responsible for ensuring that a pre-shearing check is made to ensure that the wool and sheep areas are free of possible contaminants. The main job for a classer is to supervise shed staff during shearing and train any inexperienced hands for work. At the end of a shearing day woolclassers then have to provide full documentation concerning the clip of wool harvested to verify the amount and quality.

Using an efficient system named the tally-hi method invented in Australia in the mid 20th century, sheep shearers make sure that each fleece is harvested quickly and painlessly for the sheep! It is not just important that animals are sheared safely by third party approved methods but that all animals are kept in care days a year and provided for as needed!

Seeing animals mistreated and uncared for is something that The Futon Shop does not support, which is why we go out of our way to purchase from farmers who care about animals and the quality of care they provide!

Did you know that there are over 47 breeds of sheep in the United States? Sheep can produce different wool according to the breed sheared. Long wool breeds, dual purpose breeds, hair breeds, and minor breeds are types of sheep that can be used for their wool or hair. Organic Sheep Farmers When you buy wool products it can be important to know exactly how the wool is grown. Much of this fiber is harvested from sheep being raised organically for meat. Although the United States Department of Agriculture can certify green pastures the practice of raising sheep for organic wool, most often takes place indoors.

The USDA qualifies that any sheep given only organic food is fit to produce organic wool as a sellable bi-product. The safety of sheep and the care that shearers take is very important not only to The Futon Shop but to the customers we serve! The wool industry makes the care of sheep a primary focus that is seriously advocated by many separate organizations to help regulate the safe care for animals. By making a conscious effort to educate the world on practices they take for treating animals humanely.

When you understand the care that shearers and sheep herders take to ensure proper care you will be happy to support american workers who believe in proper respect for animals. Not only do we depend on the best quality wool for our mattresses, we understand that the livelihood of our business and community is dependent on those who dedicate their lives to better farming practices.

Sustainable methods of farming are not just better for the animals, it is better for the environment. By having sheep graze in non-chemically treated fields, there is far less harm to the environment that conventionally grown cotton growing with pesticides causes. By avoiding synthetic fills you can keep unnecessary fillers out of the environment where they do not belong. The safe and proper care of animals is important, when we make any one of our mattresses with wool such as our Chemical Free Wool Mattress we want to support only those who have the same respect and sensitivity that we believe animals should be treated with.

Learn more about the current issues of animal safety that the domestic wool industry is currently fighting to solve! Posted in Wool. Toggle Nav. Futons Futon Mattresses. Best Selling Futon Mattresses. Chemical Free Futon Mattresses. Organic Futon Mattresses.

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Outdoor Futon Frames. Apart from the obvious care and respect we should show as humans to sheep, there are good commercial reasons for not harming sheep when shearing:. Although domesticated, sheep are essentially still wild animals and most of them are not household pets, so they need this respect.

Sheep are normally shorn on a wooden shearing board or floor, so that they will slide around easily — not on the ground! Also the board can be swept between each animal to avoid colours and qualities being mixed. Hence sweeping the board, with a clean sweep, has passed into the language for a proper clean result! There is a type of wool, known as slipe wool, which is taken from the skins of sheep slaughtered for meat when they are being made into leather rather than sheepskins using a process called fell-mongering, which uses sodium sulphide to dissolve the fibre roots in washed sheepskins so that it can be removed.

It appears likely that the origin of the word slipe may be from slipping, as if a sheepskin becomes warm instead of being cooled, washed and salted after it is removed from the sheep, the wool will fall or slip off as the roots of the hairs are closest to the skin which will begin to biodegrade with warmth.

Skip to main content. The Wool Journey part 5: harvesting the wool Harvesting in the case of wool means shearing. Apart from the obvious care and respect we should show as humans to sheep, there are good commercial reasons for not harming sheep when shearing: They are valuable animals and sickness or damage reduces their value Sheep have excellent memories and will behave badly when next shorn if they suffered the last time Repairing the damage takes time, which is at a premium when shearing large flocks Damage to the sheep can mean damage to the fleece and less value for the wool.

Sheep have complex digestive arrangements, needed to turn grass into nourishment, and if their stomachs are full of grass or even just water from drinking they are less able to tolerate being turned upside down and rotated to remove their fleeces, so they should be fasted for 12 hours overnight and in a dry barn before shearing.

If this is not possible they should be kept in a small enclosure with little grass. Like us they do not die of starvation, nor does their milk dry up, in a twelve hour period Weak, thin or unwell sheep and under-sized lambs should not be shorn — better to lose a fleece than a sheep! Larger, heavier animals may need two people to shear them, as does rooing as this is done standing Sheep should be organised in their normal family groups for shearing — this is not the time to wean lambs or put all the rams and ewes together!

Shearing is stressful and this should be minimised. Sheep should not be shorn the day after a long journey or when within five weeks of lambing, although trimming around the tail can be helpful for lambing ease and for the lambs to find the milk Sheep which are particularly large, or have back or other problems which would mean they should not be turned over may be shorn standing, generally leaving the legs and belly unshorn Sheep should not have been treated recently with anti-blowfly pesticides as this contaminates the wool and is not good for the shearer either - he or she will be getting multiple doses from each sheep shorn rather than the relevant dose for the sheep.

We would advocate not using these chemicals unless unavoidable As the sheep are already in and under control, this is also the time to check them carefully, trim and treat any feet which need it and replace lost ear tags, instead of subjecting them to a separate stressful event. Footnote about wool from dead sheep There is a type of wool, known as slipe wool, which is taken from the skins of sheep slaughtered for meat when they are being made into leather rather than sheepskins using a process called fell-mongering, which uses sodium sulphide to dissolve the fibre roots in washed sheepskins so that it can be removed.

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