The Vancouver Island Fibreshed (VIF) is setting up regional Shearing Support Teams (north, mid, and lower VI and Gulf Islands) to work with sheep farms in their area. We hope to build relationships between farmers and consumers, assisting farmers on shearing day to bring value to their fleeces. Please note, at this time we will only be working with sheep/wool farmers but hope to expand this program to other fibre farmers in the future.
The shearing support teams will skirt fleeces, evaluate them for fibre quality, label, and provide farmers with a list and/or spreadsheet containing: fleece description, animal name, fleece weight and staple length, fleece quality, and probable fibre use. We are a small team and can’t guarantee team availability for all requests but will do our best!
For more information, please see our letter to farmers and our letter to volunteers (linked here). If you are interested in participating in the program, you’ll find links to sign up in those letters.
We do ask that all participants be members of the Fibreshed ($25 annual membership). Our pilot program farmers have been very positive in their feedback, appreciating the help and also learning more about what makes a marketable fleece.
Testimonial: The Fibreshed Shearing Support team visited my farm for the second year this September on shearing day. Ably led by Amy Crook, the team quickly and efficiently skirted, evaluated and bagged 18 fleece, saving me a ton of time and allowing the shearing process to move forward quickly and efficiently. The Fibreshed team came fully equipped; the only thing I provided were skirting tables. They were on time, courteous and we had a lot of fun! The written evaluations of each fleece were invaluable in the selling process of the fleece. I recommend the Fibreshed
Shearing Support team very highly to all shepherds here on the Island.Anne Everett of Mountain View Icelandics