All fiber animals must be sheared at least once per year. Angora goats must be sheared at least twice a year. Without shearing these animal will be weighted down by fiber and will become overheated. See the link at the bottom of this post for more information about shearing.
My initial thought was that I would be able to shear my own animals, but quickly realized I did not have the skill, speed or confidence to get this done quickly. I have a shearer come to my farm twice a year to shear for me. I collect the fiber as the shearer makes quick work of the shearing. The fiber is then bagged and eventually skirted and cleaned.
Skirting is the initial sort where the staple length is evaluated as very short cuts aren’t any good for felting or spinning, they could however be used for stuffing. Most fiber farmers toss the really small stuff, but I keep everything. I am running my fiber farm as a business and don’t like to waste anything. Folks who run larger farms most likely don’t keep the smaller cuts.
Next I like to tumble the fiber as this shakes out some of the Vegetative Matter (VM). After tumbling I either pick or wash the fiber. The order of processing is a personal choice and for me it depends on what sort of dirt I am dealing with. If there is a lot of dirt and or urine I opt to wash first, if not I might pick first. You can pick by hand basically just pulling the fiber apart pick out more VM. Picking equipment is also available. I have a small table size picker that is a wooden box with lots of nails in it that you slide the fiber back and forth across the nails. This process opens the fiber and allows more VM to be pulled from the fiber. Short video clip of the picker to come.
Next I wash – see blog on Washing Fiber. After washing the fiber is carding which can be done by hand or by using a crank or electric carder.