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Batch 10

Please click for the page listing all WeatherWool Fabric Batches.

This page will present the timeline for Batch 10. WeatherWool usually makes our first actual purchases from the Ranchers in April. In the case of Batch 10, that would mean we commit in April of 2023 and hope for the first garments to be completed around April of 2024. Click here for a general "Start to Finish" timeline. But Batch 10 is behind Batch 9, which, as of late 2023, we are a long way from completing. So the Batch 10 timeline will be extended.

Batch 10 greasy (raw) wool has been purchased. We started working on this in April and we didn't finish arrangements with the ranchers until August of 2023, which took longer than usual. But we're doing things a little differently this year.

The different clips will have different yields of clean fiber because of differing levels of lanolin, dirt, vegetable matter. The ewes and yearling are sheared separately because the yearling clip is normally a little shorter and a little finer. Here's the breakdown of the greasy and the clean fiber.

  • INNES EWE (out of Wyoming):  15,966 pounds (7241 kg), 37% of the greasy / 41% of the clean
  • INNES YRLNG (Wyoming):  4403 pounds (1997 kg), 10% / 11%
  • CRAVENS EWE (New Mexico):  15,384 pounds (6977 kg), 36% / 30%
  • JONES EWE (New Mexico):  4443 pounds (2015 kg), 10% / 10%
  • JONES LAMB (New Mexico):  877 pounds (398 kg), 2% / 2%
  • JEWELL EWE (Colorado):  713 pounds (323 kg), 2% / 2%
  • JEWELL YRLNG (Colorado):  615 pounds (279 kg), 1% / 2%
  • PADULA EWE (Minnesota):  936 pounds (424 kg),2%/ 2%

Total greasy weight of 43,337 pounds (19654 kg). Estimated yield of clean fiber is 24,959 pounds (11,319 kg). And the yield of top will be somewhat less. But we won't do any processing of Batch 10 until Batch 8 Fabric is used up and Batch 9 Fabric mostly in garments.

 

7 July 2023
All of Batch 10 is locked up and I need to update here with some more info!  But I wanted to put one thing quick before I forgot. .... FUNNY ... Debby and I actually were RANCH HANDS (for about 4 hours!) at Advisor Bob Padula's PM Ranch. We "helped" while the flock was being weighed, vaccinated and wormed. This is a new level of participation for us. (LAUGHING!)

29 April 2023
This morning, Advisor Mike Corn, partner managing the Spring Auctions at Roswell Wool, wrote to confirm these WeatherWool purchases at the April Auction:

  • Jones Estate Ranch, Ewe Clip, 4,476 pounds (2030 kg) gross. Net weight will be about 1% less
  • Jones Estate Ranch, Yearling (Lamb) Clip, 883 pounds (400 kg) gross
  • Cravens Ranch, Ewe Clip, 15,483 (7022 kg) pounds gross. (Need to get some material from Mark Cravens for the Cravens Ranch page!)

There are three other clips I have in mind that should bring our total to 35,000 or maybe 40,000 pounds. Generally, we need to send Chargeurs 40,000 pounds (a full truckload) for them to make Custom Top.

We have previously purchased from both Jones and Cravens, and Batch 10 may not include fiber from any ranches that are new to us.

Lastly, all our purchases are contingent upon lab test results from the New Zealand Wool Testing Authority. (Suitable testing is not done in the USA.)

24 April 2023
Over the weekend I spoke with Advisor Mike Corn, whose Corn Ranch has been a steady supplier of fiber for us since we began. Mike is also a partner of Roswell Wool, which offers auction and brokerage services through which we have always purchased our greasy. Mike said because of the atrocious weather in the American West this spring (people are telling me it's a 'non-spring'), everything is delayed and it looks like our Batch 10 acquisitions will be pushed back into May, at least in part.

23 April 2023
We are trying to figure out something special, separate from the rest of Batch 10, to do with the 17.5 micron lamb's wool from John Jewell, mentioned in the previous entry.

20 April 2023
Today, it was great to receive a phone call from Rancher John Jewell, whose focus is breeding sheep that produce great wool. Of course, Jewell Ranch does produce wool, and it's an honor that John offered his clip to us. This year, Jewell will have about 1200 pounds (544 kg) of ewe wool that John estimates will test at 19.5 micron with a yield of 70%. John has a similar amount of lamb's wool that he expects will test at 17.5 micron and 70%. Last year, Jewell Ranch produced the finest, cleanest, longest, and strongest (tied with Innes Ranch) of all the Batch 9 fiber. It's crazy that John's wool would lead in all categories, particularly in that all the greasy we purchase is truly premium fiber.

20 February 2023
Today I spoke with Dirk Jones, of the Jones Family Ranch in New Mexico.  Over the generations the Jones have developed their own Debouillet Sheep, a Merino-class wool sheep that has won wide admiration.

The Jones have just finished shearing today, and Dirk was very happy with the wool, although he said this year's clip will be down 20 or 25% from last year because of drought conditions.

The high desert of New Mexico continues to be a difficult place for sheep ranching, BUT capable of producing some wonderful fiber. Dirk told me that this morning, as he drove the range, the first thing he saw was a sheep freshly killed by a coyote. The predators are a huge problem for the ranchers.

We hope to buy the Jones clip again this year.

Late January 2023
A really nice phone call with John Jewell. John is growing some of the most amazing wool anywhere. Fine, long, strong and clean to an amazing extent!  We anticipate purchasing some fiber from Jewell Ranch again for this batch.