The Fiber and Wool Industry
Sol Criations began as an alpaca farm. It was our intention to raise beautiful alpacas and angora goats for their presence and their soft, warm fleece. We intended to sell their fiber and fiber products and to breed and sell alpacas. We took classes, visited shows and other farms and learned all we could before they arrived in our lives. We did sell fiber and product and we did breed alpacas. And, we learned through the industry and above all from the animals what it means to them. We never did sell any of the alpacas who live here or were born here. They are our family. What we learned about fiber and raising animals for production of any kind was the catalyst that changed our hearts, minds and lives and brought us to where we are now.
To focus specifically on fiber animals and wool production you must first understand that in the wild, fiber producing animals grow exactly the right amount of fiber/wool their bodies need to protect them in their natural environment and either maintain the correct amount or shed like other animals. Sheep, alpacas and other fiber animals have been selectively bred for thousands of years to produce highly unnatural amounts of fiber necessitating shearing and creating more product for the farmer to sell for profit.
Many are bred at a very young age. Often, they are artificially inseminated by humans (this was just approved for alpacas, as was embryo transfer). Or pen-bred to selectively breed for desirable qualities. Babies are often taken from their mothers too early to be sold. Shortly after birth, often, ear tags are punched into their ears, sheep tails are docked and males are routinely castrated without any anesthesia.
Australia is the largest wool producer where 50% of all merino wool is produced. Merino is desirable for it's soft, fine quality, but merino sheep in particular have been bred to produce incredibly large quantities of fiber and are unable to shed. They have folds in their skin where it becomes moist from the heat of the fiber and flies lay eggs in the moist folds of their skin. The hatched maggots can eat the sheep alive. To prevent this from happening, ranchers will perform a procedure called mulesing. Without anesthesia, large strips of flesh are cut of the backs of lambs and around their tails.
As animals age, they produce less and fiber becomes more course and as the industry progresses finer qualities emerge and older animals do not meet these newly ascribed qualities. Once fiber animals are no longer producing desirable fiber or often are not born possessing the quality demanded by farmers, they become useless and no longer an asset to the farm and are then sent to slaughter. Meat is a large part of the fiber industry.
Millions of lambs and sheep are exported for slaughter each year. In Australia, they have to travel long distances before reaching very crowded feedlots, where they are held before being loaded onto ships. Many sheep die in the holding pens. The sheep who survive the holding pens are packed tightly into ships. Lambs born during the trip are often trampled to death. A lot of sheep are injured or die.
Shearing is necessary for the well-being of the domesticated fiber animals due to the unnatural amounts of fiber they produce and can be done with gentleness and great care. However, often shearers are paid per animal and in haste the animals are treated harshly and cuts, scrapes and injuries are very common. Sheep are sheared in the spring, just before they would naturally shed their winter coats. Because shearing too late would mean a loss of wool, most sheep are sheared while it is still too cold. An estimated one million sheep die every year of exposure after premature shearing.
There are many other options and animal fiber is not necessary for us to use.
However, because these animals are no longer wild and have been bred to produce these extreme amounts of fiber, they need care and shearing for their own safety and well-being. They could not be released into the wild and survive. It would take hundreds of years to help them regain their natural state.
Here at SoL Criations as well as other farm sanctuaries, the fiber bearing animals are cared for with the utmost love, respect, kindness and compassion. They are sheared gently and with great care. They are not bred, sold as livestock for breeding or production purposes and their fiber is not used as for-profit sale.
Because many fiber producing animals live here with us, we do have a large amount of fiber. Some is given to the wildlife for nesting, some to our sponsors and we continue to look for positive uses for the fiber with the intention of creating awareness around the fiber animal industry and encouraging humane and compassionate care for fiber producing animals with the end goal of, over time, eliminating the use of animals for human purpose and returning them to their natural state.
To focus specifically on fiber animals and wool production you must first understand that in the wild, fiber producing animals grow exactly the right amount of fiber/wool their bodies need to protect them in their natural environment and either maintain the correct amount or shed like other animals. Sheep, alpacas and other fiber animals have been selectively bred for thousands of years to produce highly unnatural amounts of fiber necessitating shearing and creating more product for the farmer to sell for profit.
Many are bred at a very young age. Often, they are artificially inseminated by humans (this was just approved for alpacas, as was embryo transfer). Or pen-bred to selectively breed for desirable qualities. Babies are often taken from their mothers too early to be sold. Shortly after birth, often, ear tags are punched into their ears, sheep tails are docked and males are routinely castrated without any anesthesia.
Australia is the largest wool producer where 50% of all merino wool is produced. Merino is desirable for it's soft, fine quality, but merino sheep in particular have been bred to produce incredibly large quantities of fiber and are unable to shed. They have folds in their skin where it becomes moist from the heat of the fiber and flies lay eggs in the moist folds of their skin. The hatched maggots can eat the sheep alive. To prevent this from happening, ranchers will perform a procedure called mulesing. Without anesthesia, large strips of flesh are cut of the backs of lambs and around their tails.
As animals age, they produce less and fiber becomes more course and as the industry progresses finer qualities emerge and older animals do not meet these newly ascribed qualities. Once fiber animals are no longer producing desirable fiber or often are not born possessing the quality demanded by farmers, they become useless and no longer an asset to the farm and are then sent to slaughter. Meat is a large part of the fiber industry.
Millions of lambs and sheep are exported for slaughter each year. In Australia, they have to travel long distances before reaching very crowded feedlots, where they are held before being loaded onto ships. Many sheep die in the holding pens. The sheep who survive the holding pens are packed tightly into ships. Lambs born during the trip are often trampled to death. A lot of sheep are injured or die.
Shearing is necessary for the well-being of the domesticated fiber animals due to the unnatural amounts of fiber they produce and can be done with gentleness and great care. However, often shearers are paid per animal and in haste the animals are treated harshly and cuts, scrapes and injuries are very common. Sheep are sheared in the spring, just before they would naturally shed their winter coats. Because shearing too late would mean a loss of wool, most sheep are sheared while it is still too cold. An estimated one million sheep die every year of exposure after premature shearing.
There are many other options and animal fiber is not necessary for us to use.
However, because these animals are no longer wild and have been bred to produce these extreme amounts of fiber, they need care and shearing for their own safety and well-being. They could not be released into the wild and survive. It would take hundreds of years to help them regain their natural state.
Here at SoL Criations as well as other farm sanctuaries, the fiber bearing animals are cared for with the utmost love, respect, kindness and compassion. They are sheared gently and with great care. They are not bred, sold as livestock for breeding or production purposes and their fiber is not used as for-profit sale.
Because many fiber producing animals live here with us, we do have a large amount of fiber. Some is given to the wildlife for nesting, some to our sponsors and we continue to look for positive uses for the fiber with the intention of creating awareness around the fiber animal industry and encouraging humane and compassionate care for fiber producing animals with the end goal of, over time, eliminating the use of animals for human purpose and returning them to their natural state.