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When I became vegan I really only focused on food. I didn't buy clothes that much and when I did I only bought cotton anyway, just as a personal preference aside from animal rights. I was confronted recently about some type of conscious wool, claim being that the sheep are not used for food and are on kind farms but still get sheared. I didn't know if that was a gimmick so it made me wonder:
Do sheep that go to farms after being saved, like places like Farm Sanctuary still shear their sheep?
I know hardly anything about the creatures, so people who have actual experience with them in person please feel free to reply as to your thoughts.
Do sheep that go to farms after being saved, like places like Farm Sanctuary still shear their sheep?
I know hardly anything about the creatures, so people who have actual experience with them in person please feel free to reply as to your thoughts.
Responses (4)
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Posted by kindlizard at 03/09/09 15:43:40
Well, I got so curious I called. They DO get sheared. The animals had been bred for it and they would die from heat exhaustion otherwise. However, they lay the wool in the pastures for animals to use. They also take their time to be very careful rather than the farmers who are farming wool, time is money. Farm Sanctuary seems really cool and I appreciated the nice lady answering this question for me.
I'd like to ask more questions to the "eco-wool" folks I talked to. They claimed not to kill the sheep they sheared. Let's hope that's the case anyhow.
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Posted by william morrison at 03/11/09 16:16:21
I often wonder if rescued sheep can be ethically sheared for their wool. Is there organic wool of this kind say from the sanctuaries?
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Posted by kindlizard at 03/12/09 13:51:18
"However, they lay the wool in the pastures for animals to use."
I wrote that in the post b/c that is what they told me when I asked them what they did with their wool. So, no, they do not sell their wool.
It made me feel like maybe wool is less friendly due to the concerns that shearers are so fast about shearing they do not care for the animals appropriately.
Also, you ask if they are ethically sheared. The answer is 'yes'. They would otherwise die from heat exhaustion. Shearing is what they are bred to do, so they grow tremendous amounts of wool that would normally kill them. So shearing them is done patiently and carefully, therefore ethically.
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Posted by louis at 03/15/09 14:35:42
Izzy Lane is a British company that produces wool garments from sheep rehomed at their farm:
From the Izzy Lane website:
''Our flock of Wensleydale and Shetland sheep comprise mainly of animals that would have been sent to slaughter for being male, missing a pregnancy, being a little lame, being too small, being too old or having imperfections such as a black spot in a white fleece. We pay equal and better prices to save them. They are living out happy lives in our Sheep Sanctuary. As a longstanding vegetarian I have always been confronted with the argument that sheep would not exist if we didn't eat them. Izzy Lane hopes to demonstrate an economic model whereby sheep can exist, be valued and have a place in our world without becoming meat. It offers another way.''
http://www.izzylane.com/shopcontent.asp?type=aboutus
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