The Good Living Guide to Keeping Sheep and Other Fiber Animals: Housing, Feeding, Shearing, Spinning, Dyeing, and More

Exactly what I was looking for! We are starting up a small farm and I am a knitter so I wanted to get a feel for having sheep and especially what was involved in going from animal to product. This is the perfect book to walk me through the basics of selection, care and feeding of the fiber animals (it’s not just about sheep), shearing and options for processing the fleece, spinning and dying the wool, different crafts to use the fiber in and even ideas for selling your fiber products.Lots of great pictures which I find so very helpful. I am quite pleased with this purchase.

I live kinda in a rural area. Small houses, large yards. It’s a quiet, ordinary neighborhood where nothing too remarkable happens. Then one frosty morning as I gazed out my front window yawning, a woman and a little girl were walking two sizable sheep down the street. I have a couple of canine companions but never in my wildest imagination would I ever considered sheep! I knit so I thought this woman probably shears the sheep and spins and dyes the wool herself. Very interesting and fascinating to me and that’s why I bought this book! I’m glad I did because if I every witness this happening again I will charge through my front door, excitedly introduce myself and amaze her with my knowledge about raising sheep, etc. Are you impressed? It’s how to win friends and influence people!

This book is a great overview of all things fiber related. From the purchase of an animal straight through processing the fiber this book touches on all of it. I will definitely be gifting this book to those who are just starting out on this adventure. I've owned fiber animals for 10 years now and I think this book is a great resource to have on my shelf.

Love this book and the series. It was easy to follow and gain some valuable information on what to read next.

Very comprehensive guide!

Great information! Well written and a great tool for keeping finer animals. 🙃🐑🦙🐐🐰

NOTE: I received this book in exchange for an unbiased reviewI am a self-admitted fiber enthusiast, but have yet to raise fiber animals. This book gave me a great introduction to sheep and goat breeds (even alpacas, llamas, and rabbits) that would be suitable based upon my fiber needs. I had no idea that there was such variation in the fleece based upon breeds. Admittedly, I thought wool was wool...definitely not the case. So while my property is too small to adequately raise sheep, I now know what to look for in a fleece at fiber swaps and even which breeds to mention based upon the projects I wish to create. And worth mentioning is that Janet takes you through the entire of process of raising sheep/goats, pasture management, breeding, proper nutrition, sheering process from animal to mill. She even included some recipes for natural dyes that I am really looking forward to trying out.

Disclosure: I received this book in exchange for my unbiased review. I was also given a preview of the book prior to publication for endorsement purposes.This book is an excellent resource for any folks considering keeping fiber animals! As a tender to a small flock of Icelandic sheep, I feel that a book like this would have saved me a lot of frustration and struggles during my first years with my flock. The author provided valuable insight and advise about caring for fiber animals so that you can have a productive and satisfying experience!