Skirting the Wool Fleece from Merino Sheep-Shearing Demonstration, Greenfield Village, April 2010
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Heavy, yet fine fleeces made Merino sheep a popular breed among nineteenth-century wool producers. Every spring, after carefully navigating blade shears to cut away each sheep's thick fleece, farmers removed especially dirty or coarse sections of wool. This process, called skirting, helped maximize profit, as farmers and wool buyers negotiated a price per pound of wool based on fleece quality.
Heavy, yet fine fleeces made Merino sheep a popular breed among nineteenth-century wool producers. Every spring, after carefully navigating blade shears to cut away each sheep's thick fleece, farmers removed especially dirty or coarse sections of wool. This process, called skirting, helped maximize profit, as farmers and wool buyers negotiated a price per pound of wool based on fleece quality.
Artifact
Digital image
Subject Date
30 April 2010
Collection Title
On Exhibit
By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center
Object ID
EI.1929.658
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford.
Technique
Digital imaging
Color
Black-and-white (Colors)
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