Sheepswool for muddy gateways?

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Melandmary

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On a small holdings fb site I have just seen a wanted advert for sheared sheepswool that someone uses as a cheap version of mud control matting ?….there were photos of said gateway and you could see where the older stuff was biodegrading and looked to me to be doing a good job of soaking up the mud….has anyone heard of this ….or tried it? There appeared to be lots of offers of free wool and was thinking of giving it a go to prolong the use of my winter field which is dry apart from the gateway?
 
it was traditionally used for pathways on fell tops, gotten very popular in paddocks now.

Usually in gateways people use it by layering fleeces with brush/sticks to create a raised up "floating" pathway, usually top it with old hay or similar to cover the fleeces over. It can also be used as a natural membrane under stone. It does biodegrade, but slowly.

Havent had the opportunity to use it myself but seen lots of successful tries! If it's free it might be worth giving it a try, it seems the layering is key though.
 
The exit from my barn into the lamb paddock gets very deep so I used a large fleece plus old hay to try to dry it up. Can't see any trace of it now. I put mud control mats down last winter and they are doing a great job.
 
We used old carpet, a long time ago, in a muddy gateway and it sank. I would have thought that the weight of horses would be too much for fleece. We have mud control mats now and they are excellent
 
I put some down a couple of months ago, but haven’t had time to layer it properly, which has limited its effectiveness. They’re using it to repair muddy paths on the Isle of Skye, so I figured it was worth a try.
 
Hmmm, not sure it is the right time of year for shearing but will ask around to see if I can get hold of some. The lads who used to keep their sheep here might have some that I can try till the piggy bank fills back up for matting ?. I didn’t know it was “a thing”
 
Art Nouveau said:
I'm intrigued, could you let me know the facebook page? I'd love to try it in my muddy areas
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It is smallholding items for sale. Someone has a wanted advert and has a picture of her gateway with fresh wool layed out and you can see where the old wool is decomposing….the ground looks firmish rather than squelchy where she has layed the fresh ones. Looked like it worked a treat
 
There is a fb page called Free raw fleece UK where someone is trying to link farmers with people wanting fleeces, we got two bags worth just before Christmas, we've used one to lag our outside water pipes (having found they had none during the snow!) I'm going to put the other in a muddy gateway at some point
 
Anyone wanting any in summer just approach any sheep farmer. They don't get much money for the wool so they should be happy to sell you some. Don't pay too much, the average paid last year by the Wool Board was 36p a kilo. It costs more to shear them, its done for welfare, not for profit.
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Steerpike said:
There is a fb page called Free raw fleece UK where someone is trying to link farmers with people wanting fleeces, we got two bags worth just before Christmas, we've used one to lag our outside water pipes (having found they had none during the snow!) I'm going to put the other in a muddy gateway at some point
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Thanks for that, I have contacted someone on their list local to me, and for anyone interested there are photos on their fb page of them being used
 
ycbm said:
Anyone wanting any in summer just approach any sheep farmer. They don't get much money for the wool so they should be happy to sell you some. Don't pay too much, the average paid last year by the Wool Board was 36p a kilo. It costs more to shear them, its done for welfare, not for profit.
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You're so right, 8 crammed full to the brim wool sacks and less than £200 back from the wool board.
It costs that to get them sheared and we also provide refreshments for the shearers, as they work so hard.

I hear of farmers lining their cattle sheds with fleeces
 
Steerpike said:
Yep, we offered the farmer some money but he just wanted did of it as long as we took his bags back better spring!
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Ooh yes, never let go of your wool sacks!

They're rationing them out to farmers now, we normally grab a couple to take back for our neighbour with a small flock but we were only allowed to exchange the amount of sacks we'd sent in.

They make great hay transporters too if you can get hold of a redundant one!
 
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