# Fleece protector blankets



## lambs.are.cute (Aug 15, 2010)

Here is the pattern http://www.gfwsheep.com/sheepcoats/sheep.coats.html 

I used 10 oz cotton fabric which I found in the jean fabric section at the fabric store. It said right on the top of the bolt 10 oz cotton. It is a heavy jean fabric and you can get it in several colors. I would highly recomend that it is prewashed because the fabric shrinks. 

The pattern isn't very clear but if you where making a small blanket you want to purchase 18 inches (I got a little extra to cover shrinkage and the coats are a little short height wise on my deep bodied Romney ewe which may or may not be a problem for you). Also I think that the neck holes may be a little small when it gets towards shearing time but won't know until later this year. (I am dealing with 8 inch of wool growth) 

Here is a large I made: 


And the front piece that is folded open: 


And the size marker I put one in hue front and one on each leg strap: 


Here is where I changed the pattern. The long strap is the one that they say to make. The shorter one is 5 inches long and same width. The short one is attached where they say to attach the front leg strap and has two d rings as a fastener. A snap would be faster but the only ones I could find were really heavy and I didn't want them smacking the ewes leg. Also they where twice the cost of the two d rings. 


And closed


The nice thing about he d rings is that they are adjustable. I have a ewe with really fat legs. I am also hopping that if they get these straps tangled they will be able to pull them free. I'd rather no tangles but with sheep..... 

So far they haven't torn them yet and they have been scratching on the fence.......


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

Nice work. Let me know how they work out for you. Especially the D rings. I've been using blanket fleece but the one ewe that had one on all winter only grew about 1" of fleece.....maybe she was a bit to warm?


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

This is great!
Thank you for posting it..


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## raccoon breath (Aug 5, 2010)

Thx lambs.are.cute. 

A couple years back, I made covers for the goats. My big buck figured out that if he went through a barbed wire fence in one spot where he could walk through and the string of barbed wire hung low just above his back, he could catch his coat! AHHHHH! Trashed so many coats. He used his horns and teeth to help remove covers from all of his does. Sigh... Why must animals be smart?


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## lambs.are.cute (Aug 15, 2010)

2 month report. All is going well. I've had 2 blankets torn- both my fault- both lost a leg strap and tore the front panel. Both easy fixes. The first one was because I put a blanket that was too large on a ewe and didn't have a clean smaller one to put on her so left it "just" over night. Next morning she had torn it. The second one had a leg strap undone and was on my list to catch and fix but got missed before I went on vacation. Same tears and missing pieces. Both ewes were fine and it took longer to unpick the seams that it did to replace the torn bits. Lessons learned. 

(Please don't mind the slightly out of focus the camera has trouble with taking photos of wool for some reason. I'll try to get better photos next blanket change).

This is woolfred. He's a 4 month old wool wither who has never been blanketed. I suppose you could call it a "control" fleece to see the difference. He is big enough to fit the smallest blanket so he got his first blanket today. Next year I will make an extra small blanket since there is so much difference. He already has a little vm in his fleece :awh:


and his 2 inches of fleece. He is sooooo soft it makes me drool.


His mum Sweet Pea. She's had a blanket on since a week after shearing (I think that's why her tips are slightly dirty)

Outside is dusty:


Inside could be fresh washed:


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## lambs.are.cute (Aug 15, 2010)

And Blue bell the blue (now that she's not bleaching her tips) before the blanket change. Please don't mind the months worth of dirt and stains on the blanket. 



And here you can start to see the bleaching. The left is her neck and right is normally under the blanket.


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## Kasota (Nov 25, 2013)

Such a great update! It's nice to see pictures of the fleece, too.


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## lambs.are.cute (Aug 15, 2010)

Oh I should add that the ewe with a undone leg strap is because she got it caught and yanked it. The d rings are wonderful. It stays pretty tight so if it is just a little caught it will come off the snag before it comes undone, but if it is truely stuck than the leg strap will undo. I can do them up while hanging onto the ewe and usually can undo them too.


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

Thanks for the update!
I'm thinking maybe the large will fit the 'Paca Boys. I'd like to blanket them to keep them from bleaching to much in the sun...


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## featherbottoms (May 28, 2005)

lac, I've not read about blanketing but do you think there's going to be any problem with felting on the first inch or two of fleece?


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## lambs.are.cute (Aug 15, 2010)

Yes there can be a problem of tip felting, but if you do it right there will be none. You can also cause the tips to be stuck at 90*. This is my first year trying this out but I can tell you what I was told and have seen. 

1) changing the blanket is a big deal. You MUST change the blanket at the right time. To early and it's too big, to late and you will have felting/90* bending. I've checked every two weeks on at least one ewe for any problems and change the blankets once a month ( that seems to be the magic number). If they don't need to go up a size in blankets they at least need a clean one, since they are pretty gross by that time. (You know what sweat tags look like? Well the legs straps are covered in that :tmi:. Thankfully I have bleach and a good washing machine). 

2) some felting ,but not the tips, is going to happen. The leg straps and neck cause some felting and I will have to discard those areas. At this point it is a small area and doesn't look like that it will cause shearing problems. Currently I will exchange a small amount of wool for the cleanliness and lack of vm. We'll see later in the year when they are on the dry lot and heavily prego and fleeced and I have to try to figure blanket sizes. And then I'm not sure what to do about lambing. Well this is an adventure.

3) I have low humidity. The shepherd I got my ram from lost most of his fleeces that year to felting and he didn't blanket. It was just so constantly wet that their movement felted their wool. That's not to say my girls don't get wet but they have to work pretty hard to stay wet more that a few hours in my dry heat. 

It seems to me that if you are careful and pay attention it can be done anywhere on most sheep.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Fascinating!


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## MDKatie (Dec 13, 2010)

Awesome thread. I've been thinking about blanketing a few of my ewes.


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