OKOTOKS, Alta. — Stan and Betty Eckstrand aren’t quite sure how many goats they have in their pens at Ridgeview Farms.
But there’s always room for one more at this Okotoks farm of llamas, angoras, pygmy goats and crossbreeds known as pygoras.
They had cattle on their 80 acres but since Betty was alone while Stan worked off the farm, she wanted animals she could handle. Stan worked for Alberta Government Telephones and retired last year to stay on the farm full time.
They estimate their goat herd to be about 125. The pygmies are sold for pet stock and the excess sometimes goes to the meat market. The angoras and pygoras are used for their fibre. There’s also a sleek-coated Nubian goat kept for milk when other goats can’t provide enough for their kids.
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They also have 23 llamas for coyote control, fibre and breeding stock. In the past the Eckstrands had trouble with coyotes raiding their goat pens, but the llamas squawk and intimidate the pests enough that they leave their farm alone, said Betty.
Working with her adult daughter Maryjane Rose, Betty spins, weaves, knits and makes felt garments and hats from fleece they shear from their animals. These crafts are sold at the Millarville farmers’ market in the fall where 5,000 to 6,000 people pass by in a day. Besides garments, they also sell fibre for porcelain doll hair and false beards.
Demand for natural products
The demand for handmade items from natural fibres is large. They never have a shortage of wool, but processing fibre and creating things to sell is time consuming.
The angoras are sheared twice a year because their coats grow about an inch per month, said Stan. That leaves them with 20 to 25 pounds of fibre per goat each year. They also shear their llamas so bags of various types of hair quickly pile up in every corner of the house.
They filled two garbage bags alone with fibre from a pygora, a cross between an angora and pygmy goat. The breed isn’t recognized in Canada but Eckstrands like the soft, silky fleece that this cross provides.
They used to export mohair to England but that market has dried up so they have to find new outlets, said Stan.
Looking for help
The Eckstrands are always on the lookout for people who know how to properly wash, card and turn the fibre into “roving” fleece, which are the batts used at the spinning stage.
There’s a custom wool mill at Carstairs but the machinery there is better suited for sheep wool. There is also a processor at Williams Lake, B.C. that can wash and card this specialty fibre.
“There’s always places in the States (for processing) but there’s no sense doing it because of the exchange on the dollar,” Betty said.
Processing llama wool needs special attention too because the long guard hairs have to be removed. There isn’t anyone in Canada with machinery capable of doing this. Llama produces a yarn similar to alpaca.
Betty prepares angora fibre by hand-washing it repeatedly to remove dirt and oils. The locks are held together in a plastic garden mesh. If it’s not done carefully, the yarn will clump together and look like felt. If it’s not dried properly, the fibres can knot.
She has a small carder but that too, is intensive hand work. The Eckstrands also experiment with dyes using commercial and natural ones as well as Koolaid.
Consumers like natural dyes but may not appreciate the effort involved in coloring yarns. Natural dyes are not colorfast when exposed to sunlight over time.
“You have to use very dangerous mordants to keep the color in. People think nature dye is just like nature, but it’s very dangerous. It’s safer to use an acid dye. The acid dyes you use are almost the same ones as they use in Koolaid. They’re not as strong,” said Betty.
Mordants are dips made from chemicals like iron, copper, tin or chrome to set the dye in fibre. When treating the fibre they have to wear gloves and masks.
The dyes are made mostly from boiling bark and leaves. They come from anywhere — leaves from trees and bushes like poplars, apples, raspberries, beets and peony petals. The colors produced are muted earth tones of green and brown.
She finds each fibre takes color differently and the results depends on the mordant used. The effects are pleasing.
“When you work with nature dyes, they never clash,” said Betty.
She and her daughter are mostly self-taught spinners and weavers. Last year they enrolled in the master spinner program at Olds College. The course takes six years to achieve certification. It’s one week of instruction each summer, with six months worth of homework that includes gathering different fibres, experimenting with dyes and learning how to work with each type of fibre and the animals that provide it.
