Fiber Animal Comparison Chart
Most people start with the fiber. They love the look of mohair, or they have been eyeing alpaca yarn, or they want to spin their own wool. That is a completely reasonable place to start. You are going to be working with this fiber for years, and if you do not love it, none of the rest matters.
But it is only half of the picture. The other half is what that animal asks of you every single day.
This chart puts both halves side by side. Sheep, Angora goats, alpacas and Angora rabbits, compared on land, weekly hours, what an animal costs, fencing and shelter, handling and health, how much fiber you get in a year and what it sells for raw. These are our real numbers, so yours might look a little different depending on your set up, climate, and market.
Download the PDF here: https://canva.link/p2buxhs4eox4dmb
Once you have picked your animal (or maybe more than one!)...
Choosing your species is the first decision out of a few dozen, and it is nowhere near the hardest one. Fencing, shelter, feeding for a fleece that is actually worth something, routine care, shearing, and what happens to the wool after it comes off the animal are all still ahead of you.
Barn to Yarn walks the whole path, in order, in one place. Nearly 50 lessons from choosing your animals through selling your fiber, built from more than 10 years of raising fiber animals and figuring most of it out the expensive way.
Enrollment is open through August 24.