Wool be Good at Ochtertyre Farm NZ

Wool be Good at Ochtertyre Farm NZ Shepherdess of a happy flock of sheep. This page is a place to share updates and products as they become available for sale.

We have Corriedales and crossbred Corriedales in a wonderful range of colours thanks to our Corriedale Ram Cassanova and our ewes.

I found this excellent book in our public library. It has very detailed photographs to illustrate processes, as well as ...
21/10/2026

I found this excellent book in our public library. It has very detailed photographs to illustrate processes, as well as easy to read and follow instructions. It also includes some new ideas. I highly recommend it for spinners, especially if you are new to apinning.

19/10/2026

This little fellow was the last to be born. He struggled to get started and his sucking reflex was weak. We milked his very good ewe, Silver Ghost and then fed him by bottle. By day 4 everything came together and he now is feeding directly from the ewe. He is also bright eyed and lively. We love his colour and his polka dots.

18/10/2026

We have had fun with getting our 6 new lambs off to a good start. Result is 1 set of triplets in shades of black, white and grey and 3 singles in shades of brown. All ewes are dedicated mothers. They were all in the small,grass paddock with the shed through a few cold nights, but are enjoying the adjacent big paddock and sunshine now.

September is always a busy month for our sheep; shearing, innoculations, de-worming, hoof trimming again! Gordon is an e...
08/10/2026

September is always a busy month for our sheep; shearing, innoculations, de-worming, hoof trimming again! Gordon is an expert and I pass the equipment!

I have had visitors from the USA. It was lovely to meet a new, young spinner and she loved our wool and chose 3 colours. More recently, a lovely couple from Mississipi on a holiday here, chose to visit us as a small enterprise of interest. They loved meeting the animals and tried a little spinning and saw the pegloom in action. I wish I had had more time to ask them more about Mississipi!

October has been the time for lambing. On Tuesday evening beautiful triplets were born to Dottie, a Coopworth ewe x with corriedale ram, Cassanova. They are very pretty. They started out in coats for the first cold night, but the coats are off today. The ewe and the 3 young ones are happy and confident to be around people. Dottie is an excellent Mum and has had triplets before.

I finished my coffee cup coaster weaving and tied the warp using 4 threads per knot. I learnt a few new things and hope I will improve in accuracy and tidiness next time!

I'm back on the tapestry loom, working on the third coffee coaster. My tapestry weaving to date has been on a frame loom...
02/09/2026

I'm back on the tapestry loom, working on the third coffee coaster. My tapestry weaving to date has been on a frame loom. This loom has ability to open the two warp sheds seperately i.e. lift all the 1 warp threads, then all the 2 warp threads in the other direction. It is basically a vertical rigid heddle loom. The heddle is also a be**er. The techniques of tapestry weaving are executed slightly differently, but the weaving is quicker. It has been interesting to work out these adjustments as I go.

02/09/2026

Morning feed time is a routine the sheep and I love!

Beautiful, sunny morning here! The sheep waiting for breakfast and tucking in to sheep nuts and chaff this morning.I fin...
23/08/2026

Beautiful, sunny morning here! The sheep waiting for breakfast and tucking in to sheep nuts and chaff this morning.I finished my "seascape" weaving on the pegloom last night. Photos are taken last night and this morning. You can see the sheep colours in the weaving. I will take it off the loom and tie it off today.

I have been gradually working through a few projects. I tried using washed, carded, white wool from our sheep Pixie to w...
15/08/2026

I have been gradually working through a few projects. I tried using washed, carded, white wool from our sheep Pixie to weave on the middle row of my pegloom. The shorter distance between the pegs worked out well for the width of the wool. I also had a try at using value of colour graduations by dyeing to get gradually lighter colours. I am also trying to use lines of colour to suggest the sea and then the beach! I am thinking the next bit through! I bought some lovely sea themed material to finish with a sewn border. I hope this works out as I will have to cut it on the cross.I am aiming to make a cot quilt for our first grandchild, Alice.
I finished the second of the woven tapestry coasters which is a couple of line techniques. I finished plying a ball of Teddy's wool, so I can get on with my knitting. The colour came out as grey in the photo, but is in fact a lovely milk chocolate brown!

The sheep have been getting through the last part of Winter eating a sheep nuts and chaff mix every morning, grazing the grass left after the frosts, and helping themselves to ad lib hay!

Silver Ghost's wool has sold out and I was very happy to get lovely photos from Kat Walsh with feedback. She describes ...
24/07/2026

Silver Ghost's wool has sold out and I was very happy to get lovely photos from Kat Walsh with feedback. She describes herself as brand new to spinning and says Silver Ghost's was the nicest wool she has spun so far! I think Kat has done very well! You are well on your way on your Spinning Journey Kat!

Wild weather this week. I took an atmospheric photo. The sheep have been supplemented with hay, sheep nuts and chaff. St...
09/07/2026

Wild weather this week. I took an atmospheric photo. The sheep have been supplemented with hay, sheep nuts and chaff. Still grass around though! You can wool around my pruned roses in the foreground!

I used the warping board and have the warp ready for dressing the floor loom now. I also started a set of tapestry coasters using an Ashford tapestry loom. I used leftover blue and red wool and a ball of Silver Ghost's wool I spun some time ago.

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