Our beautiful certified organic sheepskin rugs come from our Demeter certified pedigree North Ronaldsay sheep. All the skins are from rams who have been sheared once. We use hand shears for this so that we retain the current years growth which gives a much thicker fleece than using standard electric order shearing methods.
The ram lambs are typically born in April or May and the following May the fleece has lifted sufficiently to allow us to shear off the first years growth. Then, in August or September when the rams are about seventy five percent mature we take them to a small local abattoir complying with organic standards. The skins are collected and brought back to the farm within an hour or two and then they are salted three times over five days to pull out the moisture from the skin.
After this they are rolled up and can sit for up to six months before going to Organic Sheepskins near Yeovil in England which is the only certified organic tannery in the country. They use plants oils, especially the oil from the bark of the South African vermosa tree. We normally receive the skins back within a couple of months and we often get the feedback how healthy the animals were which she measures by the quality of the leather.
Choose which skin you would like, from first photo No 1, second photo No 2 etc and make sure you say this when ordering.
Product code: Organic, Rare Breed, North order Ronaldsay Sheepskins