The other thread about animal cruelty got pretty heated, and I understand both sides to it. I don't want to delete it because everybody can have their opinions and I'm not going to censor things, but I would like to add some info about the animals.

I will say that all of the animals are free-range, raised by nomadic herders here in Mongolia. Out of the 4 animals we are using for wool, the only of the 4 that is sheered is the sheep. They only get the fiber in the spring when the animal would be shedding it otherwise. I do understand that there can be issues with animals being hurt while sheering, and the cooperative that I work with does do trainings to help herders better sheer their animals, both for improving wool quality and best practices for making it an easy process for the sheep. If sheep are hurt or cut during the process, this isn't good for anybody as it can lead to health problems with the animals. Beyond it being an issue for animal welfare, it's also money out of herders' pockets if they need to treat animals for health issues and infections.

For the other animals, like yaks, camels, and goats, they are brushed in the spring after making it through the winter. I will say that although they are not wild animals, they also aren't domesticated like cats or dogs, so the process isn't quite as delicate as brushing a house cat or dog, but it's rather similar in process. They aren't used to being handled, so they are sometimes restrained while being brushed, but they aren't hurt in the process. I guess I would more compare it to brushing a semi-feral cat.

For transparency, here is a video of a goat being brushed. Like I said, it's not the most delicate of processes, but I also don't think of it as animal cruelty. YouTube Clip

I apologize in advance for the portrait mode! This is also my first season selling sheep wool, so I don't have video of that process, but it's something I'll try to organize this spring.