Wool freshly sheared from Shepherd ’ s Hey sheep is lustrous and exhibits the distinct and highly desirable crimp structure . Most is sold in raw form but some goes to be spun into yarn in Pennsylvania in the full range of the colors produced by the flock .
and a necessity it truly is . Not all white sheep , since it is easier to shearing a wool sheep is without dye white wool in consistent colors , question neglectful and cruel . especially on a commercial scale .)
Shearing sheep involves simply We are incredibly fortunate to cutting the wool off of them , and be doing this in Maryland , home harvesting this fascinating and to the Maryland Sheep and Wool useful fiber that can be used for so Festival , where arguably the largest many applications . A good shearer Fleece Show and Sale takes place takes just a few minutes to do the annually . This event brings thousands of people from all over the job with no ill effect on the sheep , just like a good haircut , but much country and beyond to converge quicker . The wool is gathered , for a two-day event celebrating sorted and evaluated for its best all things sheep and wool . This includes a marketplace for those who use or market .
At Shepherd ’ s Hey Farm , wool produce wool and those who are is our primary product . We specialize in producing wool that is to work with . Wool is sold by the
seeking their favorite type of wool
non-white . Most of our wool grows individual fleece — the wool sheared in natural colors in a full range of off of a single sheep — in its raw and black , grey and brown hues particularly sought after by handspinners , fiber artists of all kinds . Always the
unprocessed form to discerning
knitters and weavers . ( Over history , first full weekend in May , the Festival most sheep breeding has favored is celebrating its 50th year in 2023 at
the Howard County Fairgrounds .
But sheep are more than wool . With each year ’ s crop of lambs — between 30 and 50 lambs — we first choose the ones that are most likely to help us meet our goals in terms of wool character and color , and who are healthy and well conformed . We keep them for the continuing improvement of our flock . Then , we make available other excellent lambs for sale to other flocks who may have similar goals with respect to type of sheep , or may be starting out with sheep and are attracted by what we have produced . Finally , we make a number of lambs available for custom butcher . That is , we sell lambs to people seeking high quality , humanely and naturally raised , local lamb for their freezers and dinner tables . We assist our customers in deciding how to have their lamb cut and packaged and help to facilitate the process for them . Several usually make their way to our own freezer for our personal use as well .
In the interest of utilizing the lambs as completely as possible , we retrieve the lambskins from the abattoir and have them processed into beautiful sheepskin pelts that showcase our natural colored wool and make them available for sale . Finally , as an comfortable omnivore who likes and eats lamb , I am often asked how I can eat lamb from animals that I ’ ve raised and known . I didn ’ t imagine that I would when we started out . However , after purchasing lamb from a local farm for our consumption ( before we started down that path ), I was so struck by the superior flavor and tenderness of the meat over any I had ever tasted before — mostly Australian or New Zealand
42 plenty I spring sowing 2023