Sheep Industry News August 2024

Sheep Cup for having the five most valuable fleeces for hand spinning from a single producer. It was the second time Stone has taken home that honor. “I last won it when Judith MacKenzie was the judge, and she comes from the handspinning side of things. Geof Rup pert (the 2024 judge) comes from the management and breed ing side, so to win it from two people on two different sides of the spectrum is really meaningful,” said Stone. “The words of praise I got from the judge today were very impactful and just mean so much to me.” Ruppert called the fleeces from both operations among the best naturally colored Merino fleeces to be found anywhere in the world. “It’s nice to be bringing the Black Sheep Cup (a mammoth trophy) home again with me this year,” said Stone, who in addition to showing sheep and fleeces, serves as the gather ing’s publicity coordinator. She also had a project in the fiber arts show and took part in The Spinner’s Lead competition, as well. “I guess I’m a sucker for punishment,” she said of the many hats she wears during the weekend. “I’ve attended this since I was a little kid, and I just think it’s really important that we keep new people coming to this event. We need to get the next generation involved in fiber arts and raising sheep. Oth erwise, it’s all going to disappear.” John Steitz enjoyed a career in engineering before starting a regenerative farming operation near Kalispell, Mont., and choosing his favorite animals – sheep – to help in rebuilding the land. “I didn’t really plan to be where we are right now, but it just sort of developed,” he said. I’m the most shocked person in the world that it worked. We love coming to this show, but it’s not about winning awards and showing the sheep. It’s about the people that we’ve met here. We still camp with people we met the very first year we came to this show. They aren’t even sheep producers, they’re handspinners. But we met them in the parking lot the first year and they became our fan club.” All of the fleeces Steitz entered in the show were sold before he and Carol even arrived in Oregon. But they asked custom ers for the right to show them at the Black Sheep Gathering with plans to ship them out upon their return to Montana. “The fleece we won with today, when her mother was preg nant with her, she won this same award. And when her grand mother was pregnant with her mother, that ewe won this award, as well,” Steitz said. “The way I look at it – and maybe Laurel sees it differently – is we don’t really compete with her, we compete against ourselves to get better every year. We just come here to see where we’re all at in that process.” Visit BlackSheepGathering.org to learn more.

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