Sheep Industry News January 2025

reduced by an average of three microns, making its wool more superior compared to the foundation flock,” Hess said. “It was bred for its high fleece weight, wool quality and reproductive traits, while the Rafter 7 line was developed for high fleece weight, consistent twin births and fast growth traits.” By the 2005 breeding season, the Rafter 7 Merino flock had expanded to about 1,300 ewes, organized into groups of 30, each paired with a single ram for mating. SELLING THE RANCH & FLOCK By 2013, the Wiegand Foundation decided to sell the ranch. In a press release published by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation – a private foundation chartered by Congress to conserve wildlife in riparian ecosystems – Car rico said, “We recently completed our objectives and decided that it was time to sell the ranch.” The foundation sold the ranch to the conservation group’s Walker Basin Restoration Program. With the sale of the ranch, the university decided to sell the flock to Rick Powers, a wool buyer familiar with the value and quality of the Rafter 7 Merino line. Powers relocated the flock to Diamond Valley in Eureka County and continued to inseminate the Rafter 7 Pure Me rino line with the Australian genetics. In 2014, the university appointed Bill Payne as dean of the college, and two years later he and Glimp began discussions on reacquiring the Rafter 7 Merino flock from Powers. Their

goal was to house the flock in a future agricultural research center, which is now the Great Basin Research & Extension Center, jointly operated by the college’s Experiment Station and Extension units. Since then, the center has commercialized Rafter 7 wool and forged partnerships with several entities for its process ing and sale. Through collaborations with Jimmy Beans Wool, Mountain Meadow Wool Mill in Wyoming and the campus Nevada Wolf Shop, Rafter 7 yarn and branded mer chandise are sold to do-it-yourself clients, students, faculty, alumni and the public. Due to the specialty niche of handling such fine wool, the wool processing, spinning and manufacturing is managed by Mountain Meadow Wool. The hand-dyeing process for Jimmy Bean’s yarn is overseen by Madelinetosh, a hand-dyed yarn company in Fort Worth, Texas. The center also inde pendently sells the Rafter 7 wool to commercial wool buyers. “The high-quality Merino and Rambouillet rams and ewes offer Nevada and Western range sheep producers an opportunity to improve the wool quality of their flocks and increase their profitability with wool that rivals what one might find in New Zealand or Australia,” McCuin said. “The wool and its products are made possible by Nevada sheep, Nevada designers, Nevada breeders and Nevada scientists, all working together to give Nevada shoppers a better op tion.” Since reacquisition of the Rafter 7 flock, life at the center has transformed into a whirlwind of operational activities.

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