Sheep Industry News July 2024

to see more demand for it just here locally, so we’ll take that. We don’t have all the answers yet on the wool market, but we know there’s opportunity there.” MOVING FORWARD Looking at opportunities with value-added products and targeted grazing, Reuben said the goal is for the lambs to be free money. “It drastically changes your cost on lambs if they don’t have to pay for the ewe or the ewe’s feed,” he added. “We think targeted grazing can play a big role in that. Solar grazing is definitely a big deal for the industry, and it’s a great way for people to get into sheep because they can take a five-year grazing contract to the bank and get a loan that they can pay off even if the lambs just break even. With solar, the competi tion to secure land is pretty hot right now, and that’s part of why we’ve backed off it a little bit and are looking more at targeted grazing.”

clothing and other specialty products with its fine wool. But that was one of several projects that got put on hold after Trent’s passing. “When you look at Duckworth and Filson, those are the kinds of products I want to wear every day,” Reuben said. “Manufacturing in the United States is very costly, and dif ficult. We already make some stuff for ourselves out of our wool, so we’d like to expand that if we get the chance.” In the meantime, the family is selling raw wool locally for craft and gardening uses. While it doesn’t generate the income that most fine-wool producers would like, it helps offset the cost of shearing. “We’d love to get paid in gold bricks for our wool,” Reuben said. “But that’s not the way it works right now. We’re starting

The family is always happy to see land managed responsi bly, and grazing plays a vital role in achieving that goal. “It might be next year before we start really picking up some of these other projects we put on hold,” Reuben said. “As everything settles down for the family in the next year or two, we’ll see what we have time to do. My dad used to joke that instead of hiring labor, he’d just marry it. My mom handles a lot of our accounting, and I’ve got five sisters that are all involved in the ranch. My oldest sister, Lilly, just got mar ried, and I just got engaged. Dad’s dream was always to have enough work to go around that everyone who wanted to be involved with the ranch could work here full time and make a career out of it.”

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