Sheep Industry News October 2024

Sales Offer Education In Addition to Sheep B uyers and sellers at state sheep association-sponsored ram sales in Wyoming and Montana in mid-September got more than just the oppor tunity to buy sheep. Both sales offered educational programs, which are becoming the norm at these annual gatherings of the industry. The Montana Ram and Ewe Sale kicked off in the afternoon on Sept. 11 in Miles City, Mont., with a program focusing on Opportuni ties and Challenges for U.S. Grown and Sewn Wool and Natural Fiber Clothing . The consensus among the three entrepreneurs on the panel was that despite the challenges, there are real opportunities in creating value-added products from wool. Organized by Montana State University Extension Sheep and Wool Specialist Brent Roeder – who has also created a value-added product line through his family’s Montana Wool Company – the panel included Evan Helle of Montana-based Duckworth, Ben Hostetler of Wyoming’s Mountain Meadow Wool Mill and Wade Kopren of Fishhook Sock Company in South Dakota. Members of the panel addressed everything from the process of deciding to start their own businesses to the significant difficulties of manufacturing an American-made product to marketing and building a customer base. “If you’re thinking about value-added, I can’t stress enough knowing your market,” said Hostetler. “I see it underestimated so often how much that last 10 percent – the last leg of the journey to get to the consumer – and I think that’s probably the hardest leg of the journey. Getting it to the consumer is often underestimated in terms of how much it takes to get it to that final consumer. We’re a small batch manufacturer, but we’ll spend 90 percent of our margin on a Facebook or Google ad on some of our products. That last leg of the journey can be very daunting.” As a sheep producer whose family later developed a value-added product with the Duckworth clothing line, Helle went back to the sheep flock in his final words of advice. “The biggest value add you can do on your ranch to your wool is getting good genetics,” he said. “I can’t stress this enough. When people talk about not getting a good price for their wool, you look at that 80 percent of Australian, that’s because American wool varies so much. There’s so many different breeds, so many different types of sheep and so many different types of wool. You’re not going to go out and use the same 80-year-

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