Sheep

In 2013 we started raising wool breeds of sheep including mixes of CVM, Merino, Wensleydale, BFL, and Lincoln Longwool.  We like to cross the sheep with finer wool (CVM, Merino, etc) with the longer wool breeds (Wensleydale, BFL, and Lincoln Longwool) to produce sheep with fine wool that grows faster.  We enjoy all the different and beautiful textures, colors, crimps, and lusters that our wool sheep give in their fiber.  In 2021 purebred, registered Bluefaced Liecesters (BFL) became the main breed of wool sheep that we raise, though we still do some crossing.

In the fall of 2019 we bought our first dairy sheep and added them to the flock.  We are now breeding wool sheep and dairy sheep separately, but have in the past crossed the wool breeds onto the dairy breeds to improve the wool quality but still have good dairy production.

We have lambs and sometimes adults available for sale from spring-fall each year.  We currently sell registered Bluefaced Leicester (BFL), landrace crosses of BFL sheep with finewool breeds (generally produces a hardy lamb with a longer fleece that is very soft), and East Friesian Milk sheep.  Check our “For Sale” pages for availability.

To see our current breeding flocks click on the links: Meet the Fiber Sheep Breeding Flock and Meet the Milk Sheep Breeding Flock

The wool from the sheep is for our personal use and we also sell raw fleece, roving, and yarn.  At first, we processed our wool by hand.  But then, in 2017, we opened Willow Creek Fiber Mill, where we custom process wool, alpaca, llama, mohair, and other exotic fibers into yarn for our customers.  So now all of our own sheep wool is processed in our mill instead of by hand.  I do still enjoy spinning when I have the time.

We jacket some of our sheep to keep the wool from being stained, bleached, felted, and to decrease the vegetable matter and waste getting caught up in it.  The jackets add value to the fleece that will be shorn off.

Click here to read our series on hand processing wool.