The U.S. domestic wool industry is in flux with shrinking markets for medium and coarse sheep’s wool. Some 3 million sheep in the country produced 22 million pounds of wool in 2022, according to USDA records. Both the number of sheep and the total amount of wool harvested is down in recent years and has been a cause for concern in the industry.
Jill Federoff, 29, is watching that trend, both from her perspective as a USDA market reporter for sheep, goats, hay and dairy as well as from the vantage point of a farmer. Federoff owns JRF Shearing, where she raises sheep and meat rabbits and also shears sheep for around 500 southeastern Pennsylvania farmers each year, in addition to her USDA day job.
Wool produced in the U.S. is down about 2 million pounds since 2019, according to the Agriculture Marketing Resource Center. Once enjoying a robust domestic market, wool was traditionally in demand for clothing, carpets, yarn, textiles, art brushes and more. Many of these products are now made with synthetic fibers derived from petroleum.
Although Federoff has plenty of shearing business with customers raising small flocks, she, too, worries what will happen if there is no place for farmers to sell wool. “Already, I see farmers with stored bags of coarse wool that I sheared for them last year that they are just holding hopefully for better pricing or to give away to someone who can use it,” she said.
Melanie Barkley, a Penn State extension educator from Bedford County and chair of the Livestock Extension Team, summed up the challenge: “The majority of domestic natural wool now finds its way overseas, mostly to China for processing through just two domestic wool buyers, and sheep farmers are getting only pennies on the pound for their fleeces.”
Barkley continued: "The industry needs to look for innovative ways to utilize wool, such as in items like wool pellets to amend the soil and using wool for mulch while also marketing wool’s properties for flame retardant clothing, insulation and as lanolin for lotions.”
She said new processes in products such as Smartwool have been developed to remove wool fiber scales that can cause itchiness, some which allow these fabrics to be washed and dried instead of dry cleaned.
Source: lancasterfarming.com
Photo Credit: istock-globalp
Categories: Pennsylvania, Livestock, Goats & Sheep