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MONTROSE COUNTY — The hard work of shearing sheep was on last week at a ranch between Montrose and Olathe, where a crew of fewer than 10 shearers was harvesting the winter fleece of 4,200 animals. The shearers are paid by the animal, work quickly and are expected to be done with the flock within a week so they could move on to another ranch.
Shearing is heavy, dirty work done in service to the fashion industry, which places a premium on the fine fiber produced by Merino sheep.
Like some other Western Slope growers, this ranch sells wool to the Shaniko Wool Company, a collective that provides Responsible Wool Standard-certified wool to designers. Ralph Lauren, whose Double RL Ranch is not far away, near Ridgway, used the fiber in the cream-colored, U.S.-made blazers worn by Team USA during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The lambing season will begin in the next few weeks, when thousands of spring lambs will be born.
Sheep must be shorn regularly to prevent excess wool from interfering with their bodies’ ability to thermo-regulate. Removing the excess wool also cuts down on parasites and predator attacks. The removal of wool takes only a few minutes per animal. The clippers are moved over the animal first in short cuts, then long, from the back of the animal to the front. The act of using mechanical metal clippers to remove the wool from the animal can be considered an art form. Some of the shearers working in Colorado this season come from Peru, Australia, New Zealand and other countries where sheep industries are thriving. Workers carry the fleece of newly shorn sheep away from the shearing area Wednesday. The wool will be baled and shipped away for use in a variety of products, including fiber used in clothing. Each animal yields about 10 pounds of wool. Colorado is one of the largest producers of wool in the United States, second to California. But, the Colorado wool industry has been in decline for decades. Ranchers used to see good profits in wool. Now, they say, wool sales barely cover the cost of shearing their animals.
Type of Story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
William began making pictures, with film of all things, when he was 10-years-old growing up in the rural North Carolina countryside northeast of Durham. By 11, William began working as a darkroom tech in a small 15,000 circulation daily newspaper...
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