What Now?

Over the last twelve weeks, I have come to realize how far removed our society is from agriculture.  We see the end-product of food on our tables and clothing on our backs, but most people have no appreciation for the hours of work spent getting it there.  Agriculture has a rich history in our country and was vital in the survival of every civilization, but we have forgotten how vital it is to us today.  The discovery of wool changed the life of men.  “[Men] had discovered a durable fabric which gave him what nothing else could give: protection alike from heat and cold, from wind and rain…Men can never match it” (Sheepcenter). We need to remember agriculture and protect it as the vital resource it is.

After conducting research and becoming a mini-expert on the topic of wool production, I have realized we, as a community, need to do something more to protect the agricultural resources we still have.  Theories are not the answer for understanding.  We cannot fix our problems by overcompensating with good intentions. 

My research led me across many paths.  Some were filled with propaganda while others remained neutral.  Websites that were grounded and reasonable were few and far between and often only directed to a small crowd of farmers.  The available information was often not centered on ways to improve wool production and end products, but on vegan beliefs of avoiding animal products altogether.  These accusations may be partially true, but they are coming from biased individuals, not from reliable sources.  BlueBarnFiber blog states “Not everyone in the wool industry is compassionate and cruelty free.  I have seen the PETA video of an undercover Australian wool operation, and it was horrific.  I also recognize that it is not the norm, and there are evil people in every industry” (Fiber).  If we depend solely on online sources, we may be deceiving ourselves and aiding a declining wool production industry.  If we let this continue, we may lose the wool industry completely.  This would be harmful because it would destroy the livelihood of many farmers worldwide.  We would also have to start depending on manmade fibers which are toxic to our environment.    

We need to be mindful.  We must realize that our actions can affect others.  Our choices and our voices can be used for good.  Why waste them?  If we try to see agriculture in the world around us, we will become a more understanding society.  Agriculture brings people together and if we open our mouths to protest, before learning the whole story, we might starve because of our demands.  We can dig a little deeper and see where things come from, then be open to the possibility that preconceived ideas might be wrong, and learn the truth.  If we educate ourselves before we take a stand, we can become stronger advocates for the people who are working quietly on farms around America to give us a more blessed way of life.

Fiber, Blue Barn. “Blue Barn Fiber.” Cruelty Free Wool, 26 Aug. 2016, bluebarnfiber.blogspot.com/2016/08/cruelty-free-wool.html.

Sheepcentre.co.uk, www.sheepcentre.co.uk/wool.htm. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

EPA CAFO

(EPA)

Unless you are in the field of wool production, or have a certain attachment to sheep or lawmaking, I doubt the thought of researching laws and regulations regarding the production of wool has ever crossed your mind.  I can honestly say that, until this week, it had never before crossed mine!  But looking into this topic has been eye opening for me.  It has brought to my attention the effect our lifestyles have on our Earth and that there are ways farmers, for one, can help reduce these effects. 

The main reason I am writing today is to inform my readers of one of the many regulations in place that protect our environment from the wastes of wool producers.

There is a law in place, written by the United Stated Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with regulations pertaining to the Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) about how their actions affect the environment for everyone.  The EPA is a government body put in place to protect our health and the health of the environment.  Now that we have all our acronyms out of the way, we can delve deeper into our topic.

(Herd of Sheep)

Wool production has to keep up with the high-speed pace of our world which means increased flock sizes around the United States.  The waste of these animals can seriously affect the quality of human life so the CAFO has stepped in.  In order to be regulated, a flock has to be above 3,000 sheep or be cited as adding pollutants to local waters (NCEP Document Display).  The CAFO rules cannot fix all problems caused by sheep, and other large herds, but it is doing its best to keep the waste from seeping into the water ways or dwelling areas of surrounding civilians.

Some of the rules that have been put in place to keep waterways clean require farmers to (NCEP Document Display):

·         Develop and implement a nutrient management plan

·         Submit annual reports to local EPA authority

·         Keep animals out of surface water

·         Test manure and soil

·         Properly handle dead animals

·         Properly handle chemicals

(Amy Livingston)

While these rules require extra effort from farmers, they can truly make a difference.  According to the EPA’s rule information sheet, even a small step such as developing a nutrient management plan can reduce an estimated 56 million pounds of phosphorus, 110 million pounds of nitrogen, 911,000 pound of metals, and over 2.1 billion pounds of sediment per year (CAFO).  This will not only keep our water clean but also seriously reduce algae growth and fish fatalities per year.  If these regulations are not followed and annual reports are not submitted to local EPA officials, they have the ability to shut the organization down. 

 

I, for one, value my drinking water and the beauty of the world around me over my wool coat.  I am happy to see that these regulations are in place and are serving as a guide for farmers around the United States to use whether in wool production or any other type of CAFO organization.

Resources:

Amy LivingstonAmy Livingston is a freelance writer who can actually answer yes to the question, "And from that you make a living?" She has written about personal finance and shopping strategies for a variety of publications, including ConsumerSearch.com, ShopSmart.com, and the Dollar Stretcher newsletter. She also maintains a personal blog, Ecofrugal Living, on ways to save money and live green at the same time. “Topics.” Money Crashers, www.moneycrashers.com/bottled-water-vs-tap-water-facts/.

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) Rule Information Sheet . United States Environmental Protection Agency, www3.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/cafo_themes.pdf.

“EPA's Recommendations of Specifications, Standards and Ecolabels.” EPA's Recommendations of Specifications, Standards and Ecolabels | Office of the Provost | The George Washington University, provost.gwu.edu/epas-recommendations-specifications-standards-and-ecolabels.

“Herd Of Sheep Pictures, Images and Stock Photos.” Herd Of Sheep Pictures, Images and Stock Photos - iStock, www.istockphoto.com/photos/herd-of-sheep?excludenudity=true&sort=mostpopular&mediatype=photography&phrase=herd of sheep.

“NSCEP Document Display.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyNET.exe/20004CT1.txt?ZyActionD=ZyDocument&Client=EPA&Index=2011 Thru 2015%7C2000 Thru 2005%7C2006 Thru 2010%7CPrior to 1976%7C1976 Thru 1980%7C1981 Thru 1985%7C1986 Thru 1990%7C1991 Thru 1994%7C1995 Thru 1999%7CHardcopy Publications&Docs=&Query=cafo sheep feeding cafos animal&Time=&EndTime=&SearchMethod=2&TocRestrict=n&Toc=&TocEntry=&QField=&QFieldYear=&QFieldMonth=&QFieldDay=&UseQField=&IntQFieldOp=0&ExtQFieldOp=0&XmlQuery=&File=D%3A%5CZYFILES%5CINDEX DATA%5C00THRU05%5CTXT%5C00000005%5C20004CT1.txt&User=ANONYMOUS&Password=anonymous&SortMethod=h%7C-&MaximumDocuments=15&FuzzyDegree=0&ImageQuality=r85g16%2Fr85g16%2Fx150y150g16%2Fi500&Display=hpfr&DefSeekPage=x&SearchBack=ZyActionL&Back=ZyActionS&BackDesc=Results page&MaximumPages=1&ZyEntry=2.

Three Bags Full

Sheep and wool are woven (pun intended) tightly throughout history.  The symbol of the sheep appears in the mythology, religion, economics, entertainment and homemaking of our ancestors.  Even today we find ourselves repeating some of the same traditions or ideas without even thinking about it. 

When these stories are repeated over and over again they become folklore.  They have a deeper meaning and are passed down from generation to generation.  This specific example can be considered oral and traditional folklore.

Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes, sir, yes, sir,
Three bags full;
One for the master,
And one for the dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane.

(Onion, Rebecca)

Remember the game telephone?  A word or phrase is passed down a line of people and without fail it becomes a jumbled mess of words.  This poem has gone through a game of telephone lasting hundreds of years.  Many historians hypothesize that this poem is talking about the tax put on sheep and wool in 1549 in England and has been repeated to children ever since. 

King Edward I felt the effects of war on his pocketbook and was the first to instigate a tax on all exported wool.  The taxpayers felt this new burden heavily.  The King was receiving most of the wealth and the rest was going to monasteries which had large herds of sheep and were making enough to balance out the cost of the heavy tax.  The common shepherd was taxed out of all his income.  The taxes began to damage the wool trade market and the wool production market in England was saturated.  It isn’t surprising to learn that the original poem used to go something like this:

 (King Edward)

Bah, Bah, a black Sheep,
Have you any Wool?
Yes merry I Have,
Three Bags full,
Two for my Master,
One for my Dame,
None for the Little Boy
That cries in the lane.

What can be learned from this poem is that the wool industry is here to stay.  Sheep may have to be raised in a certain way to please clients and wool may or may not be “in” next season, but the sheep will keep growing wool and that is a great reason to shake off the past and move forward toward the future of wool production.

 (Minnicks)

P.S. If you are interested in learning more of the history and course of events, I recommend you visit Historic UK’s page on History of the Wool Trade.  It is amazing what one tax can do to an entire Empire.  The link is below in Resources.

Resources:

“History of the Wool Trade.” Historic UK, www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Wool-Trade/.

“King Edward I.” The Association of the Covenant People, 15 Mar. 2016, www.associationcovenantpeople.org/2010/11/king-edward-i/.

Minnicks, Article Written By Margaret. “Being the Black Sheep in the Family.” HubPages, HubPages, 23 Sept. 2017, hubpages.com/religion-philosophy/The-Black-Sheep-of-The-Family.

Onion, Rebecca. “Some Delightfully Scatological and Cruel Nursery Rhymes, From the Oldest Surviving Book of Them.” Slate Magazine, 11 Apr. 2016, www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2016/04/11/some_of_the_oldest_surviving_published_nursery_rhymes_are_scatological_and.html.

SHREK

Before you purchase a wool product from a store, the wool passes through many hands.  Some of these hands include farmers, veterinarians, shearers, weavers, and feed producers.  One of the most important set of hands are the sheep shearers’ hands.  Today I would like to focus on their role because if their job is not done correctly, the whole batch of fleece, or even the life of the sheep is in jeopardy.

It is smart to hire a professional shearer for this task because sheep’s wool can become damaged if they are not sheared correctly (Sheep 201).  Shearers need to be trained and experienced in using the correct tools.  The training includes basic shearing technique and other tips such as the proper hand positioning and gentle handling. 

 (Sheep Shearing Day)

A typical day for a sheep shearer includes seeing several hundred sheep. They use special mechanical tools which need to be sharp to increase safety.  Sheep must be dry to be shorn and it is a good idea to fast the sheep before shearing (Sheep 201).  An article in 2015 states that Australia has a minimum wage requirement that all sheep shearers must make at least $2.85 a sheep (Murphy, Susan).  Professional shearers can finish a sheep in just a few minutes while a novice might take up to half an hour.  The sheep are first penned and then sent in one by one to the shearers.  They are rolled onto their back and sheared in a specific direction.  Shearers must be strong enough to handle the sheep and able to stand and shear all day.  Approximately five kilograms of wool is cut off each shearing!  When they are finished, the fleece should look like the picture below. Sheep should be shorn every year so shearers are always busy. 

(Cinquecento Paper)

As I have spent time researching this topic I have seen a lot of backlash come to shearers.  Many people are worried that sheep are harmed or even killed in the process.  It is a delicate procedure but as long and the shearer is experienced, the sheep should not be hurt.  In fact, shearing a sheep is done for its own good because their wool never stops growing.  A lovely New Zealand sheep named Shrek experienced this problem first hand.

 (Wool World Record)

Shrek had not been shorn in five whole years and poor Shrek had just been waddling around with 40 kilograms of wool on him!    When he was found they called in a four-time Australian Shearing Champion to help do the job.  The shearing took him approximately 45 minutes.  Shrek himself only weighed about 44 kilograms (Wool World Record).  If he had carried this wool for much longer he would have died.

 (Wool World Record)

This story shows how necessary it is to have trained professionals as part of your regular sheep shearing team.  They are what keep sheep healthy and make it possible for us to utilize their quality byproducts.

“Sheep 201: meat, milk, or wool?” The purpose of Sheep 101 is to teach students, teachers, 4-H and FFA members, and the general public about sheep, how they are raised, and the contributions to mankind., http://www.sheep101.info/201/shearing.html. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

“'Wool world record': 40kg from overgrown sheep.” ABC News, ABC News, 8 Sept. 2015, www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-03/wool-world-record-set-after-42kg-fleece-shorn-off-canberra-sheep/6746200.

Murphy, Susan. "Shearer's story: Around the world with wool clippers." The Sydney Morning Herald. September 13, 2015. Accessed October 14, 2017. http://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace-relations/shearing-cover-20150913-gjlgan.html.

"Cinquecento Paper." Magnolia Paper. Accessed October 14, 2017. https://www.magnoliapaper.com/cinquecento-paper/.

"Sheep Shearing Day." Hardys Animal Farm. Accessed October 14, 2017. http://www.hardysanimalfarm.co.uk/events/sheep-shearing-day/.

The Loving One

I grew up on a small town in Idaho.  Farming was the way of life and all my friends either grew up on farms or had worked on.  We knew where our food came from and learning firsthand about the natural ways of life.  I remember when my brother got married and how his wife had never lived outside of Salt Lake City.  After they were married, their first home was in the middle of our small farming town with a total population of 1,000 people.  She was shocked and excited when she first saw a tractor that she called us to tell us the good news.  It was funny to me but made me realize how not everyone knows the things I know about farming.

This realization became even more clear the more I researched this topic.  There is not a lot of mainstream social media posted about farming wool.  The posts I found were mostly negative.  PETA and environmental groups supplied most of the negative posts.  It shows how separated we have become from the source of our food, clothes, and other goods.  We are so far from the process that we are becoming ignorant about how important agriculture is in our lives and susceptible to the propaganda coming from mainstream media.   

One picture that was particularly amusing to me asked the question, “Which sheep should die for your sweater?  The daring one, the loving one, the hopeful one?”  It is promoting a vegan plays very strongly to the pathos (emotions) of the viewer.  It triggers a soft spot in our hearts and causes us to think twice about our actions.  It even got me thinking about how bad I felt for the sheep before I snapped back to my understanding that sheep are not harmed during the process and in fact taken very good care of.

 (1)

Another side of the advertising I noticed was the color schemes of the pictures.  The negative pictures tended to have dark, powerful colors such as black and red with a contrasting white lettering.  This grabs the attention of the reader and sets a serious mood.  In the positive images, the scene was light and airy with natural happy colors.  This sets the scene for the viewers before they are even able to read or process the article. 

 (3)

The occasional positive advertisement I found was usually on websites selling quality wools such as Icebreaker’s website (see image).  The rhetoric involved in advertising against wool production is used incredibly well on the opposing side’s argument but could use some work on the defending side. 

 (2)

My challenge to you is to learn more about the things you wear and where they come from.  Your shirt is more than something cute that completes your outfit! And be sure to tune in next week as we talk more about the process behind wool and how many hands touch it before we take it home from the store.

Resources:

Fiber, Blue Barn. “Blue Barn Fiber.” Cruelty Free Wool, 26 Aug. 2016, bluebarnfiber.blogspot.com/2016/08/cruelty-free-wool.html.

“Icebreaker - New Zealand Merino Wool Clothing for Outdoor and Performance Sports - Webdesign inspiration on www.Niceoneilike.com.” Nice one! i like!, www.niceoneilike.com/best-website-inspiration/Icebreaker-New-Zealand-Merino-Wool-Clothing-for-Outdoor-and-Performance-Sports.

Burton, Arlie Felton-Taylor and Lydia. “Wool industry responds to latest animal welfare campaign against it.” ABC Rural, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 14 Apr. 2015, www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2015-04-14/wool-industry-peta-shearing-animal-welfare/6390924.

Wool History 101

Wool is a textile that is made from sheep, goats, rabbits, and other animals.  There are many different varieties of wool.  It is a known fact that the thickness, texture, and animal that it comes from makes a difference in the end-product of textiles and quality of clothes.  These higher quality products can also result in a higher income for wool farmers.  I want to research whether the process of raising these animals, specifically sheep, makes any difference in the quality of the product.  I want to find out whether there are slight changes that the average farmers can make to improve the quality of their crop.  For the sake of narrowing the research, we will focus solely on wool from sheep raised in America, however we must first learn about the general wool market.

To analyze wool production, we must first understand the process.  Sheep are raised in herds by farmers.   They (the sheep) grow wool through follicles on their skin. This wool is shorn off the sheep and then washed, treated, and sold to producers.  A sheep can be shorn for the first time around 6-8 months of age and is usually shorn annually after that (Rock, Barking).  Sheep with longer and thicker wool may be sheared every 6 months.  Sheep are fed a diet of protein, energy, vitamins, minerals, and water.  Sheep can be kept indoors or outdoors.  Their feeding requirements vary according to their climate and living accommodations.  According to sheep shearing 101, feeding, housing, health care, handling, and harvesting are all critical to the production of high quality wool.  Our search for quality wools is not a new one (Sheep 101).

Sheep were being raised even before 10,000 BC in Northern Europe and people began weaving their wool into clothing around 1900 BC (Sheepcentre.co.uk).  The skins and wool were used for clothing and their properties were unmatched and are unmatched even today.  Sheep are raised throughout the world and the variety of sheep differs on location.  There are long wool sheep, medium wool sheep, and short wool sheep.  Their wool length affects how valuable they are.  Longer wool is more valuable than shorter wool.  Other characteristics that affect wool quality are fiber diameter, uniformity, color, crimp and yield.  You can determine the quality of your wool by raising sheep with desirable qualities.  Fine wool normally has a small diameter and large crimp.  Light colors are most desirable and of course you would want a high uniformity and yield.  Small average fiber diameter is a very accurate predictor of end-product quality (Sheep 201).  Can any of these qualities be altered in the way sheep are raised or produced?  This brings us back to our initial question that we hope to answer throughout the course of our research in this blog.

Rock, Barking. “Barking Rock Farm.” When is a lamb first shorn?, 1 Jan. 1970, barkingrock.blogspot.com/2010/04/when-is-lamb-first-shorn.html. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

Sheepcentre.co.uk, www.sheepcentre.co.uk/wool.htm. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

Sheep 101: Wool production, www.sheep101.info/wool.html. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

“Sheep 201: A Beginner's Guide to Raising Sheep.” The purpose of Sheep 101 is to teach students, teachers, 4-H and FFA members, and the general public about sheep, how they are raised, and the contributions to mankind., www.sheep101.info/201/index.html. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

ABOUT ME:

- I grew up in a small Idaho town.

-I have raised dairy cows.

-I am NOT a farmer.

-I love sewing, design, sports and the occasional Harry Potter book.

-Basically, just a small town girl living in a lonely world.