(country music)
Hello, I'm Christi Graver
and I'm an Ag Extension Associate
in the Lehigh Valley Area.
I'm currently on my farm in Carbon county
called Fairyland Farms.
On our farm, we primarily
raise beef cattle and sheep
and other livestock animals
and grow hay, corn, soybeans
and oats to feed the animals.
Most of the offspring from
our beef cattle and sheep
are either sold to the local
butcher, local auctions
or for kids to show at the
County Fair for animal projects.
I'm the fifth out of six
generations on my family's farm
to work the land and raise the animals.
Today my family and I are
going to be shearing the wool
which is fiber that sheep produce
from our flock of sheep to
prepare them for warmer weather
out on the pastures.
Shearing is an activity that
happens here on our farm
and many other farms in the springtime.
Shearing is basically like
giving of the sheep a haircut
except they have wool.
Shearing does not hurt the sheep
and you can actually tell that
they feel cooler and better
after shearing is done.
(clippers buzzing)
So here we are using an electric clippers
to shear the wool from
the bodies of each sheep.
This is one of the many ewes or females
that give birth to lambs from
our flock getting sheared.
This is our flock's single
ram or uncastrated male
that breeds our ewes in
the flock getting sheared.
In addition to shearing the wool,
we also take the time to
maintain the flock's health
by trimming their hooves and
giving them an oral dewormer
to fight off any internal parasites.
After we shear each individual sheep,
we clean up the wool and place
it in this big burlap bag.
Once the bag is full,
we store it for about a month or so
until we can take it to our
regional market to sell.
The raw wool from our
sheep that is in this bag
gets marketed at a local wool pool,
which is where sheep producers
take their wool to be
collectively sorted and weighed
by type and quality
and get ready for the
next stage of processing.
Cleaned and processed wool
is used to make many
common household items
such as clothing, blankets, carpets,
insulation and upholstery items and more.
The waxy oils from wool called lanolin
are also used to make
different types of lotions,
lip balms and other related items.
Thank you to everyone
involved in the process
that makes finished wool products
and many other agricultural
products possible.
I encourage you all to
support your local farmers
and small businesses by
buying and shopping local
in your communities.
Check out local farm market maps
in Pennsylvania Produced and
Preferred Product Listings.
(country music)
