NDSU Extension Working With Wool Workshop

If you've wondered how the wool sheared from sheep turns into the sweater or scarf you wear, you'll have a chance to see how it's done at a workshop Aug. 2 in Jamestown.

The Working With Wool workshop will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Aug. 2 at the Stutsman County Fairgrounds. The North Dakota State University Extension Service and North Dakota Lamb and Wool Producers Association are sponsoring the event.

Participants will learn about:

* Sections of the fleece

* Fleece quality and how factors such as breaks, stains or excessive vegetal material affect the quality

* How to prepare fleece for processing

* How to wash small and large quantities of wool

* Wool processing methods (carding and combing)

* Making rovings (long, narrow bundles of fiber) or batts (blankets of fibers)

* Spinning

* Weaving

* Dyeing wool

"Hand-spinners will be there to show how yarn is made, and weavers will show how the different cloth structures are made and their applications," says Julie Mangnall of Stirum, one of the workshop's organizers.

The workshop is designed for wool producers and anyone interested in wearing natural fibers. "To get paid top dollar for your harvest, you have to produce and manage that crop so your customer is delighted with your wool," Mangnall says. "Wool is a great year-round garment: warm in the winter and cool in the summer, depending on the type of material made from wool."

This workshop also is for those who want to learn more about environmentally friendly uses for wool, such as fertilizer, material for cleaning up oil or other fuel spills, and landscaping projects, she notes.

The workshop is one of several events scheduled during the North Dakota Lamb and Wool Expo set for Aug. 2-3 at the Stutsman County Fairgrounds. Other workshops are on cooking with lamb, training a stock dog and alternative sheep grazing systems. All of them will run from 9 a.m. to noon Aug. 2.

Participants also will be able to attend presentations on lamb fabrication, lamb quality characteristics, the U.S. lamb market, flock health management and the future of the sheep industry. Those presentations will be during the afternoon and evening of Aug. 2.

Other expo activities include a lamb dinner on Aug. 2 and a lamb lunch on Aug. 3, a ram consignor sheep show and Jamestown ram and ewe sale on Aug. 3, sheep shearing and wool handling demonstrations on Aug. 2, and a vendor fair both days.

The cost of the workshops is $25 per person. The cost for the afternoon and evening presentations on Aug. 2 also is $25 per person. Full registration (both days) if registering by July 26 is $45 per adult plus $25 for each addition adult family member and $10 for each child age 5 to 17. The expo is free for children under age 5.

For more information, contact Reid Redden, NDSU Extension sheep specialist, at (701) 231-5597 or reid.redden@ndsu.edu. To register, visit the NDSU Animal Sciences Department website at http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/ansc/.

NDSU To Hold Open House at Sheep Unit

North Dakota State University's Animal Sciences Department is hosting an open house at its Sheep Unit on Aug. 16.

The Sheep Unit Field Day will highlight renovations to the unit, showcase the unit's management system and provide information on recent research findings.

Faculty and staff also will conduct demonstrations in the meat and diagnostic labs to provide insights into segments of the sheep industry not usually accessible to sheep producers.

"The field day will provide sheep producers a great opportunity to see some of the new management techniques and technologies NDSU has incorporated into our program," Sheep Unit manager Skip Anderson says.

The daylong event begins at 9:30 a.m. at the Sheep Unit, which is at the intersection of Interstate 29 and 19th Avenue North in Fargo. The program includes:

* Welcome from Greg Lardy, Animal Sciences Department head

* Tour of the Sheep Unit and discussion of production goals

* Presentation on applied reproductive research on the NDSU ewe flock

* Barbecue lamb lunch

* Lamb fabrication and sheep necropsy demonstrations

* North Dakota Lamb and Wool Producers Association board meeting

Registration is required to attend the event. The registration deadline is Aug. 10. The cost is $15 per person or $25 per family. Make checks payable to NDSU Animal Sciences and send them to R. Reid Redden, Department of Animal Sciences, NDSU Dept. 7630, PO Box 6050, Fargo, ND 58108-6050.

For more information, contact Redden, NDSU Extension Service sheep specialist, at (701) 231-5597 or reid.redden@ndsu.edu, or visit http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/ansc /news-events/ndsu-sheep-unit-field-day.

(via NDSU Agriculture Communication - Aug. 6, 2012)

NDSU Shepherds Clinics Set

The North Dakota State University Extension Service is hosting three free seminars on basic sheep husbandry for beginners in the sheep industry and producers who want to expand their flock.

"High sheep prices likely will attract newcomers to the sheep industry and encourage producers to expand existing sheep operations," says Reid Redden, NDSU Extension sheep specialist. "Also, the North Dakota Lamb and Wool Producers Association has a perpetual flock program that awards starter flocks to 10 youth, most of whom do not have much experience with sheep."

The Shepherds Clinics are set for June 16 in Fargo, Aug. 3 in Minot and Oct. 1 in Hettinger. All three programs will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Topics to be covered are breeding/reproduction/gestation, lambing barn management, ewe nutrition, lamb nutrition, genetics, wool production and harvesting, common health issues and marketing. The program also includes a sheep tour.

Registration is required one week prior to the seminar. Lunch will be available for purchase at each session.

For more information or to register, contact Redden at (701) 231-5597 or reid.redden@ndsu.edu for the Fargo seminar; Oliver County Extension agent Rick Schmidt at (701) 794-8748 or rick.schmidt@ndsu.edu for the Minot seminar; or Adams County Extension agent Julie Kramlich at (701) 567-2735 or julie.kramlich@ndsu.edu for the Hettinger seminar.