Did you ever wonder what happens to the wool that comes off a sheep after being shorn? Probably not, but I am going to tell you. Usually the farmer or the sheep shearer will bag it (you know 3 bags full). The bags used to be made of burlap material but now they are plastic with air vents in them so the wool won't mildew and will weigh an average of about 175 lbs.. Then the wool is brought here and sold. Next the wool is graded which means it is sorted by length, diameter of the individual fibers and put into piles until each pile is big enough to make into a bale with an hydraulic baler. A bale can weight about 450 lbs. Then it is sold to the woolen mills and they process it there.
The farmer averages about $.45 cents a pound and an adult ewe will produce about 7-8 pounds. Basically the farmer makes no money on the sale of the wool by the time he pays the shearer to shear them. So, why shear them? Health issues are the main reason. If the ewe is ready to lamb the farmer wants the wool off so the babies can nurse easily.
The wool is washed with mild soap at the woolen mills and they remove the lanolin that floats to the top and this is used in lipstick, hand cream, makeup etc. Then the wool is "combed" so that all the fibers are straight and separated. Then they process it into yarn and so forth and so on. Wool garments expensive? Yes, there are a lot of processes it has to go through before it can be made into a garment.
Alergic to wool? I doubt it. The itching that wool causes is usually from foreign matter such as straw, baling twine, pieces of sticks etc that were not removed in the whole process and a lesser grade of wool.
Husband shears sheep so he comes here quite often with a load of wool. We may see you here, you never know.
Ok, end of Wool 101 class. Go get the cache.
On private property but permission was granted by the manager of Mid States Wool Growers Assn. Thanks Dave. Most of the employees here know about the cache, but still use a little stealth as customers come in for veterinary and farming supplies, and to sell their wool.
CONGRATULATIONS TO HOGHUNTERS97 FOR THE FTF!!!