tar Fanning, Saturday, April 7,1984
Sheep firm
(Continued fromP
drove past I said, ‘that’s it!”’ she
recalls.
Finally, in 1976, Vesper Valley
Farm’s 100-plus acres became
Billie’s own piece of the country.
Practically the first thing she did
after signing the papers was to buy
the horse of her little-girl dreams,
a mare that still roams the
peaceful pasture.
“Then I thought I’d better come
up with some way to make a living
off the place” she figured.
With her mother a market
researcher, Billie had grown up
with statistical conversation
around the family dinnertable. So
she set out to analyze her farm
situation from a “market
research” angle, to determine
what she could do with the
property.
Steers, she decided, were really
too large for her to single-handedly
manage and move. Neither
chickens nor hogs particularly
aroused her interest.
It was the purchase of a single
black sheep,” because it was
different, “that proved a critical
turning point.
“I really enjoyed that sheep and
its colored wool, and decided to
take spinning lessons. Actually, I
wanted to knit myself a black wool
sweater,” Billie relates.
From there, her enthusiasm for
the natural fiber just took over. If
she was going to raise sheep, and
wool she was going to do it with the
same business-like, approach she
takes toward any task.
Back to research she went,
weighing the quality of fleeces of
various purebreds, and their
carcass growth efficiencies.
Before long, sheep meetings,
shows, sales and extension short
courses crammed her calendar.
Her aim, Billie determined, was
to establish better-than-average
prices for her flock production.
Drawing on her own fashion
background, spinning experience
and artistic creativity urges, she
thought it would be possible to
generate customer demand for
top-quality crafting fleeces. A
long-haired breed would best fit
that market. With that
qualification, plus a desire for
weight-gain efficient carcass
animals, Billie settled on the
Corriedale breed.
Her studies told Billie that the
Corriedale breed was developed
through crossing Lincolns, one of
the world’s oldest breeds, with
Spanish Merinos. Sending out
letters to sheep breeders across
the country, she again set out to
find the most qualified and suc
cessful sheep breeders, to “go sit
on their doorsteps to learn from
them.”
[«B2)
Her praise for these breeders,
willing to share their experiences
and knowledge is enthusiastic.
“The Corriedale people have
been wonderful in sharing in
formation. Their support and the
camaraderie among them is
great.”
Through her introductions to
Corriedale breeders, Billie became
familiar with the top lines
developed in the flock of Philip
Resiter, Tenino, Washington. Her
purchase of top breeding stock
from Keister is part of the foun
dation on which she is rapidly
building a string of show suc
cesses.
At last year’s Maryland State
Fair at Timonium, Vesper Valley
entries earned both the Corriedale
division’s champion ewe and
reserve champion ram honors.
One of her entries was half of the
winning pair at the national show,
held in Louisville in November.
Along with the purebred
Corriedales and Romenys, Billie is
developing her own lines of long
haired colored sheep. A separate
challenge is to breed a flock of red
fleeced sheep, a rare and elusive
natural shade in wool.
The few strains of sheep with
red-fleece genes are, un
fortunately, the poorest in carcass
gain efficiency. Also, the genes
that produce the rusty-red wool
shade are recessant to the more
dominant black, and many
generations of crossing and re
crossing for the red colory may
still bring a breeder little or no
satisfactory results.
Genetic developments in the
natural colored lines have come
somewhat faster. A favorite of this
spring’s crop of lambs has a fleece
with a long, thick silvery staple,
and an almost shimmering quality
running through the fiber.
Unlike most shepherds, Billie
does not set aside a day in late
spring to shear the entire flock for
her wool harvest. Instead, to
maintain only the very highest
quality of fresh fleece for her
speciality retailing, she clips
fleeces as customers order, or as
her own design needs dictate.
“The best place to store fleece is
on the sheep,” she says
adamantly.
Spinners prefer a four-to-five
mch staple for working into yam.
Since some of her bloodlines
produce nearly an inch of fleece
per month, a twice-yearly harvest
of wool doubles production. Ex
tremely detailed records are kept
on every animal, including a sheet
of samples from various areas of
each fleece harvested.
In addition to retail demand for
raw fleeces, Billie’s design
background has interested her in
experimenting with producing do
it-yourself kits and finished, in
dividualistic garments for high
fashion boutiques.
In the basement of her far
mhouse, Billie processes selected
colored or dyed wools into felt for
designing garments. Handfuls of
raw wool are run through a picker
and a carder, to straighten and
separate the individual fibers of
wool. Loose and fluffy, the airy
cluster of wool is called a “batt.”
Several batts are laid side by side,
then other are criss-crossed, many
layers high, into a fluffy stack of
wool strands, about a yard square.
Alternately immersed in very
hot water, then in extremely cold
water, the stacks of fibers are
“shocked” into shrinking together
into a tight fabric, much as an all
wool sweather would shrink if
given similar treatment.
From the resulting piece of wool
felt, Billie creates garments,
slippers, even hats, that are warm,
long-wearing, washable, and,
because each piece of felt is dif
ferent in shading, a one-of-a-kind
item.
A born marketer and mer
chandiser, Billie has sold even the
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sounds of her flock for a television
commercial.
While visiting her brother, an
award-winning song writer who
lives in New York, Billie made the
acquaintance of a sound effects
professional, who happened to
need the bleating voices of sheep
for use in a commercial he was
helping to produce. Via the magic
of tape, Billie recorded the sounds
of her flock at feeding, the distinct
sounds of baby lambs and
mothering calls and the deep calls
of the rams, lending an unusual
claim to fame for her vocal flock.
No longer considered a novice by
her peers in sheep breeding, Billie
is now frequently sought out by
other® for Vr expertise in genetics
A few copies of “Favorite
Recipes Of Pennsylvania 4-H
Families: Appetite Pleasers” are
still available from the Mon
tgomery County Extension Ser
vice. The book is a limited one-of-a
kind edition with hundreds of
hometested recipes from 4-H
leaders and members throughout
the state. Favorite recipes of
famous 4-H alumni are also in
cluded.
The collector’s item includes
more than 450 recipes in the
following categories:
• salads and salad dressings
• soups and sandwiches
• breads
• main dishes made with meats,
poultry, seafood and vegetables
• vegetables
• desserts
• side dishes
In addition to American dishes,
recipes from many different
Fulton Grange passes resolution
Fulton Grange 66 passed a original Easter bonnet from things
resolution favoring a constitutional in the home and to bring the
amendment to change the present Pomona Grange meeting on April
form of selecting judges for state- 21-
wide office to a merit system. Wands Galamore, York, spoke
Lecturer Sandy Glabreath asked on “Deaf Awareness” and
for participation in the art, photo demonstrated the sign alphabet,
and talent contests. She also asked The next meeting will be April 9
aU Grange ladies to create an and will feature a humorous film.
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4-H cookbook offered
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and marketing. An enthusiastic
supporter of the 4-H program and
the assistance it can give
youngsters, she was recently
asked to talk with sheep club
members at one of their seminars.
The award of appreciation they
presented to her has become a
treasured memento for the city
girl whose dream to become a
farmer has become successful
reality.
i'm still playing,” she grins. “I
just have a bigger sandbox and
larger toys.”
Perhaps, someday, Billie may
even find time to knit that black
sweater that she never got around
to starting.
cultures are represented to reflect
the diversity of cooking in Penn
sylvania. Each recipe includes a
nutritional breakdown of calories,
sodium, protein, potassium,
carbohydrates, total fat and
cholesterol per serving.
This general, all-purpose
cookbook also includes cooking
charts, tips, information about the
4-H program, and color and black
and white photographs. The
cookbook features a spill-proof
cover and is spiral-bound for easy
use. 4-H clubs have them for sale at
the time. All proceeds are
benefiting the 4-H program in
Pennsylvania, which currently
serves 145,000 youths between the
ages of 8 and 19.
To order the cookbook, please
contact your local County Ex
tension Office at 277-0574. This cost
is $5.00 +3O cents tax, + $l.OO for
shipping and handling.