Sheep, Wool Festival Highlights Show Events KAREN BUTLER Maryland Correspondent WEST FRIENDSHIP. Md. The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival was held here at the How- ard County fairgrounds recently. Thousands attended the two day celebration, which included sheep shows, fleece and shearing competitions, a sheep to shawl contest, and a lamb cook-off. Highlighting the festival’s opening was the coronation of new Maryland Lamb and Wool royalty. The pageant was hosted by outgoing Lamb and Wool queen Laura Langlotz. Elyssa Hcvner, 14-year-old daughter of Clifford and Karen Hevner of Johnsville, Frederick County, is the new lamb and wool queen. Elyssa, a seven-year mem ber of the Johnsville 4-H Club, has 10 Cheviot breeding ewes and one Hampshire ewe. She showed the champion ewe at the state level in 1994 and 1995 and won the shep herd’s lead contest at the state fair last year. She has shown her sheep in Montgomery and Frederick Elyssa Hevner, center, Is flanked by her parents Clifford and Karen Hevner. d.i', - t>N«V ■Keystone , ■K CONCRETE) ■ 1 > on * 4, counties, at West Virginia and Maryland state fairs, and at the Keystone International Livestock Expo. She also participates in the Make It Yourself with Wool con test Elyssa has a sister, Kirs tie, and a brother, Tymon. Jennifer Biser, also 14, will serve as lamb and wool princess. Jennifer is the daughter of Joe and Ruth Biser, Keymar, Frederick County. She has been a member of the Johnsville 4-H Club for three years. Jenny’s main projects have been her six Cheviot breeding ewes. She has shown at the county and state levels and last year had the reserve grand champion fe male at the slate level with a Hampshire. Jenny also partici pates in both the shepherd’s lead and the Make It Yourself with Wool ccmtests. She has a brother, Joey. A keynote speaker at the festi val was Dr. Ron Pope, director of raw wool services for American Sheep Industry (ASI), who gave a talk on “Practical Tips For Survi val in the 21st Century.” He fo- jTT^Vfc+•* ■MO. cused primarily on wool and mar keting. Pope said that there have been many changes in the industry over the past 40 ears. Forty years ago, wool was a familiar commodity; people wore it, and it was very much a staple in the fiber industry. There were 40 million head of sheep in the U.S., producing 300 million pounds of greased wool annually. Today, the contrast is dramatic: there are only eight million head, with an annual output of 63 mil lion pounds of greased wool. Wool is considered a luxury fiber and accounts for only 3.8 percent of fiber use worldwide. “Producer attitudes for the last 40 years have been based on tradi tion rather than moving forward,” he said. Wool prices have been on a de cline since June 1995, with little firming in the market Wool is a globally traded commodity, with Australia basically setting the price level wool will be sold at worldwide. The U.S. is a big consumer of wool, but so are Europe, Japan, and some of the developing coun tries. Economic recession in Eur ope and the generally pom* eco nomies abroad have dictated a de crease in the quality and quantity of clothing consumers there are purchasing. Economic hardship, coupled with a backlog of inventory at the retail level and the fact that wool is often being left off the menu as a purchasable item, have led to un precedented inventory buildups at the processing and retail levels. Pope sees several areas the in dustry as a whole, with specific emphasis on wool growers and marketers, can address in an effort to stay viable in (he face of these circumstances. The first is production. As a ‘ Tv* h*Sc * *' <• - * * > i * t 4 * /"WAFFLE SLAT'M 'X *■? ' - V>,.‘ yjpAl75S7. . £ - »r Q 4* From the left: Elyssa Hevner, newly crowned lamb and wool queen; Laura Langlotz, outgoing queen; and Jennifer Blser, new princess. whole, he said, we ignore wool. A lot of management practices focus on lamb production. Shearing is based on lambing time. Feeding practices are based on lambing. Wool is often seen as a by-pro duct. We can have a SO percent loss of a lamb crop. But it’s very different to have SO percent fleece loss. The fleece may be shorter or less in weight This leads us into a false sense that there is nothing we can do. Pope said. Most people can quote lambing percentages, but without the Wool Act and incentives in place, some may not even keep accurate re cords of total wool production. He stressed the importance of know ing pounds of wool produced, clean weight, fiber diameter, strength, length, and appearance, and using these records as man agement and marketing tools. Wool preparation also plays a big part in the viability of the operation. Since the wool grower is producing a raw material, he has Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, May 18, 1996*09 no way of passing on the cost of preparation to anyone. This is true as a whole in the agricultural com munity, said Dr. Pope, and it car ries over into wool and lamb pro duction. Not all wool on the fleece is the same. In both the cottage in dustry and on the commercial side. Pope advocates separating fleece according to what’s in it, and also suggests grouping like wools together. Years ago, brokers had huge sorting warehouses for wool. Then, as the brokers went out of business, mills started to grade, sort, and separate wool. About eight years ago, mills found that it was not cost effective; that they could buy Australian wool and not have to worry about it As the domestic clip keeps getting small er, the domestic grower must grade and sort the wool himself, or another profit center in the chain will. Not every producer needs to totally skirt and class their clip. (Turn to Page DIO)
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