Dorset Horn
Here at Tenderfoot Farm, we have a small flock of Dorset Horn sheep. The Dorset Horn breed is listed as Threatened by the Livestock Conservancy, with population numbers around 1,000 in the United States and less than 5,000 globally.
Dorset Horn is the heritage breed of the more common polled Dorset, which doesn’t have horns. Horns have been bred out of sheep because they can be nuisance, getting tangled in brush and fences and potentially breaking off which can lead to infection.
Why Sheep?
We came into our flock through my work in agriculture, where I connected with a wonderful woman farmer who found herself with too many ewe lambs one season. We were lucky to find a breeder who was committed to preserving the breed and staying true to its origins. Our girls are sturdy, short, and prolific wool producers. Originally from the hills of England, they thrive in our chilly and wet New York climate.
Sheep are an ideal farm animal for anyone with small acreage or marginal land. They clear brush, restore grasslands (with proper grazing management), and provide organic nutrients to fertilize gardens. Many farmers raise sheep for meat or breeding but some, like us, raise them for fiber.
Wonderful Wool!
Basically, our entire textile ecosystem is made of plastic these days, which degrades over time into tiny little particles that end up in our drinking water and our bloodstream. Fast fashion has meant more affordable clothing, but nearly all that clothing is made of plastic, sewn by underpaid and overworked workers, and shipped across the world, only to end up in a landfill after a few wears. In the old times, our textiles were made of natural fibers which come from plants and animals. The fibers then have to be processed- cleaned, spun, woven, knitted, into textiles. All of that used to happen right here, but over the past century, the entire supply chain has collapsed. Most American wool is simply thrown away. Our sheep need to be sheared once each year, typically in spring. Their fleece can then be used in so many amazing ways:
Waste Wool/Dirty Wool: Used as fertilizer for plants. Wool retains moisture and decomposes very slowly, insulating and feeding plants all season long. The “dirty” part is sheep poo, a rich fertilizer that doesn’t need to be aged before applying to plants.
Carded Wool: Used as batting or stuffing for pillows and quilts. Wool is a natural insulator, so it can also be used in oven mitts and trivets. Getting raw fiber to this stage is pretty straight forward, it only needs to be washed, dried, and carded into big fluffy sheets.
Felted Wool: Our wool is not easily felted, which means that the fibers weave together to form a solid sheet. But we use needle felters on knotted batts to form dryer balls. Dryer balls absorb moisture and help clothes dry faster, and they are an affordable, long-lasting alternative to toxic dryer sheets.
Yarn: Carded batts can easily be turned into roving, which is spun into yarn. We send our wool to a mill to be spun into yarn that we dye and sell as skeins. Yarn can then be knitted or crocheted into hats, socks, sweaters, etc. It can also be woven into rugs, tapestries, and blankets.
There are very few woolen mills left in America today. Our wool is processed at Battenkill Fibers, one of the last full-service mills in New York state.
