Cottonwood Creek Wool: Crowheart company finds eco-friendly use for waste wool

Ben and Alicia Rux help customers “become the shepherds of their soil” with an economically-savvy – and environmentally-friendly – solution to otherwise unusable wool.

Cottonwood Creek Wool was started as a way to add value to the Ruxes’ wool clip and find a sustainable solution for waste wool. 

In addition to running cattle and Rambouillet sheep on a ranch near Crowheart, Ben and Alicia sell wool pellets as a soil amendment and spread the word about the sheep industry to customers across the nation. 

Getting started

The Ruxes have been raising livestock in Fremont County for 21 years. 

In 2016, they started Cottonwood Creek Livestock LLC and have been growing their sheep and cow/calf operation ever since. 

After raising sheep for a few years, the Ruxes began looking into ways to diversify their operation – particularly in terms of adding value to their wool harvest. Following some research, they started experimenting with using waste wool pellets as a soil amendment in gardening.

“As Wyoming natives, we’re accustomed to growing gardens in a harsh, arid and cold environment. We’re also accustomed to growing sheep in a harsh, arid and cold environment,” states the Cottonwood Creek Wool website. “Over the years, as we gardened and shepherded, we realized something – these two things might be able to have a wonderfully symbiotic relationship.”

In 2022, Alicia entered her wool pelleting idea in an entrepreneurship contest sponsored by Impact 307 and was one of three winners. 

“At the time, there was only one other business in the country pelleting wool,” Alicia notes. “It seemed like an excellent way to add value to our wool.”

The Ruxes have spent the past three years growing their business and spreading the news about wool pellets as a soil amendment while educating the public about Wyoming’s sheep industry. 

Wool pelleting

In recent years, attention surrounding the benefits of using waste wool as a soil amendment in gardening has grown. Alicia explains soil amendments are additions which help improve fertility and other conditions affecting plant performance. 

The pelleting process is fairly simple and involves using a mill which compresses the fibers into pellets.

Wool pellets offer a host of benefits from increasing water retention in soil, adding nutrients to plants and even repelling slugs. They are biodegradable and encourage slow nutrient release – making pellets an environmentally-friendly alternative to synthetic additives – and they can help reduce soil erosion.

“The nitrogen provided by the pellets is less mobile in the environment than many synthetic fertilizers,” Alicia explains. “Adding carbon to the soil helps bind particles and reduce soul erosion.”

Due to these qualities, Alicia says wool pellets also show promising potential in benefiting soil impacted by fires or otherwise in need of reclamation. 

“We have done some simple rangeland experiments where we applied the pellets to the soil surface and saw some potential applications in reclamation,” Alicia comments. “The pellets make a felt-like armor on the soil surface after they get wet, which provides protection for the soil while capturing and holding moisture in rangeland conditions.” 

Raising sheep

Neither Alicia nor Ben grew up around sheep, but Alicia notes the learning curve has been aided tremendously by the help of some wonderful mentors including University of Wyoming Sheep Extension Specialist Dr. Whit Stewart, Wyoming Wool Growers Association Executive Director Alison Crane, fellow Fremont County Sheep Producer Ivan Laird and the University of Wyoming Sheep Task Force.

“They are absolutely priceless resources for Wyoming sheep producers,” Alicia says.

The Ruxes primarily raise Rambouillet sheep, chosen for their ability to produce high-quality wool with an excellent micron count and breed their ewes to Suffolk or Hampshire bucks in order to achieve a good-muscled, fast-growing lamb crop. 

Shearing and lambing are labor intensive but aided by help from good neighbors. 

“Fremont County has a very strong agricultural base,” Alicia says. “We’re blessed with neighbors who help during lambing and shearing.” 

Spring is a particularly busy time of year between lambing and calving, and summer brings plenty of long days in the hayfield. Throughout the year, spare time is dedicated to making wool pellets to market through Cottonwood Creek Wool. 

To its core, Cottonwood Creek Wool is dedicated to sustainability and making the best use of resources. 

For more information on Cottonwood Creek Wool, visit cottonwoodcreekwool.com or e-mail Alicia at alicia@cottonwoodcreekwool.com.

Grace Skavdahl is the editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.