Ranching in the West: Stewart, Hostetler discuss Wyoming wool industry during UW seminar series
On Feb. 26, the second installation of the University of Wyoming (UW) Ranch Management and Agricultural Leadership (RMAL) Ranching in the West seminar series was held on the UW campus in Laramie and over Zoom.
The seminar featured conversations on Wyoming’s sheep and wool industry led by UW Extension Sheep Specialist Dr. Whit Stewart and Ben Hostetler, operations manager of Mountain Meadow Wool Mill in Buffalo.
Stewart’s presentation focused on opportunities and challenges facing Wyoming sheep and wool producers, while Hostetler discussed his personal experiences working in the wool industry and gave attendees some entrepreneurial advice.
Wyoming wool
Expressing a belief in the “tremendous potential” of the sheep and wool industries, Stewart outlined a few key facts he believes are instrumental to understanding sheep and wool production in the Cowboy State.
“My goal for this evening is to stomp out misconceptions and give some context about sheep production and wool,” Stewart began.
He shared some statistics reflecting the strength of Wyoming’s sheep industry, noting Wyoming is the fourth largest sheep producing state in the U.S. behind Texas, California and Colorado and emphasizing the Intermountain West produces nearly one-half of all American-raised lamb consumed in the country.
Regarding wool production, Stewart referred to Wyoming as “the wine country of wool” and noted the state stands second to none in terms of wool quality and cleanliness.
“Wyoming is number one in the value of wool produced,” Stewart said. “We raise sheep in environments where wool is clean, and cool temperatures and forages that sustain sheep populations produce an outstanding fine wool that is second to none and sought after worldwide.”
Stewart also explained Wyoming ranks third nationally in terms of breeding sheep herd numbers, with the majority of sheep being fine-wool producing breeds like Rambouillets, Targhees, Merino crosses and Western whitefaces.
“We’re probably the largest remaining uniform breeding sheep inventory in the U.S.,” Stewart said. “We have a lot of large flocks, we produce at scale and we run in an environment which allows us to produce an excellent wool clip.”
Challenges and opportunities
Stewart also discussed some challenges and opportunities facing sheep producers, acknowledging concerns about change while also highlighting some areas for optimism.
First, Stewart shared a graph showing decreased domestic lamb production in recent years in combination with climbing consumer demand.
He explained this combination has led to increased imports from countries like Australia, New Zealand and Uruguay as demand exceeds American producers’ abilities to keep up.
Stewart stressed, even though current domestic production levels are down, sustained consumer demand represents a positive opportunity for American producers. He also added demand for lamb continues to move in a positive direction in the face of heightened beef prices.
“Our inability to meet all of the demand is a really good thing, because this means people are eating lamb like they never have before,” Stewart explained. “It would be an entirely different picture if we were producing a product we had to beg people to want or price it in a way to drive consumption.”
Stewart also broke down some of the challenges associated with wool production, including trade volatility and high input costs, along with fluctuations in inventories, demand and profit.
He noted, although numbers are not as high as they were at the industry’s peak in the mid-20th century, sheep inventories in the U.S. have stabilized at roughly five million head, and the industry still matters tremendously to the roughly 100,000 producers who derive their income from sheep nationwide.
With this, Stewart stressed the importance of prioritizing support for domestic producers and explained the detrimental impact the rise of cheap, fast-fashion clothing products has had on textiles like wool.
“The real driver of why we’ve struggled historically in the wool industry is synthetic fibers,” Stewart said, noting despite the many benefits of natural fibers, consumers often choose synthetics for ease and affordability.
Despite these challenges, Stewart expressed his belief in the future of the sheep and wool industry, highlighting ongoing efforts of the UW-led Wyoming Wool Initiative which works to increase wool’s marketing capacity and champion Wyoming wool.
Entrepreneurial advice
Following Stewart’s presentation, Hostetler discussed his experiences operating Mountain Meadow Wool Mill and shared some entrepreneurial advice with attendees.
Mountain Meadow Wool Mill specializes in Wyoming-grown wool products, sourcing wool materials exclusively from local ranchers with a commitment to ensuring fair pricing and quality.
It is the largest full-service wool mill in the Western U.S., and Hostetler used anecdotes from the mill’s history to underscore the importance of constantly learning and taking an active role in shaping one’s future.
“Your challenge isn’t to learn for your future, it’s to engage with your future right now,” he said. “You’re not learning so you can do something later, you need to start doing something right now.”
Hostetler also discussed the rising impact of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, noting AI is creating a rapid paradigm shift in knowledge which provides both opportunities and challenges.
On a positive note, Hostetler said AI has proven useful to expanding mill operations by aiding business analyses and even providing insight on machine maintenance.
He stressed AI is a useful tool but does not replace fact-checking and real-world experience, and he encouraged the audience to find ways to pair these tools with practical experiences in order to effectively utilize the combination.
In closing, Hostetler emphasized forward motion is a crucial aspect of success.
“I can’t control the whole industry,” he said. “I do what I can do, and I hope we grow. I hope we can help out more ranchers, but the point is to always do something.”
The RMAL Ranching in the West Seminar Series is set to conclude on April 15 with the Rocky Mountain Land and Resource Management Conference in Laramie – an in-person, all-day event featuring conversations on ethics, land use, reclamation, negotiations and comments from Gov. Mark Gordon.
Grace Skavdahl is the editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.
