When my parents in Copley, Ohio, raised Romney sheep primarily for fiber, they had to send the fleece out of state. The first time they sent off the wool, my father promised to take my stepmother out to dinner when the check arrived. When it did, even McDonald’s was off the menu.
For decades, that was the reality for most sheep producers. Raw wool sold for so little that it failed to cover the cost of shearing. Small-scale fiber producers had few options beyond the wool pools, direct sales to spinners or processing it themselves. Today, a growing network of regional fiber mills is helping change that equation by turning locally produced wool and alpaca fiber into value-added projects closer to home.
According to the Ohio Sheep Improvement Association, Ohio ranked 11th in the country in 2024 for total sheep numbers, with about 120,000 animals. More importantly for processors, the state supports a thriving network of small and midsized farms, fiber artists and fiber festivals, creating both a steady supply of fleece and a strong market for locally processed wool. This infrastructure helps foster a growing number of artisan processing mills, such as Powers Acres in Copley…