Colorado is a leader in domestic wool production, accounting for 2,180,000 pounds in 2021 – second only to California
Their job requires both strength and grace, as they maneuver the animals and shave in long strokes across the body of the animals, careful not to nick them. The whole process takes just two or three minutes, after which the sheep are let free in a pen while the massive piles of wool are sorted by workers known as “classers” according to length and fineness.
The San Juan Mountains loom in the background as sheep wait to have their winter coats harvested on a ranch near Montrose on March 10, 2023. The sheep, pictured with a tilt-shift lens, are sheared annually. – second only to California – according to the United States Department of Agriculture. And the state ranks sixth in lamb production, a more lucrative crop by dollar volume.
LEFT: Sheep are moved along into a harvesting trailer to have their winter coats shorn at a ranch near Montrose on March 10, 2023. RIGHT: Cliff Hoopes of Hoopes Sheep Shearing, center, watches as sheep shearers from South America work to remove the winter coats of wool from hundreds of sheep at a ranch near Montrose on Feb. 27, 2023. “When I started shearing 41 years ago, there was approximately 20 million head of sheep and now there’s less than 5 ,” he said.
“There’s not enough Americans to do what we do,” he said. “It’s a hard life, it’s a real hard life. It’s not for everyone.” Come fall, Hoopes is back west to shear big flocks and tag the sheep, meaning shave their face, bum and belly. The end of the year is dedicated to butcher taggingHoopes, 57, comes from a long line of proud shearers. His grandfather was doing it until he was 86 years old. His father, James Hoopes, retired at age 71.
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