By Caitlin Cummings
I had the pleasure of attending a Shepherdess Camp at Keewaydin Farms in beautiful rural Viola at the end of May, 2025. It was a great experience; three days of hands-on learning encompassing most areas of not only sheep care, but production of sheep products as well. I was eager to learn from fellow women about how they manage farming. The percentage of farmers who are women continues to grow, but it is still a male-dominated industry, and I am the only woman in our livestock crew at present. It may not be an obvious thing to many, but the tools of the trade are often not built for women, and yet we still have to perform the same work as our male counterparts. Everything from basic tools like hammers, which usually have a larger grip than is comfortable for my smaller hands, to the large feeding troughs that are specifically designed so that the sheep (who can weigh more than twice as much as I do) do not move them, makes work difficult. When trying to complete tasks in a world not built for you, you have to get creative, and learn what you can from others who face the same difficulties as you.
Day One began with all of us campers getting to know one another. There was a great variety of experience; some women had no sheep or any livestock experience, but were looking for a place to start. Others had experience with cows or horses and were looking to branch out. There were a few who already had small flocks of their own, but were looking for advice on certain problems that they’d encountered. Regardless of their level of hands-on experience with sheep, we all had valuable stories to share with each other on everything from fiber arts to sheep care to everyday life.
After introductions, we got to meet the flock of our host farm. They raise primarily Baby Dolls, otherwise known as Southdowns, a short wool breed mainly raised for meat, but the wool can be useful too. They grow well, easily becoming overweight, but they’re also very short which makes them ideal for keeping the grass low in orchards, as they cannot reach the fruit. They crossbreed most of their sheep with other breeds, like Shetland, which can give them a good mix of characteristics, such as a friendly and short stature sheep with fine wool. They also kept a couple of goats, one of them an angora whose fur can be blended with a crimpy sheep’s wool to create something soft, but with a nice loft.
Once we saw the flock, we got to try our hand at coating them. Coating is used to preserve the fleece of an animal by preventing rough plant matter from becoming entangled in it. Coats can also make the animals less attractive to predators. They are lightweight, breathable, and water permeable. They come in many sizes, and a single sheep usually requires about four differently sized coats a year, to be replaced as the wool grows.
Baby Doll lamb with coat
After lunch, we went to the Ewetopia Fiber Mill for a tour. We got to see the machinery and some of the process in action, and received some tips for what to send to the mill and what different fibers are good for. First, the fiber is skirted; it’s laid on a screen to let foreign matter and wool tufts that are too short to be good for fiber arts fall through. Especially dirty and matted pieces are removed by hand. These remains, minus especially matted bits that cannot be shredded, are then able to be processed into woolets, pellets used for fertilizing gardens.
Skirting the wool
Next, the wool is washed in sinks 2-3 times, to remove dirt and lanolin, a natural oil produced by sheep. It is then put in a spinner to remove as much water as possible, and finally placed on racks to finish drying. After fully drying, it’s taken to the picker. The picker removes more foreign material, and separates clumps. After the picker is the carder, which removes still more foreign matter and turns the wool into luxurious roving.
Wool roving
Finally, the roving can get sold as-is to people who hand-spin, or spun by machine into yarn. The first step of turning roving into yarn; making a single-ply strand. After the tour, we had a lovely meal of shepherdess pie, containing lamb from Parker Farm and various vegetables from Keewaydin and other local farms.
I ended the day by taking a needle felting class, taught by Justine Zimmer of She Wonders Art. We began constructing sheep on a wire frame, but with only an hour to do it, most of us left with unfinished products to return to on Saturday evening.
Saturday began with more stories from the campers. We discussed the troubling side of raising animals; the psychological challenges of dealing with illness and death. At Gwenyn Hill just three days before, we had sadly lost a lamb very suddenly, so the topic was not far from my mind. We all shared in the commiseration, and left with a new feeling of connection and solidarity.
After that sobering subject, we moved on to discussing rotational grazing and mobile fencing. We got to try our hand at putting up fencing ourselves, and I found myself to be one of the more experienced in that area, as I had spent a great deal setting up such fencing in the weeks prior to camp. There was not much said about it that I had not already figured out for myself. It can be tricky to do; it tends to get tangled worse than Christmas lights. It needs to be placed taut enough to keep itself upright, and care should be taken so it isn’t torn.
Mobile fencing along the roadside of a neighboring farm
After that, a veterinarian came to speak about the two most common calls she receives: “What is hanging out of my sheep?” and “She is lethargic and doesn’t want to get up.” The answer to the first can be a number different organs, with consequences ranging from minor to serious, the vet gave opinions on when she should be called. The two most common causes of the second problem are parasites and pregnancy toxemia. She gave some tips on prevention. When she was done giving her talk, I was able to ask her some specific questions I had about our lambs at Gwenyn Hill, particularly what could have been done for the poor little lamb we lost.
We broke for lunch, then moved onto the topic of breeding and lambing. We went over the important tools that every sheep breeder should have in their kit, and some optional ones. We also discussed what characteristics one might want to consider when breeding their sheep. The quality of the wool, meat, and/or dairy is important, obviously, but temperament, ease of pregnancy and birth, plus many other factors can also be very significant. We discussed parasite management as well, as resistance can be genetic.
Our tour of the day was of FarmerSown at Parker Family Farmstead. They raise Lincoln Longwools, which have similar wool to our Cotswolds, but with an even longer staple length. They also raise angora goats, and blend their fiber.
Parker Family Lincoln Longwool Sheep
For dinner, we had lamb roast and kabobs, and afterwards I continued working on my needle felted sheep. I managed to finish it at the very end of the evening.
The finished product, with curly locks from the Lincoln Longwool sheep at Parker Family Farm
Sunday we discussed how to evaluate sheep for purchase and breeding. We examined the teeth to determine age, the eyes to check for anemia, the udders for mastitis, the tails for proper docking, and many other important characteristics.
Finally, we checked hooves for overgrowth and hoof rot, and got to try our hands at trimming them. We learned about three different ways to hold the sheep. The first strategy is to flip the sheep onto its tail. It is the simplest because it requires no special equipment, however it is also the most physically demanding on the human because the human is the only thing stopping the sheep from moving. The second, utilizing a trimming stand, holds the sheep in place by the neck. The benefit to this approach is that the sheep can remain standing, and even munch on feed, if it isn’t too nervous. However, because the sheep is standing, it can be a difficult angle to work with, and the sheep has full range of motion with its legs, allowing it to buck. The third method employs what is called a tilt table. It’s a chute that the sheep can walk into, and then it gently squeezes them, holding them in place while it is turned so the sheep is lying sideways. In my opinion, this is the best of the three methods to use if you have as many sheep as we do, as it is the least physically demanding on the human. After coming back from camp, we attempted to trim the hooves of our entire flock by the first method, as we had no trimming stand or table, and I went home eleven hours later covered in my own blood, sweat, and tears.
Taking a break from the workout of trimming hooves, we discussed raising sheep for meat. There are many legal requirements and approaches to butchering animals, and it can be a confusing process. There are different levels of inspection, with different requirements that can vary by state or locality, and selling outside the jurisdiction that the meat is approved for is prohibited. After you’ve dealt with all the legalities of how to slaughter the animals, you need to understand quality grades and yield grades to estimate what kind of product you will end up with. Quality grades predict flavor, juiciness, and tenderness of the meat, while yield grades reflect the quantity of cuts, determined by the amount of fat on the carcass.
Following a break for lunch, we continued the product talks by moving onto the dairy side of things. We got to tour Hidden Springs Creamery, which has a cheese operation with a few hundred sheep. We began by touring their processing facility, where the milk is curdled and formed into wheels. Amy Forgues, the owner, went on to tell us about some of her experiments and happy accidents in her cheesemaking adventures. Apparently small changes can yield wildly different results.
Cheese aging in the fridge
After that we met their flock of Lacaune sheep, the most widely used dairy breed in France. They produce less milk than other breeds, but have a higher fat and protein content which is perfect for cheese making. Hidden Springs also keeps a few donkeys, to guard the sheep from predators.
The last stop on our tour was the milking parlour, which is actually not too different from our own parlour we use to milk our cows, just in miniature. The sheep walk into the chutes on the sides where the milking apparatus is attached to their udders by the humans standing in the middle section called the “pit.” After the udder is emptied, the apparatus automatically detaches and the sheep walks back out to pasture.
Milking parlor
Our time at camp was nearly over, but before returning home, we got to sample some products by Hidden Springs, and I left with my very own tub of garlic and herb spread.
Caitlin Cummings began her time at Gwenyn Hill Farm in 2023 working with our Vegetable Production Team. She now works with our Land & Livestock team to take care of all of the animals here at the farm.