Title

"Feature Story" piece on sheep farming in Maine. In the 19th century, Maine had

Authors

March Truedsson

Source

Maine Times

Date

7-27-2000

Pages

16-17

Abstract

"Feature Story" piece on sheep farming in Maine. In the 19th century, Maine had close to a million sheep that yielded wool and met for many. Now the number is about 11,000, but an group of farmers, including Wally Sinclair of Brownsville and Perry Ellis of Union, is trying to bring sheep back to the Maine marketplace. High-yielding breeds of sheep produce only about 450 pounds of milk during a lactation period of five months, compared to 19,000 pounds for top-producing breeds of dairy cows, which have an 11-month lactation. But sheep's milk is bringing nearly 90 cents per pound from some cheese makers in Vermont, compared to the 14 cent per pound average that's paid for cow's milk in Maine. Consumer demand for wool has declined and prices have now dropped from a high of 75 cents per pound to 15 cents. But the meat is selling for about $2.39 a pound, similar to the price of lamb raised in New Zealand and Australia, but the freshness of locally raised lamb is a selling point.

Subjects

Sheep

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