Wyoming wool mill creates farm-to-fashion products

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is offering $300,000 in grant funding for those in the sheep industry.

The projects funded by this program are targeted to help build and support the infrastructure needed to ensure sustainable sheep production and enhanced marketing of U.S. sheep products.

Keeping a market for American wool was the concern that launched a Wyoming family into a new venture that’s now grown into the largest full service wool mill in the west.

YPR’s Orlinda Worthington shares the story of this unique operation that is committed to supporting local ranchers through eco-friendly farm-to-fashion products.

These two-month-old lambs bleat a characteristic cry of concern over a stranger – me – and an even stranger looking thing we call a microphone.

Wool from these purebred Rambouillet sheep will likely end up in a sweater or mittens, or numerous other products made at Mountain Meadow Wool in Buffalo, Wyoming.

“Really fun to see from start to finish wow we made that sweater or this new blanket.”

Inside their 24-thousand square foot brown metal building we find co-owner Ben Hostetler peering into a 10-foot long German Stoll knitting machine. It was in the process of making a patterned wool blanket when one of the one-thousand and ten needles had a problem.

“So of those 230, 000 stitches, one needle’s getting dust on it, or debris and so we are gonna replace a few needles and see if that solves it. So, looking for one. OW: You literally are looking for a needle in a wool stack. In a wook stack, yep, exactly,”Hostetler said.”

Hostetler grew up in the ranching community, moved away and earned two engineering degrees. He never expected to be spinning yarn for a living.

“I never envisioned I’d be in textiles in any imagination,” Hostetler said.

It was when he was helping his mother look for local products for her craft store that they both became concerned with the loss of the ranching way of life.

“I thought we have a lot of wool in the area. Let’s have some wool products in the store. I started researching that and you can’t really buy local wool. Between 20-50 percent is shipped overseas for processing,” Hostetler said.

The Hostetler’s began brainstorming how they could bring value locally and help bolster the waning wool business.

In 2007 with no experience on the production end – opened Mountain Meadow Wool Mill, a full service mill offering premium prices for wool from local ranches.

“We had one rancher in particular give us some wool initially, and it took us four years to pay for it. But he said, hey, this is worth the investment. Let’s get you the wool, get started processing us and you pay us when you can,” Hostetler said.

The Little Ranch, 20 miles east of Buffalo, is one of six local suppliers. Kellen and Sheridan Little run the family ranch alongside their mother and grandparents. Before Mountain Meadow they sold wool to buyers nationwide. Now, they sometimes sell fleece from their entire herd to the local business.

“Love seein’ a local business get going and have it around here and if it can benefit him and benefit us on the other side on the price also we’re all game for it,” Little said.

Each product made at the operation is labeled and traceable to the ranch that produced the wool.

“It’s not why we do it for recognition of course, but it is kind of a neat thing to actually see a finished product with our wool,” Little said.

One sheep averages 8 to 10 pounds of raw wool. And big bales of it are stacked almost ceiling high in the back of Mountain Meadow’s warehouse. From there it goes through cleaning, carding, combing and spinning; a labor intensive process that turns out fine yarn sold world wide.

“That’s a fun part of it. And the employees love it too,” Hostetle said.

A share of it stays here, made into products right at Mountain Meadow. Some are created by machines, smaller pieces knitted by hand. Bale to blanket, so to speak, takes about two months. And all along the production line Hostettler is committed to making the process as environmentally friendly as possible.

“We try to throw nothing away.”

Remember that wool blanket that had one bad stitch? It gets put back into a blend they call nitty gritty.

“And that will usually go into like saddle blanket yarn. So we got dirt and grease that we got removed in scouring so we pull that out of the wastewater. We use microbiology to break down the lanolin and that breaks down that grease to compost it,” Hostetler said.

And they have a project in the works to create wool pellets that provide a natural garden fertilizer and bring commercial value to ranchers for coarse wool that’s not sellable for apparel.

Mountain Meadow is also partnering with the University of Wyoming for an internship program to educate on wool awareness.

“It’s something that I’m super passionate about.”

Allie Van-Why is the company’s first student.

“The wool industry has been struggling for a really long time. And so, I want to be able to help those farmers and ranchers find niche markets,” Van-Why said.

This farm to fashion operation employs 24 locals. Like Hostettler, none had prior experience in this business. It’s all been hands-on learning. Samantha Reid works a variety of positions at the mill. This day she’s supervising the showroom.

You see a big bunch of dirty, greasy wool come in back there and then you walk in here and you see these beautiful sweaters and blankets made out of that wool, how does that make you feel?

“Proud. It makes me feel real proud. We have a team here. From the products we sell you can see that everybody does put their heart into it,” Reid said.

Heart… and a lotta hard work.

In Buffalo, Wyoming, I’m Orlinda Worthington.

Meadow Mountain Wool does offer tours of its operation. Information can be found on their website.
https://mountainmeadowwool.com