Rocky and Carolyn raised their Corriedale flock in the Longmont, Colorado area for 18 years starting in 1986. They decided to raise the Corriedale breed because of their exceptionally beautiful fleece. This lustrous, soft wool is highly valued by handspinners. It is a bright wool with a distinct crimp style that is joy to spin. They bought their first two sheep shortly after Carolyn began handspinning so that they could produce the wool that she wanted to spin and weave. A couple of ewes was nice but, hey, why not get a ram too. |
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 Soon,
with the encouragement of Natali and Martin Steinberg, they had a small
flock. Somehow, Natali and Martin even talked them into showing their sheep at Boulder
County Fair. When they had some early success, it was even easier
to convince Rocky and Carolyn to purchase the entire flock of 28 sheep in 1990. Little
did they know that they were being adopted by Lilly, the queen of the flock,
who is the mother of Spud and grandmother of Stormy. Both of these rams
were known throughout the West for their exceptionally beautiful fleeces.
Most of Rocky and Carolyn's sheep and a large number of the colored sheep from Wyoming
to New Mexico can be traced back to this line. The flock consisted of about
20 to 30 breeding ewes, 2 rams and the yearly crop of lambs. Rocky Sheep were white,
black, gray and variegated in color. |
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The sheep wore those cute little covers year-round so
that when they were sheared their wool was exceptionally clean for handspinners.
Rocky and Carolyn were such fanatics about clean wool, that they would put covers on some of the
lambs when they were only about 3 weeks of age. As a matter of fact, it
was not too long after they were dry that they were out there trying to look
at wool that was only an eighth of an inch long. "Yeah, it looks great!"
They used to buy their sheep blankets and repaired them all too regularly.
After I started manufacturing Sheep Suit ®
Sheep Covers Carolyn rarely
had to patch or repair them. Sheep Suits are made of breathable, tear-resistant
nylon canvas and are extremely durable. They do not affect the body temperature of the sheep. |
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Once Rocky and Carolyn started showing their sheep and wool they were hooked. Over the years
they showed wool at local, national and international wool shows. Some
of the national and international shows had more than 700 fleeces entered.
The Rocky Sheep flock won many awards for their wool. They included the Supreme and
Reserve Supreme Champion Natural Colored Fleeces at the California National
Wool Show and the International Wool Show at the Los Angeles County Fair.
Their wool won both of these awards for eight consecutive years. In 1999
Rocky Sheep won the Spinner's Choice award at the Estes Park Wool Market. Kaye
Collins selected Charlotte's fleece over approximately 200 fleeces as
the one she would most like to spin. That was better than a blue ribbon! |
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