9th Annual Sustainable Sheep Farming Event
9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Lammers Town Hall
Solway, MN 56678
Email sustainablesheep@gmail.com to pre-register by February 10, 2023
Cost: $25/person, $40/couple, $20/SSFC members, $35/SSFC member couples
Pay at the door
Lunch Included
Speakers
Jennifer Hofer from Minnesota Department of Agriculture
Title: Minnesota Meat Inspection-How Producers can get their Meat Products to Consumers.
Heather Schmidtke:
Presentation: Heather will be explaining different finishes for fiber and yarns, how fibers can be combined, color process and what to look for when sending in a fleece.
Margo Hanson/Stacy Dresow
Margo and Stacy will be describe their farm and fiber operations and how they utilize meat from sheep. Information about age, condition, cost of butchering, skins, and more will be discussed.
There will be recipes for several lamb dishes for attendees.
Kelly Bellefy
Kelly will be giving a virtual farm tour and talking about the goats he and his wife raise. He will focus on the good things goats provide, as well as how healthy their milk is and what it can do for the body.
Title: Minnesota Meat Inspection-How Producers can get their Meat Products to Consumers.
Heather Schmidtke:
Presentation: Heather will be explaining different finishes for fiber and yarns, how fibers can be combined, color process and what to look for when sending in a fleece.
Margo Hanson/Stacy Dresow
Margo and Stacy will be describe their farm and fiber operations and how they utilize meat from sheep. Information about age, condition, cost of butchering, skins, and more will be discussed.
There will be recipes for several lamb dishes for attendees.
Kelly Bellefy
Kelly will be giving a virtual farm tour and talking about the goats he and his wife raise. He will focus on the good things goats provide, as well as how healthy their milk is and what it can do for the body.
Speaker Bios
Stacy Dresow operates Dresow Family Farm with her husband, Kevin, in Lonsdale, MN. They raise white and colored Cormo and Cormo crossbred fine-fleeced sheep for their squishy, soft fiber qualities. They also raise Hereford cattle, laying hens, Idaho Pasture Pigs, an angora rabbit, dogs, cats, horses, and a small herd of free-range children.
Margo Hanson and her husband, Ray, retired from Alaska to a picturesque property overlooking Marsh Creek, near Twin Valley, MN, in 2006. After tearing out old barbed wire and completing a new high tensile electric fence, they decided to get into the sheep business, mainly to keep down the grass and overgrown brush. Their starter flock of registered Border Leicesters was OPP negative, which they have continued to maintain, adding various breeds such as SireMax and Gotland, and most recently Wensleydales. Selling the wool has become an important part of the business, with most sales being online. They try to keep their ewe flock around 30 with at least half a dozen rams.
Jennifer Hofer has been working as a Meat Inspector for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture for 12 years based out of the Park Rapids area. She enjoys gardening, quilting, raising chickens, hiking, hunting, fishing and spending time with her family.
Heather Schmidtke runs Beautiful World MN, a small Icelandic and Shetland cross sheep farm for fiber and meat. She recently started offering the service of washing, processing and turning fiber into roving or batts for other people. Heather has been doing fiber processing for her own use for about 6 years and would eventually like to expand to include yarn production. She also sells yarn, hand spun and processed, that she hand-dyes. Her products and yarns are available on her website, etsy and in various craft sells and flea markets in the area where she is usually doing spinning demonstrations.
Margo Hanson and her husband, Ray, retired from Alaska to a picturesque property overlooking Marsh Creek, near Twin Valley, MN, in 2006. After tearing out old barbed wire and completing a new high tensile electric fence, they decided to get into the sheep business, mainly to keep down the grass and overgrown brush. Their starter flock of registered Border Leicesters was OPP negative, which they have continued to maintain, adding various breeds such as SireMax and Gotland, and most recently Wensleydales. Selling the wool has become an important part of the business, with most sales being online. They try to keep their ewe flock around 30 with at least half a dozen rams.
Jennifer Hofer has been working as a Meat Inspector for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture for 12 years based out of the Park Rapids area. She enjoys gardening, quilting, raising chickens, hiking, hunting, fishing and spending time with her family.
Heather Schmidtke runs Beautiful World MN, a small Icelandic and Shetland cross sheep farm for fiber and meat. She recently started offering the service of washing, processing and turning fiber into roving or batts for other people. Heather has been doing fiber processing for her own use for about 6 years and would eventually like to expand to include yarn production. She also sells yarn, hand spun and processed, that she hand-dyes. Her products and yarns are available on her website, etsy and in various craft sells and flea markets in the area where she is usually doing spinning demonstrations.
Sponsors
Back in Balance Minerals®
Clearbrook Elevator, Clearbrook, MN
Dresow Family Farm, Lonsdale, MN
Kathy Belt, Park Rapids, MN
Marsh Creek Crossing Farm, Twin Valley, MN
North Central Feed Products, LLC Gonvick, MN
Clearbrook Elevator, Clearbrook, MN
Dresow Family Farm, Lonsdale, MN
Kathy Belt, Park Rapids, MN
Marsh Creek Crossing Farm, Twin Valley, MN
North Central Feed Products, LLC Gonvick, MN