Out for a spin at the Fiber Farm

Curious alpacas look a lot like Dr. Seuss creatures.  Alpaca wool is popular among knitters and other needleworkers. 

Susan Kirkpatrick

The other day I met a group of ladies whose ancestry may trace back to Old Testament Days.

They didn’t particularly like me, though. When I walked up, they turned their heads toward me in unison and just stared for some moments without uttering a sound of any kind.  

Then, as though the action were choreographed, they turned their heads away, turned their backs on me and strolled off.

So much for getting friendly with a herd of sheep.

These girls were Jacob Sheep, a long-horned variety of wool producers whose lineage can be traced back to 16th century England where they were known as piebalds. Before that, no one really knows, but many say they have characteristics of the sheep in the Bible’s book of Genesis. Hence the name, Jacob Sheep.

“There are people who believe these sheep were directly descended from Jacob’s flock in the Old Testament,” says Alex MacDonald, shepherd, overseer and owner of Leaping Lagomorph Rare Breeds farm, where the sheep live among the rocks and oak trees of central Morgan County.

A sturdy man with blue eyes and a fringe of beard, Alex is clearly comfortable with his flock and herds. After we meet the ewes, the emu and a few Alpacas, he and Griffin, a two-year-old Sharpei, lead me on a fruitless chase down the rocky hillside behind the barn into a creek bottom where he expects to find his rams. He’s particularly anxious to show them off because of their amazing, curled horns, but no luck. The rams have wandered off into the wilderness, as it were, so we trudge back up through the scrubby oak woods to the barn, house and fiber shop.

“They’re genetically close to wild sheep and a lot of people mistake them for goats because of their long horns and the fact that they eat just about everything,” he says of the sheep.
 
“They’re very good weed control. They love poison ivy, grasses, other weeds. And,” he adds ruefully, “my tomato plants!”

Alex also believes that because Jacob sheep are an old breed that hasn’t been tinkered with genetically, they are smarter than your average sheep. “So many sheep have been bred for meat or wool and in the process brains seemed to lose out,” he says.  As proof he offers the fact that he’s seen one member of his herd use a horn to open a latched gate and then hold the gate to let the others through.

So what are these Jacob sheep doing in the Missouri Ozarks?

The purpose of this particular flock of Joseph Sheep is to entertain Alex and his wife Andrea, and to provide raw wool for the MacDonalds’ fiber shop, Sumptuous Yarns, which sits just across from the barn.

The MacDonalds came to the Ozarks nearly six years ago from eastern Pennsylvania. They had raised alpacas and Jacob Sheep there, but were more-or-less forced out by economics and encroaching suburbia.

“People loved the idea of having a farm nearby,” notes Alex, “But they didn’t much like to hear a tractor at 6 a.m.”

A search for more promising farmland turned up central Missouri and before long they were packed and moved to their present 37 wooded, hilly acres just off Webb Road between Gravois Mills and Versailles.

Today the farm sports Jacob Sheep, Alpacas, one emu, two Sharpeis and half-dozen cats.  Alex takes care of the animals and pastures; Andrea, who is a computer software consultant during working hours, is a spinner, weaver, knitter and oversees the yarn shop.

“Andrea is a real fiber artesian,” says her husband. “She’s been doing spinning and weaving since she was about 8 years old. She loves fiber craft in any form.  I’ve always liked animals and when we got together we agreed that some day we’d have a few acres. When Andrea found out we could actually own an Alpaca, that’s when we started the farm.”

Andrea also often serves at shows and fairs as an Alpaca fleece judge or Alpaca show clerk.

Once a year, they shear the sheep and alpacas, selling the “fresh yarn” in the Yarns shop and also some that has been kept back for hand spinning. The rest of the year, the shop offers a variety of natural wool, cotton, alpaca, merino and Corridale sheep yarns and even some silk and mohair fibers.

“We emphasize natural fibers,” says Alex, noting that the yarns from their own herd sell out almost immediately.

Among their wool brands are some colorful yarns from Manos del Uruguay, a women’s cooperative. “The profits from these yarns go directly to the women who spin them.”

Other offerings include needles, bags, buttons books and other supplies for the spinning, crocheting, knitting and felting.

The shop is open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It’s a perfect place to stock up on yarn for winter knitting and take a look at the Old Testament sheep. Rest assured they will be looking at you.