FRYEBURG — The 168th annual Fryeburg Fair kicked off its third day Tuesday with gray skies, cool temperatures and light rain, but spirits remained high among fairgoers. Just six weeks earlier, on the evening of July 10, fair officials faced a crisis when fire destroyed the fairgrounds’ sheep and cattle barns, two of its oldest […]
sheep
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Fleece cleaning
Abby Smith, 22, cleans a fleece from a recently sheered sheep at her home in Auburn. Smith, a third generation farmer on the White Ingram Smith Harris (W.I.S.H.) farm, raises sheep but cleans this fleece for a customer. Smith’s great-grandfather, Ingram White, bought the 27-acre farm with money from working in logging camps in northern […]
advertisement
Posted inConnections
Sheep-shearing schools in Freeport, New Gloucester
FALMOUTH — The Maine Sheep Breeders Association and University of Maine Cooperative Extension will offer sheep-shearing schools in March and April. Four instructors will teach beginner sheep-shearing from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 5, at Wolfe’s Neck Farm, 184 Burnett Road, Freeport. The $45 a person fee includes a shearing manual and lunch. […]
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Lewiston-Auburn, Oxford Hills
Herding dogs Bea, Gwen strut their stuff at Unity’s Common Ground Fair
UNITY — Nearly every organic farmer in the state and beyond likely makes the pilgrimage to the Common Ground Fair in Unity at least once in his or her life, and many return year after year, some with their produce and crafts in tow. John and Doreen Simmons of Stoneheart Farm in South Paris just happened […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Animals feared lost in North Yarmouth barn fire
NORTH YARMOUTH (AP) — Authorities said a barn housing dozens of sheep and hundreds of chickens has been destroyed in an early morning fire in North Yarmouth. The exact number of animals that died has yet to be determined. The fire in the West Pownal Road barn was reported by the owners just after 2 […]
Posted inFranklin
Mallett School students learn to herd sheep
FARMINGTON — Children at the Mallett School learned how to herd sheep Friday, first by watching border collies do it and then some of them doing it themselves. Two Coves Farm owner Joe Grady brought three Katahdin sheep to the school. He put up a fence on the lawn to confine them and border collies […]
Posted inFranklin, The Franklin Journal
Sheep judged on structure, wool at Farmington Fair
FARMINGTON — The sound of bleating sheep echoed throughout a barn at the Farmington Fairgrounds on Thursday. Judge Sarah Churchill of Kingfield walked around several wool breeds and touched them on the back to see if they were structurally sound. She also felt the texture of the wool. Churchill has had sheep since she was […]