Annual Lower Yellowstone Wool Pool

There are certain things that happen annually with my job that I really look forward to. One of those things is the delivery, grading, and bagging of wool at the annual wool pool. When I first moved here, I had no experience with this type of event but consider myself very fortunate to take part in it now.

The Lower Yellowstone Wool Pool has been a great asset to area producers for many years. The sole purpose of the pool is to gather wool from area sheep producers in one central location, grade said wool, and then combine that wool with other producers’ wool to make a larger shipment. By combining these graded pools of wool together, instead of one person trying to market their product, there is now a greater amount of wool being marketed at one time. This process of combining and grading the wool will increase the amount of product that is marketed at one time, therefore ensuring a more consistent product and an increase in the price paid for said product.

The Lower Yellowstone Wool Pool was formed in the spring of 1987 for this reason. A group of local producers organized to aid in creating greater value for the wool they produce. Since the pool’s inception, many tons of wool have been gathered, graded, bagged, and combined with wool from pools across the state of Montana to be marketed.

Our annual wool pool collection will be happening soon. Wednesday, May 10th is the date for this year’s collection. If you have sheep and are interested in contributing to the Lower Yellowstone Wool Pool, you are welcome to bring your wool to the collection site, which will be the old commercial building at the Richland County Fairgrounds, beginning at 2:00 pm and lasting until about 5:00. The pool is open to anyone who has wool to sell and there is no fee paid the day of delivery but there are fees for the administration of the pool, grading, handling, and shipping the wool which get deducted at the time your wool is sold to the pool’s winning bidder. Even if you do not have sheep but just want to see what it is all about, I would encourage you to come check it out on collection day.

As always, if you have questions about this wool marketing opportunity, you are welcome to contact me by phone at 406-433-1206 or by email at [email protected]. Or, you are also welcome to contact Wade VanEvery, Lower Yellowstone Wool Pool president.