From the Fields - Robin Lynde

By Robin Lynde, Solano County sheep rancher

I raise Jacob sheep. I’m mainly in it for the fiber, but I also sell butcher lambs—the live lamb, not the meat. We facilitate them harvesting on our property. Then it goes to a local butcher. I sell the fiber for yarn, and I weave and sell my handwoven things.

I’m a farmer and a weaver. I do a lot of public interaction things like teaching classes, mainly on weaving. I also teach a class on livestock management.

The sheep business is going well. I’ve sold all the sheep I wanted to. I’m not selling direct to market, which has better pricing. I’m selling them for $3 a pound live weight. I think it’s working out. We just sold 11 lambs, and they were the last for the year.

We’re in breeding season. I put the rams out a little earlier than I normally do. They’ve been out for two and a half weeks. I’ll keep them out for another couple of weeks.

We had some challenges in the spring with how much water we had and how long the fields were flooded. Things didn’t grow as well, and hay prices went up a lot earlier this year.

One of the smartest things I ever did was to start something called Farm Club, where people—usually fiber enthusiasts—pay a yearly fee because they want to support a small farm and be part of it. They get to come do hands-on things and learn behind-the-scenes stuff about the farm.

I send them emails about what’s happening on the farm, the nitty-gritty stuff. I have farm days where they come and take part in what’s going on. I invite them out at lambing time and breeding season. The members get a product each year, either fiber or sheep skin or whatever they choose. I don’t know that I have a business model, but if I did, Farm Club is part of it.