South Dakota Sheep & Wool

Our South Dakota hosts organized an industry tour, as part of the 2011 NCERA-214 meeting held in Spearfish, South Dakota. Our first stop was the Center of the Nation Wool Warehouse in Belle Fourche. In 2011, it handled and marketed about 20 percent of the wool produced in the US. It still does. There is a second location in Montana.

Center of the National Wool Inc., c. 1960's

Square bales of wool

One bale

Core sample

Peter Orwick was the Executive Director of the American Sheep Industry Association (ASI), up until 2025. We visited his family's ranch in Newell. The Orwicks raise(d) cattle and Rambouillet sheep. They handled their ewes three times per year. Otherwise the sheep were out on the range. They lambed on the range, with the exception of yearlings which were shed lambed. Erk Brothers, also in Newell, also raised Rambouillets.  

Ewes and lambs on range

Range lambing

Yearling ewe in jug

    Livestock guardians

Rambouillet rams

Woolly legs

Horned ram

Replacement ewes

It's all about wool.

Curly horns

She loves her pup

I saw my first (and only) SAMMS. SAMM is the acronym for South African Meat Merino. Kitzan Sheep in Nisland, South Dakota, were breeders of SAMM and Suffolk sheep. Their rams from both breeds were impressive. 

Suffolk and SAMM

The business end

Feeder lambs

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Post created 11 Oct 2026

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