The recently shorn sheep at BCS Livestock are the source of fine woolen products.
The highway whine is back. It’s evocative of a mixed bag of feelings. The valley needs the visitors to keep the economic wheels turning. Merchants breathe a sigh of relief when “there are people in town.” On the flip side, the quiet laid-back feel of driving up and down State Route 20 during the “shoulders” is compromised with the speed demons, the logging trucks, and the variety of vehicles carrying, pulling or driving their little (and big) houses on the road. The first sirens of the season have already been heard racing up-valley.
One mainstay on SR 20 is the sheep ranch at the turn in the road that we have designated Sheep Corner, just past Eagle Tree, and Watch Out for Deer straightaway. BCS Livestock provides a year round pastoral landscape and a dependable procession of events with their flock of sheep. It is a good place to slow down, watch out for deer, and glance over to see what the sheep are up to.
BCS stands for Betsy, Casey and Skip Smith who, along with Casey’s wife, Johnnie, raise grass-fed and finished lamb and beef. The family has been producing livestock for what is now the fifth generation (Casey). They reflect on their experience on the website bcslivestock.com. We know what it takes to raise happy, healthy animals and we are always learning and striving to improve our management to be more sustainable and efficient.
It was only last month that all the ewes were ready to shed their big wooly winter coats in the shearing process. If one were to anthropomorphize, it seems that they might be a little embarrassed when they come out looking somewhat forlorn and spindly. Because the sheep spend the winters at “Sheep Corner,” they produce fine, warm wool that serves them well throughout the harsh winters we know the valley can experience.
This beautiful wool finds its way to several woolen mills, including well-known Pendleton, which has two Pacific Northwest mills — one in Pendleton, Oregon, and the other in Washougal, Washington. Pendleton is another family-owned company that has been producing fine woolen products since 1863.
The beautiful BCS wool blankets that you can find around the valley (including the Mazama Store) are produced at a unique woolen mill on Prince Edward Island. Another family-owned business, MacAusland’s Woollen (two l’s in Canada) Mills Ltd., has been crafting blankets and wool yarn since 1932. Casey Smith says of the mill, “It is a unique turnkey mill where they take BCS’s raw wool and send back blankets.”
In between the raw wool and finished blankets, is a process where the wool is put through a washing machine (built in 1949!) and washed with liquid soap and hot water. The wool is then dried in the wool dryer after which carding machines comb and brush the wool. The next step is spinning and twisting the wool and, if it is to become a blanket, it is warped onto a loom.
A blanket requires 1,600 threads and each thread is fed through a loom. The blankets are preshrunk in steaming hot soap and water and hung to dry. Brushed again to make them fluffy, they are hemmed, folded, and packaged to return to BCS. If you have the opportunity to buy one of these blankets, they are a treasure.
The current activity at BCS is lambing. In about three weeks, 350 little lambs will be bleating in the pastures with their mamas. Part of the lambing is taking place on SR 20 and will be finished at pastures on Twisp-Winthrop East County Road. Over the summer, 30 different landowners allow the flock to pasture on their land.
You may see them on East County, Wolf Creek and Cumm roads. If you are particularly lucky, you may see them herded down the road by three working dogs. Watching border collies dictate to the sheep what to do is thrilling. Casey says, “Without the working dogs we couldn’t move the sheep. They just stare at you until the dogs indicate what they are supposed to do.”
BCS products, including grass-fed lamb and beef, can be purchased direct to consumer by ordering at mvfoodshed.com. Methow Valley FoodShed is a consortium of local farmers producing a variety of locally grown and crafted food that can be ordered and picked up weekly. Sign up on the website for a weekly email of products available.
