2015 Maryland Wool Pool

Volunteers dive in for a successful June Maryland Wool Pool

I want to thank everyone who came out and volunteered their time (about 30 of you!) on June 17 to make this year’s Maryland Wool Pool a success. Volunteers are vital ingredient that makes this pool profitable for the producers—we would not have a pool without you!
Fifty-eight producers came to the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium on that Wednesday to market their wool. At the end of the day, nearly 15 tons of fiber left the fairgrounds, bound for the Chargeurs in South Carolina.

Volunteers packed the wool into 78 bales with an average weight of 380 pounds each. (Last year’s 29,034 pounds ended up in 112 bales.) Nice work with the wool press, guys.
Thank you to Sheepman Supply Company for hauling the second press for us.

2015 Maryland Wool Pool Stats
Type Lbs Price/lb ($)
Short white face 14,489 .72
Coarse whiteface 5,013 .78
Non-whiteface 300 .80
Medium whiteface 9,793 .88
Choice/fine 48 .95
Total 29,643

If anyone has questions or suggestions regarding the pool please let me know. I would like to have a special meeting of the MSBA Board to discuss setting some guidelines to assure that anyone using the press is using it properly and safety, as well as to standardize new rules for who can receive wool packs, and whether to charge for them. (We can no longer purchase used packs, so the price for us has doubled.) Please let me know if you would be interested in joining this committee to help write up guidelines.
—Emily Chamelin, Wool Pool Chair