Note that if you purchase something via one of our links, including Amazon, we may earn a small commission.
Sheep can accomplish a great deal — from fighting fires to fueling arts and crafts projects.
“We’re trying to stack a lot of functions in one enterprise,” says Jenya Schneider about Cuyama Lamb LLC, the company she owns and operates with her husband, Jack Thrift Anderson. “We’re using a natural tool” — a flock of 1,000 merino sheep — “to manage our rangeland, manage fire, build soil health, and care for native ecologies … and produce meat and fiber at the same time. We also want to create opportunities for people to work in a natural setting with animals and the land.” That’s a lot to take on, but the couple have succeeded admirably.
They met in 2016 in the Cuyama Valley, where Jack had worked at the nonprofit educational farm Quail Springs as a rangeland steward and was studying the use of ungulates on the land. Earlier, Jenya had been involved in restoring ecosystems in Washington state and Northern California. “I had had dairy goats but never worked with ruminants,” she remembers. “I thought ranching was something you were born into.” Nevertheless, she and Jack founded their company in 2018, focusing on sheep and targeted grazing.
“We were going to come to the coast part-time,” Jenya says, “but we ended up full-time in Gaviota,” which is where the company is now based. They truck and trailer their flock throughout the South County, where there’s more population and more need and receptivity to the use of sheep for management. Once at a property, the animals are deployed with movable electric fences. But where the sheep are, and what they’re doing, depends on the time of year.
“We’re using a natural tool” — a flock of 1,000 merino sheep — “to manage our rangeland, manage fire, build soil health, and care for native ecologies … and produce meat and fiber at the same time.”
– Cuyama Lamb co-owner Jenya Schneider
The work with various fire departments begins at the end of the growing season in spring and goes through September, with the sheep excellent at munching grasses and low plants that could fuel fires. “Montecito Fire Department was the first [fire department] we worked with,” Jenya says. “We got a contract in 2020 and have had a steady relationship with them ever since. There’s also the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, and Carpinteria-Summerland in years past, as well as the city of Santa Barbara.” Recently, the departments have started coordinating such efforts through the Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council, which is implementing a regional wildfire mitigation plan.
Beyond fire management, the Cuyama Lamb flock grazes the San Marcos Hills, where the focus is on promoting the health of the native bunchgrass habitat, which holds more moisture and encourages more birdlife and wildflowers. In other places, the focus may be on targeting invasive species. The timing and intensity of the grazing is different for different purposes, and is different for every property.
Lambing takes place in October and November, and just before spring, the flock is ready for shearing. “We want the animals sheared before they graze,” Jenya says, “so they pick up fewer burrs and other dirt. If you don’t want to have fiber, don’t buy wool sheep.”
The fleeces are sorted according to length and quality, with the long, strong wool going to Mountain Meadow Wool in Wyoming for processing into yarn. “It takes a lot of water to clean the wool,” Jenya notes, and that mill is small enough to do custom processing, yet large enough to do it efficiently. “They send back beautiful yarns,” she says. The skeins are sold on the Cuyama Lamb website and at several yarn boutiques in California. The wool was also part of a project by award-winning artisanal weaver Porfirio Gutierrez.
“We sell some meat,” Jenya says, “but that’s a small portion of our business.” They’re exploring a new avenue, however: “We’re working on researching wool pellets as soil amendment,” taking the parts of the fleece that aren’t good for wool yarn. The fiber is run through a shredding machine, then a pelletizer, which makes the wool denser and easier to handle. The result releases nitrogen and reduces the frequency of watering, as a test with potted elderberries at the ranch attests.
“It’s compelling to work with animals with a livelihood and lifestyle you enjoy.”
– Jenya Schneider
“Nurseries are an obvious fit,” but there are undoubtedly other uses, she says. “There’s more research and manufacturing to be done.” In the meantime, there are many satisfactions of life ranching sheep. “It’s compelling to work with animals with a livelihood and lifestyle you enjoy.”
Weaving Connections
“We first heard about Porfirio Gutierrez when we were on vacation in Oaxaca,” Jenya Schneider says. “The work in his studio was breathtaking.” Learning that the weaver lived and worked in Ventura, she and her husband, Jack, later visited him there. “We thought someday it would be great if he would weave from our yarn.”
“Jack and Jenya and I organically connected,” Porfirio says. “As a maker, I’m always looking to explore the idea of community and what it means to be an indigenous diaspora artist. Who is part of the community here? Jenya is part of that as a farmer. An indigenous practice doesn’t have to be traditional.”
Over the years, the idea evolved to use the undyed Cuyama Lamb wool to make blankets, which traditionally in Oaxaca were both for everyday use and for ceremonies. Jenya got a grant from Kiss the Ground, a nonprofit promoting regeneration and healthy soil, and Porfirio experimented with the yarn. The blankets called for a four-harness weaving technique that is quite different from the way he creates his tapestries. “I wanted to revisit the process,” he says. “The material was so beautiful, very soft and textured. I wanted to respect that beauty. I’d just be the conduit.”
“The material was so beautiful, very soft and textured. I wanted to respect that beauty. I’d just be the conduit.”
– textile artist Porfirio Gutierrez
Porfirio created 20 blankets, roughly four-by-five feet, and the project is now waiting to launch to the public. Looking forward, he says, “I want to explore how to sustainably continue this collaboration and find a meaningful way to connect with Jenya’s and Jack’s spirit.”
From Hillside to Needle
When Brook Rademacher founded The Knit Shop in downtown Santa Barbara (1221 State St., Suite 7) in summer 2024, she knew she wanted to include purveyors whose wool is grown and processed in the United States. Cuyama Lamb fit the bill.
“I like that the wool is part of Santa Barbara,” Brook says. “I love that it’s local. It’s so soft, and the sheep are helping Santa Barbara soil thrive and helping to clear away hazardous brush.”
Hers is just one of several boutiques in California that carry the fiber. It’s also available at Coachella Valley Yarns and A Verb for Keeping Warm in Oakland.
