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The extension agents also generally agree on the causes.
WHEN BOB TUDOR came to' Fauquier as extension agent 15 years ago, there were 121 farmers who raised sheep and consigned through the “wool pool’’ for 38,000 pounds of wool. Last year, 32 Fauquier sheep farmers produced 12,000 pounds of wool. But Tudor also notes that half the sheep in Fauquier are owned by two northwest county farms, Fairfield and Henchman’s Lea.
“Part of the decline is due to a
change in land ownership,” Tudor said. “And a lot of farmers just see a potential for more total profit in something else. I just suppose cattle are seen as more glamorous. But nobody’s ever lost a penny on sheep,” he added, noting that the same couldn’t be said for cows.
Jack Brown, the extension agent in Loudoun, attributed the decline to a trend away from “diversified” farming. “It used to be a farmer might have some cows, some sheep, some hogs. But it’s not that way much anymore.”
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