About Us

Windy Wool Windings ~Est. 2007~

Dedicated to producing and raising sheep with high-quality wool and meat- naturally and sustainably.

 Learn more about how we came to be! Check out this documentary about Windy Wool Windings, by Michelle Bernard.

Our Farm: A Family Tradition

Windy Wool Windings is a subsidiary operation of Sunny Hill Farm, our third-generation family farm in Vale, North Carolina. We raise dairy cattle, poultry, field crops and sheep, which keep us busy year-round.

Our sheep are Montadale and Romeldale/CVM. The flock is raised primarily on an intensive grass grazing programs. Most of our supplemental grain and hay fed to the sheep are also grown on our farm.

Wool sheep have had particular difficulty traditionally in the Southeastern United States, but our flock has been tailored for generations to succeed in our climate. Parasite resistance is critical in this region as well as drought and heat tolerance. Successful practices of this achievement have been shared on multiple educational outlets to assist other producers in gaining similar outcomes.

We sell wool and meat from our sheep on the farm, at local farmers markets, fiber festivals as well as our online store. You can access our online store from our home page. Our raw wool is sold direct-to-consumer as well as being sent to fiber processing facilities to be processed into roving and finished yarns for sale.

Quality fiber is our passion. Annually, we participate in fiber festivals throughout the Eastern shore, including the Maryland Sheep and Fiber Festival in West Friendship Maryland and the Southeastern Animal Fiber Festival in Asheville, NC. Fleeces produced by Windy Wool Windings have won multiple Supreme, Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion awards including the North Carolina Mountain State Fair, Southeastern Animal Fiber Festival and Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.

About Our Wool

Montadale sheep were created in the U.S. by R.H Matting during the 1950’s. They were a cross of North Country Cheviot rams with Columbia ewes. Montadales have a very white fleece that is lower in lanolin than most fine/medium wools. It has a very springy handle that makes it a great spinning yarn as well as wonderful for blending with wools, such as alpaca and llama, that are low in memory. The breed also occasionally produces black sheep, ranging in color from the rare true black to pale pewter, with every gradient of gray in between. The wonderful crystal white color of the Montadale can be dyed to create a very clear, rich color.

In our breeding program, we are using a Montadale ram with a fiber micron count of 30.4, and daughters with fiber micron counts of 27.0. The breed average for Montadale sheep is 56-60 microns. Our goal is to produce Montadales with averages between 25 and 30 fiber microns. If interested in breeding stock, please contact us directly to discuss current availability. We’d love to know more about what you’re looking for!

We also raise Romeldale/CVM sheep, another breed created in the U.S. While smaller in size than the Montadale, they have a wider range of color and a lower micron count making them an excellent spinning fleece. The many Romeldale natural colors can be blended with other natural fibers to create a large palette of natural colored yarns.

About Susan

Windy Wool Windings, est. 2007, started with two sheep and a life-long dream. Susan Waldroop Proctor, founder and owner, has been farming her whole life, but she always knew she had a passion for sheep and fiber arts. With two grown kids and the family’s dairy farm continuing into the third generation, it was Susan’s turn to make her dreams come true. Susan has committed Windy Wool Windings to raising Montadale and Romeldale CVM sheep with high-quality wool and meat naturally and sustainably in Western North Carolina, an area not historically known for fiber or sheep production. Today, Windy Wool Windings is a thriving sheep production operation that celebrates full-circle-utilization of the sheep through year-round grazing, fleece marketing and humanely raised lamb and mutton product sales. Susan has spent her life as an agricultural advocate and educator, and was the recipient of the 2015 Kiwanis Agricultural Educator of the Year award, is President of the North Carolina Sheep Producers Association and an Executive Board Member of the national Montadale Sheep Breeders Association.

From Susan: “Sheep and fiber production has been a life-long dream and passion. I enjoy spinning and dying wool from my sheep to create both yarns and woven projects. While spinning and hand-processing the wool is my favorite, other favorite projects include making hats and shawls with my own color blend choices.

I also serve on multiple sheep and fiber producers’ organizations to help promote and expand sheep production locally and nationally. In addition to being a sheep and fiber producer, I am proud to be a native of Western North Carolina, a farmer, farm wife and farm mom.”

Products

Visit Our Products page to shop these and more:

Grand Champion Stock

Breeding animals are available annually by early request. Supply is limited. Contact us directly to discuss availability. We take pride in the quality of livestock we produce on our farm and take pride in sharing practices that work well for us. We regularly present in educational programs on topics such as grazing, lambing, fleece preparation and more. Feel free to contact us for helpful links to these topics and more.