On a hot August afternoon, wool expert Brent Roeder strode among sheep, combing his fingers through their fleece to assess color, length and uniformity. Roeder, an extension specialist at Montana State University, tends to the college-owned flock at an old off-campus cavalry barracks called the Fort Ellis Research and Teaching Farm. The flock exists to give agriculture students hands-on experience. That includes learning how to raise high-quality sheep for sales like the one in Miles City that Roeder plans to take six animals to this September.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e taking your best of your best,鈥� Roeder said.
Roeder is on a mission to revitalize the regional wool industry. He manages the university鈥檚 new Wool Lab, a facility dedicated to making wool production more efficient and more profitable for Montana鈥檚 sheep ranchers. He has spent a lifetime watching synthetic fiber undermine demand for wool. Now, Roeder hopes the new facility can show students 鈥渨hy the wool industry is still important and relevant.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檓 a little gray-haired. Finding this next generation was part of the investment in this lab, to be able to teach that next generation so they could innovate,鈥� Roeder said.
The new building opened in July. The on-campus facility also contains the Montana Department of Livestock鈥檚 Veterinary Diagnostic Lab and the Montana Department of Agriculture鈥檚 Analytical Lab. The Wool Lab cost about $10 million, funded by a combination of legislative appropriations and donations from private industry.
The Wool Lab鈥檚 previous home, located about a mile from the new one, . The Montana Legislature first approved funding for that lab in 1945, when the industry was mid-boom after years of substantial government subsidies for the wool industry during World War II. In the mid-twentieth century, wool labs were common at land-grant universities. But today, the only similar facility outside of Bozeman is at , according to Roeder.
The disappearance of wool labs tracks with the wool industry鈥檚 slow and steady decline. Over the last 80 years, . That鈥檚 partly driven by , and an
Montana has not been immune to the squeeze. Over the last 30 years, in-state wool production has dwindled by two-thirds, and sheep-ranching operations have declined by half. , Montana was home to about 190,000 sheep and about 1,100 wool operations.
Synthetic fabric has overwhelmed the market share that wool once ruled, according to Roeder.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really only been over the last 70 or 80 years that synthetics have come in. And they鈥檝e completely dominated the whole fabric manufacturing system,鈥� Roeder said.
So Roeder has aligned himself with the natural-fiber industry, which includes cotton and wool-based clothes. He decries synthetic clothing鈥檚 environmental cost 鈥� it鈥檚 made from fossil fuels, releases microplastics when washed and doesn鈥檛 biodegrade 鈥� and describes natural products as more comfortable to wear.
鈥淚鈥檓 not against plastic or the oil industry, because I have a lot of friends in that industry, but maybe we shouldn鈥檛 be making $5 plastic shirts and importing them from China,鈥� Roeder said.
Roeder wants the Wool Lab to innovate cheaper ways to produce and process wool. Montana ranchers help steer the direction of the lab鈥檚 research. Every two years, 25 sheep producers come to campus to grade Roeder鈥檚 work.
Those assessments aren鈥檛 public. But Stefanie Leach, executive assistant with the Montana Wool Growers Association, which wrote a $100,000 check for the new lab, told Montana Free Press the facility is doing necessary work.
鈥淲ithout the research there, our industry stays stagnant. Without them doing research, we have no new innovation,鈥� Leach said.
One way the lab hopes to boost the regional market is by helping ranchers breed animals that produce wool that can be worn comfortably next to human skin. That requires that wool fibers be less than 30 microns (0.001 inches) thick. Next-to-skin wool doesn鈥檛 itch. And most of the country鈥檚 domestic supply of next-to-skin wool comes from Idaho, Utah, Wyoming and Montana, according to Leach.
Becky Weed, a sheep rancher near Belgrade who utilized Wool Lab resources during her early days in the business in the 1980s, said modern ranchers don鈥檛 just need help producing a particular grade of wool 鈥� they need help processing and selling it. She said the market was different when she got into the wool industry four decades ago.
鈥淭he mainstream wool growers at that time weren鈥檛 paying as close attention to what happened to their fiber, who was using it, who was marketing it, and how much they were getting paid for their wool,鈥� Weed said.
But that changed as the industry shrank. Now, sheep ranchers have to be more intentional, Weed said.
She said she鈥檚 glad the Wool Lab is getting 鈥渁 shot in the arm鈥� and praised Roeder as 鈥渁 real leader amongst the wool growers.鈥�
Roeder said conditions for wool producers are improving 鈥� and is currently at a six-year high 鈥� but the industry still suffers from years of economic neglect.
鈥淲e have not had enough profitability in the industry for so long, there鈥檚 been no investment in facilities, structures, new barns and handling equipment. There just wasn鈥檛 the revenue to do it,鈥� Roeder said.
As Roeder herded and handled sheep at the Fort Ellis farm, he wore a hat decorated with an American flag in the shape of a lamb, a token of thanks from the Teton County Fair, where he鈥檚 spent more than a decade helping 4H participants raise and show their sheep and goats. His belt buckle, emblazoned with 鈥淭exas A&M,鈥� commemorates his 1993 championship in intercollegiate wool judging.
He said he鈥檚 confident the wool industry isn鈥檛 going anywhere, and that a next generation of Montana sheep ranchers has plenty to learn, and to teach.
鈥淒on鈥檛 ever put your fingers inside,鈥� Roeder said, dropping his hand between a sheep and the pen鈥檚 metal railing. He pulled away just before the animal鈥檚 head butted the rail where his fingers had been.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 instinct,鈥� he said.
___
This story was originally published by and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
