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“We love our animals:” Sheep and wool producers celebrate the industry

Wyoming Public Radio | By Ivy Engel
Published January 5, 2024 at 1:43 PM MST
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A sheepherder hands Trudi Julian a lamb that can't keep up with the flock as it moves to the mountains. She will bring it back to the ranch to raise it before putting it back in the flock.
Ivy Engel

"I wasn't able to do a lot of reporting in 2023, but this is by far one of my favorite stories I got to write. Wyoming has a large sheep industry and a long history of raising the animals. I've gotten to know some people in the industry over the past few years so when they told me they were putting on their first celebration of the industry, I knew I had to go. When I got there, I met a group of people whose passions for their animals and their livelihoods shone bright and fierce. I tried lamb for the first time and got to hop into a truck to help move sheep camps with a local rancher. Despite some technical issues with my recorder, I'm proud of how this piece turned out and I look forward to using the knowledge I learned at the festival to better report on the industry more in the future."

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Ivy Engel
Ivy started as a science news intern in the summer of 2019 and has been hooked on broadcast ever since. Her internship was supported by the Wyoming EPSCoR Summer Science Journalism Internship program. In the spring of 2020, she virtually graduated from the University of Wyoming with a B.S. in biology with minors in journalism and business. When she’s not writing for WPR, she enjoys baking, reading, playing with her dog, and caring for her many plants.
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