Morehouse Farm
Morehouse Farm is an agricultural enterprise built on Merino sheep and the soft and fine wool they grow.
Morehouse Farm is located in the Hudson River Valley in New York State. It began in 1983 with the purchase of the Champion Merino sheep flock at the National Merino Show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Our goal
We had an ambitious plan: to grow the finest wool in this country and to re-introduce Merino sheep to New England. Once a wool grower’s pride and joy, the Merino sheep had all but disappeared from New England farms. With the rising popularity of synthetic fibers in the forties and fifties and sinking wool prices, the fine-wooled sheep had lost favor with farmers.
100% natural is popular again
The early eighties brought renewed interest in all things natural, including natural fibers for clothing. And fine Merino wool became the industry standard for luxuriously soft wool. 100% pure Merino Wool was (and still is) a coveted label for high-end wool clothing. The chances for a fine-wool Merino sheep operation to succeed looked promising to us.
The first American superfine imports
In 1987 we imported the first two superfine Merino rams from Australia into America. Superfine Merino are bred in Australia and New Zealand for their superior fine wool. Now our breeding program involved testing and re-testing of our wool for fineness to make sure that our stud rams were producing high-quality progeny. Not only fineness of wool mattered to us, we wanted our fleeces to be brilliantly white, dense and long stapled.
Best-selling Merino rams
With fine wool prices at an all-time high, progeny of the two super-fine rams attracted a lot of attention at stud ram sales across the country. We were busy delivering rams from Texas to Wyoming, and California to Maine. Within three years we had surpassed our five-year business plan and Merino sheep were, once again, a familiar sight at New England Country Fairs and Shows.
Our sheep and wool have won many prestigious awards and our stud rams can be found at leading fine-wool sheep ranches and farms across the country and Canada.
Our Merino sheep are busy producing offspring and growing their incredibly soft wool. The future for this amazing wool producing animal looks bright because there is nothing like wearing pure Merino wool.
Morehouse Knitting Designs
In 1988 we started a new venture with Morehouse Merino knitting yarn. Washed, carded and spun entirely in the USA, our supersoft Morehouse Merino is a pleasure to knit with and is guaranteed not to itch. Our ready-to-knit kits, from critter scarves to fine lace shawls, are popular with knitters of all ages and skill levels.
Check out our Shop!