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Center of the Nation Wool Warehouse (4/15/21)

Bales of wool at the Center of the Nation Wool warehouse. June 2015, Belle Fourche, SD
Bales of wool at the Center of the Nation Wool warehouse. June 2015, Belle Fourche, SD

In 1960, a group of ranchers from the Belle Fourche area felt that their wool was not getting marked as premium product. The states of Wyoming, Montana and western South Dakota was and still is the finest wool in the U.S. But it was being sold with lesser quality wool, which reduced the overall price. They asked the Farmers and Ranchers Co-op to be the parent organization for the wool warehouse based in Belle Fourche. This wool Co-op was different from others because they class their wool and sold the will by quality instead of “greasy weight”. The clean, high quality wool was less expensive for the wool manufactures to clean and offering less waste it and sold it at a higher price.