HAMAKUA COAST, Big Island » A sheep is like a soft, fuzzy, warm wool sweater, begging you to cuddle up. But a wool farmer has more to think about than the lovable creatures roaming the pasture. There's the breed, what and when to feed it, the animal's overall health and factors like fiber color, density, fineness, coarseness, crimp and length of fiber.

For Jan Dean of the Hawaiian Home Grown Wool Co., it's also about the TLC she can muster up for her sheep.

Dean raises a small flock of Romney sheep, known for both their wool fiber and good-tasting meat. “;Romneys are a colored breed — their wool ranges from black to dark gray to silver, some brown and, of course, white,”; explained Dean. “;The color of the wool changes as they get older; some babies born with black wool are now silvery.”;

Her sheep produce a fiber of 5 to 7 inches in length; on the mainland the fiber would be 10 to 12 inches. Lamb's wool, from an animal up to 12 months old, is a different product. “;It has a shorter, finer fiber and less crimp. It's best for clothing that touches the skin because it's softer. But it's also harder to spin,”; notes Dean.

The sheep graze on a variety of grasses and sedge on a multispecies grazing plan. “;Rosie the cow and her calf eat down the higher grasses, the ones the sheep don't like,”; Dean said. “;Then we move the sheep in to feed. Chickens roam the pastures to keep parasites down.”;

The pastures are rotated, depending on how many sheep are grazing, their size and rainfall. A moving electric fence defines the changing pasture area, managed by her husband.

Dean uses treats to bring in her flock. Alfalfa pellets and a mix of corn, oats and barley are handed out when she wants to trim hooves, de-worm, control parasites or check for flies. “;Fly-strikes are terrible,”; Dean said. “;Flies lay eggs in the wool next to the skin; maggots develop and penetrate the animal. A fly-strike can kill an animal in two days.”;

The sheep are shorn once a year in late spring, a task performed by an expert shearer. A ram can produce a fleece of 13 pounds, ewes produce about eight pounds and even little ones have a couple of pounds of wool.

The fleece is “;skirted”; in the barn: The short wool from around the legs and breast is thrown out; the best wool is separated, especially the premium wool from the top of the animal, which is the softest and has the longest staple, a measurement of length and strength of the fibers.

The wool is then cleaned and processed. Finding it costly to send her fleece to the mainland for this step, Dean has been investigating rainwater processing, a simple technique of soaking the wool in rainwater, allowing suint, a natural grease in the wool, to work its magic to clean the fibers.

Once clean, the wool goes through a picker that opens it up. A carder separates and aligns the fiber and continues to clean it. Carded wool is ready to spin into thread, Dean's primary interest in the whole process. “;I love to spin and I'm an incurable knitter,”; she said.

Dean has also learned to dye her wool, using natural and chemical dyes. These days she's using a steaming process in the microwave, gaining color intensity with longer time. “;Dyeing is way too much fun,”; said Dean. “;It's very exciting, and my colored wool has sold well.”;

Still on the uphill learning curve about sheep and wool production, Dean's fledgling business relies on water systems, fencing, grass production cycles, grass nutrition (tropical grasses are low in protein) and controlling the threat of dogs that could decimate her flock in one night. But she's committed to her project and has networked with another two dozen or so sheep producers on the island, the majority of whom raise sheep for food. So far, she's the only one she knows of raising sheep for wool and processing it to a finished product.

“;Every step you go through in the processing changes something,”; said Dean. “;It's a big fascination for me.”;

Dean sells her wool at the weekly Waimea Hawaiian Homestead Farmers' Market. She sells raw or washed fleece, cleaned and carded wool that's ready to spin, or wool that has been spun into thread. Her spun wool sells for $12.50 an ounce and can range from sock weight to super-bulky.

Dean also keeps a day job, providing medical billing, office management and bookkeeping services for clients. “;I want to build a business out of this,”; she said. “;There are spinners and weavers on this island, but it's a small population of them. It's a highly specific market.”;

Dean opens her farm to school tours and notes that the Waldorf School teaches a unit on wool processing with students learning to spin and knit.

“;It's supposed to stimulate the development of both sides of the brain,”; said Dean. “;Anthropologically, fiber arts are an indicator of the development of civilizations.”;