Farming a most unusual breed

NEW HAMPTON — It’s unusual to know what you want to do with your life at age 14. When most kids that age were listening to music and paying attention to the latest clothing styles, Lucienne Brown was thinking about farming and sheep. Her introduction to a most unusual breed, horned dorset sheep, would eventually lead to her life’s work. As owner, with her husband, Nick, of Three Creeks Farm, working with animals is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.

At age 14, her mother encouraged Brown, who grew up in Newmarket, to get a weekend job.

“I got a job at sheep farm,” she recalls. “I loved the sheep there. They also had draft horses.”

After high school, Brown followed the expected path of college, but instinctively knew it might not be the right fit. She attended the University of New Hampshire’s Thompson School, studying integrated agriculture.

“I stayed a semester and a half. I always say the best thing I got out of college was meeting my husband, Nick." He was studying forestry.

Nick and Lucienne left college with a dream of working on a farm. Nick was lobstering in the Portsmouth area to make money when the couple bought a house and moved to Wolfeboro in 2016. When they discovered horned dorset sheep, they immediately fell in love with the animals.

“We started with five sheep and grew the flock from there,” Lucienne says.

In 2019, the couple relocated to rural New Hampton, where they had family.

“There was a barn already here,” Lucienne says as she stands in the front yard of the farm. Her Australian sheep dogs, Fin and J.D., sit at her feet, well trained and ready to work with the flock of sheep at any given time. “Nick built a new barn for me in 2021. The wood for the barn came from this property.” Thus was born Three Creeks Farm.

The sprawling home once belonged to Nick’s grandmother. Historically, Nick’s ancestors were farming since before the Revolutionary War around the area where Three Creeks Farm is located.

“We now have 45 sheep, and another was just born today,” Lucienne says.

Horned dorset sheep are special, and she fell in love with the animals for their calm and gentle nature. “I think I got into farming because I wanted to work with animals, but I didn’t want to be a veterinarian,” she explains.

Her love of horned dorset sheep is something she wants to share with others. She has been educating school groups that come to Three Creeks Farm, and part of those field trips are learning where wool comes from and how it can be used.

“I now have 35 ewes, one ram and eight meat lambs. Horned dorset sheep are originally an English breed and one of the few that can breed out of season,” Lucienne explains.

Last year, Nick got out of the lobstering industry and now spends his time doing excavation work and hays 150 acres, as well as caring for 12 beef cows.

In order to get their original dorsets, the Browns did their homework and located a breeder in Vermont and another in Massachusetts. The Vermont farm had 250 sheep, quite a sizable number. It was at the Massachusetts farm that Lucienne fell in love with the sheep, but heard the farm did not sell breed stock. The couple’s first sheep were unregistered horned dorsets.

“But as they say, the squeaky wheel gets the grease,” Lucienne laughs. “I kept talking to the farm owner in Massachusetts, and after a year and a half, she sold us registered horned dorsets.”

Horned dorset sheep are considered a threatened breed by the Livestock Conservancy, and the work the Browns are doing to care for their flock is helping to reverse that trend. As well as bringing school groups to the farm to learn about the sheep, the Browns also sell raw fleece to fiber artists. The farm’s horned dorset wool roving is great for spinning, felting, dyeing or weaving, and fiber artists purchase wool from the Browns for spinning and other projects.

Three Creeks Farm also has whole, unwashed fleece for a soft cream to white yarn and a three-ply, lightweight yarn with a lot of stretch.

The Browns have a store on the property where customers can order wool and yarn, and also lamb and chicken meats. Lucienne stresses that visitors to the farm or shop should make an appointment.

During the second weekend in May, Lucienne will be at the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival in Deerfield with a few of the sheep from her flock.

As a member of the Livestock Conservancy, and the Continental Dorset Club, the Browns are ensconced in a community that loves horned dorset sheep. Lucienne is passionate about creating awareness for a breed that is gentle and easygoing, but currently is little-known.

In the future, she says, “We hope to expand the barn. We recently got a grant from the Livestock Conservancy to put in a shoot system that will allow us to trim the sheep’s hooves with greater ease.”

While it may have been unusual to know what your path in life will be at a young age, Lucienne is content with her life’s work, surrounded by horned dorset sheep and her family. It is a fulfilling life and one that allows her to pass on her knowledge of the animals to others.

For information about Three Creeks Farm, visit threecreeksfarmnh.com.