By Chad Koenen

Publisher

Jana and Jacob Hendrickx can’t even legally drive on their own, but the pair of Butler teenagers are already busy marketing a new business venture that could turn wool from sheep into a unique fertilizer for local residents.  ¶  While most of their friends were sitting on Tik Tok or playing video games, Jana and Jacob have been busy researching how to transform the wool from the sheep on their family farm into a product that was worth much more than the raw wool itself. The idea originated from a magazine article the Hendrickx siblings’ grandma gave them about the process, which sparked the idea of starting their own business even though they were just 13 and 15-years-old.  

¶  “Our grandma saw a magazine article on it and we thought it was a good idea because wool is not worth very much money, but if you change it up a bit you can sell it,” said 15-year-old Jana Hendrickx. 

Creating wool pellets is a labor intensive process that transforms the wool of sheep into a fertilizer. The process involves a small machine that compresses the cleaned, raw sheep’s wool into pellets under high pressure. After reading the article about creating wool pellets, the brother and sister researched what they needed to complete the process and where they could potentially sell and market their new pellets.  

When they had a good idea of what they would need to start their new business, they enlisted the help of their parents Jeff Hendrickx and Jayne Whiteford to help get their start up over the finish line. 

“They loaned the money to us so we could buy the machine,” said 13-year-old Jacob. 

Whiteford said one of their stipulations in purchasing the machine was that it needed to be in good working order so the family didn’t spend all their time fixing the machine instead of creating wool pellets. The family found a pellet mill in Chippewa Falls, Wisc. and never looked back. 

The two teenagers quickly found a pair of retail locations to sell their new Hendrickx Wool Company wool pellets at Olson Ag in Sebeka and Red Barn Greenhouse in Butler. Both Jana and Jacob said they received quite a bit of advice and help from other people in the industry to get their new business off the ground, including Mac Olson at Olson Ag who quickly jumped on board to offer advice and sell the product in the Sebeka store. 

“Red Barn Greenhouse, we gave them some to try and they were really interested in it and Olson (Ag) was interested in it,” said Jacob. 

The wool pellets are made at Hendrickx Implement in Butler, where the product can also be purchased. Jacob said they can make around 50 pounds of sheep pellets in an hour on their machine, but it takes quite a bit of work to make their new wool pellets come to fruition. 

“It’s pretty fun watching it go into the machine and just come out as pellets,” said Jacob.

Sheep wool pellets are essentially an organic fertilizer made from compressed raw wool. The fertilizer is released over the course of 6-8 months and is designed to improve soil aeration and reduce watering needs by 25 percent. The wool pellets also act as a natural deterrent for some insects that can wreak havoc on a garden throughout the summer. 

“It holds moisture so they don’t have to water as much and after eight months they break down into fertilizer,” said Jacob.

Since sheep wool is not worth a lot of money on its own, creating sheep wool pellets can turn something that is not worth a lot of money into a much more lucrative product for sheep farmers. 

One of the challenges that Whiteford said the teenagers will need to overcome as part of their new business venture is the educational aspect of the new product. While sheep wool pellets are not a new product by any means, they are not a widely used fertilizer for gardeners across the area, meaning Whiteford said the two Butler teens will need to educate the public about the benefits of using sheep wool pellets as a long-term fertilizer in their garden. 

“Not a lot of people have heard about it so I think there will be a lot of face-to-face eduction that will go along with it,” said their mother Jayne Whiteford. 

Though there is a lot of work that needs to be done to keep their business going long-term, Jacob said he is hopeful they will turn an idea sparked by a magazine article into a way to put Butler back on the map once again.

“I am glad we are trying it. It would be pretty cool if it caught on. We could put Butler back on the map,” said Jacob. 

For more information about wool pellets created by Hendrickx Wool Company contact Jacob at (218) 298-1343.