I am not sure about other places, but here in Oregon where I am, people have sheep for a variety of reasons. There are really large grass-seed farms that run sheep on their fields for part of the year. I think they do it for extra income(meat and lambs) and perhaps use some of the grazing for crop maintenance, etc. I know that there are some smaller flocks that are kept for fiber, but many of them are for meat and lambs. I know a few people have specific registered breeds and sell the lambs, ewes and rams to other breeders or fanciers. For them the fiber is just an added bonus, in many cases, to sell to spinners. There are also a good number of folks who have a small flock of sheep for pasture and lawn mowers. A few who have a few sheep left over from kids that were in 4H or some agricultural program, that are still "just around". And because I am a spinner I also know of quite a few folks that have sheep and goats just for the fiber they produce, though that can be quite a lot of fiber! At least one fleece a year for most sheep, some have two and angora goats usually have at least two fleece a year, it can really add up fast!
I have a friend that got some free fleeces, they were quite nice. She spun them up and knit some items to felt. Unfortunately, she had been given fleece that did not felt well. Always pays to know the breed the fleece came from, the characteristics of that breeds fleece/fiber and plan accordingly. LOL, I can still see the REALLY large mittens she knit-taught me to try to felt a test swatch before I invest too much time. She finally decided to have some of the rest of the fleeces carded into really big batts to use in quilting and for pillows, worked out great!
I have a friend that got some free fleeces, they were quite nice. She spun them up and knit some items to felt. Unfortunately, she had been given fleece that did not felt well. Always pays to know the breed the fleece came from, the characteristics of that breeds fleece/fiber and plan accordingly. LOL, I can still see the REALLY large mittens she knit-taught me to try to felt a test swatch before I invest too much time. She finally decided to have some of the rest of the fleeces carded into really big batts to use in quilting and for pillows, worked out great!