David Greene knew he was expected to teach farmers in Kazakhstan, a country in the former Soviet Union, about modern shepherding methods.
What the Carroll County extension agent didn't know was that his teaching would also introduce them to a new way of life.
"In the old communist system, for more than 70 years, they pushed the farmers for numbers, for more animals," said Mr. Greene, one of three Maryland sheep specialists who returned from a Farmer to Farmer exchange program in the country south of Russia last month.
Farmer to Farmer is sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development and Winrock International, a private foundation based in Arkansas.
Now, as an emerging capitalist country, Kazakhstan has about two sheep for each of its 17 million people, Mr. Greene said. The land is overgrazed, and farmers must learn to become more efficient to compete in the international market, he said.
"One of the biggest problems is that there are too many sheep," Mr. Greene said.
"They have to learn to re-evaluate the success of their businesses. We were showing them how, through selection and mating, to upgrade their flocks" rather than just build numbers, he said.
The goal of Mr. Greene's two-week trip -- organized in part by Paul Tashner, a Westminster-based businessman helping Russian and American companies do business together -- was to teach Kazakh farmers modern veterinary care and management methods.
Mr. Greene; Susan Schoenian, a Wicomico County extension agent; and Eldon Gemmill of Westminster, a former West Virginia shepherd who works for the Baltimore County Department of the Environment, also taught hands-on seminars about sheep-shearing and wool quality in Shymkent and Dzhambul.
"Everywhere we went they asked, 'Can you help us sell our wool?' " Mr. Greene said, noting that some farmers had three years' worth of wool stored in their barns.
"They haven't sold it since the country left the communist system," he said.
Most of the sheep in the region are of the Karakul breed, whose thick black wool -- most often seen in traditional coats and hats from the area -- has very little value internationally, Mr. Greene said.
The remaining sheep are merinos, a breed known for fine wool. The wool often is woven into cloth for suits and dresses, Mr. Greene said. The Kazakhs' merino breed has a much coarser wool.
"They've been bred down, so the wool is not as valuable as the authentic merinos," he said. "The wool is dirty and they have a problem with burrs, so the wool has a lower value."
Kazakh farmers have similar problems with meat production. While their countrymen prefer lots of fat in their lamb, the rest of the world is looking for leaner meats, Mr. Greene said.
"There is very little of an actual lamb market," he said, noting that the Kazakh sheep usually are older than American ones when they are taken to slaughter.
Mr. Greene said the Kazakh farmers seemed eager to learn new methods, many of which were as simple as keeping better records.
"They all knew about American agricultural efficiency," he said. "We have an exceptional reputation over there for being extremely efficient."
Some of the Kazakh farmers were also interested in keeping the exchange going, which was one of the original missions of the trip, Mr. Greene said.
Maryland extension agents are continuing to keep in touch with the Kazakh farmers through electronic mail and are working to bring some of them here next spring.