Philosophy

Our sheep flock is managed with a no-none sense mentality and extremely low inputs. Our sheep are made up of low-maintenance Katahdin genetics that thrive on forage alone. The last 4 years we have used Hopping Brothers genetics to bring more hybrid vigor into the flock. We bought our original sheep in 2016 from a gentleman who did not worm his sheep or trim their hooves. He had a survival of the fittest mentality, letting mother nature identify the weaker genetics, which he removed. We have continued this management style and continue to cull any ewe who shows she cannot thrive in a low input environment. Our management can be described by the following key principles:

No Routine Worming: We do not routinely worm our mature ewes. We run our flock through the coral 5 times per year. During that time, any ewes that are wormy get dewormed and tagged. They are then sold the next time they come through the shoot.

No Hoof Trimming: We do not trim hooves. If a hoof needs to be trimmed, the animal is sent to the sale barn. This only happens to one or two animals every couple of years, if any at all.

No Limping Sheep: We do not tolerate limping sheep and do not treat them with medication. If she is limping more than two week, she is sorted off and sent to the sale barn. Feet problems are highly heritable. Through hard culling the last 10 years, we rarely see limping anymore, even in wet years.

No Barns: Our sheep are in the pasture 365 days of the year. Ewes have their lambs outside in April. Our sheep have never been in a barn.

No Special Hay: We feed hay about 2 months each winter. This hay is plain hay. No alfalfa. Just plain hay that was put up right.

No Grain: If we feed grain to our ewes, it is only on years we have lesser quality hay, and it is just the 30 days prior to lambing. Our ram lambs are developed on forage alone, and do not receive grain except for the 2 weeks after weaning to train them to move to a new paddock.

Electric Fence: We utilize electric fence to manage our sheep flock and guardian dogs. All sheep must respect a single poly-wire 12 inches off the ground and stay in the paddock, or they are sold.

Rams

We have low input, survival of the fittest, ram lambs for sale each October. We select our best 35-40 ram lambs each year to offer as breeding stock (top 30% out of approximately 125 total ram lambs). All of the ram lambs we offer are either twins or triplets. We do not sell ram lambs that were a single. This is because twinning is a highly heritable trait and one of the biggest factors that make hair sheep such a profitable grazing enterprise. Prices range from $400-$600 on ram lambs and $700-$1000 on mature rams. Ram lambs are available in October and mature rams March-May. Call for availability.

Ewe Lambs

Each September, we offer open ewe lambs for $350 to $400. We keep our ewe lambs with their mothers until September. Thus, they are often already weaned when we separate them from momma. They are then fence line weaned for 3 days before they are sold.

For those just starting their sheep flock, we also offer a few mature ewes to go along with purchased ewe lambs. We do this so new producers have experienced ewes to lead their flock and continue to teach the young ewe lambs about grazing, mothering, and “all the things”. We have a waiting list for those wanting to purchase ewe lambs.

Please call or email to get on the list for ewe lambs or ram lambs. Also feel free to call or email with any questions about the sheep business. We love to talk sheep and help folks be successful in this very enjoyable and profitable enterprise.