We currently have a flock of 180 ewes with plans to increase to 300 ewes over the next few years. We accelerate lamb which gives each ewe the chance to lamb three times every eight months. Our lambing times are Jan/Feb, May, and September/October. In summer, we graze them on pre-annual grass pastures. In spring and fall we graze cover crops sown after corn and soybeans. Most years we have sheep grazing 10-11 months out of the year! Even though we do a lot of grazing, we have more sheep than we have land to graze on, so almost any time out of the year, we’ll have sheep in the barn on a TMR ration of corn silage and alfalfa balage.
We use electronic ear tags with a Shearwell scanner and software to track lambing and growth data. With our Katahdins and White Dorpers this data is sent to NSIP which gives us estimated breeding values on our animals. Our main focus is raising flock sires and replacement ewes for registered and commercial sheep farms. Currently, our meat lambs are sold at New Holland Sale barn. Beginning in 2022, all our breeding stock will be sold at our yearly farm sale in March and July.
Lambs are creep fed with ewes and weaned at approximately two months old. After weaning, lambs receive free choice hay, whole corn/barley/protein pellet ration. Lambs that are going for breeding stock are pulled from free choice ration at 80-100 lbs. and put on a high forage limited grain diet.
