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"Don’t be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little things well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves." -Dale Carnegie
-Mark Johnson
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Company: A&M Ranch
Location: Sandwich, IL
Years in the Field: 30
Education: BS Animal Science, Oklahoma State University, Joliet Junior College
Website: www.AandMRanch.com
Contact: aandmranch@aol.com
Specialization: purebred Southdown sheep
Choice of Feed: HSC show lamb starter, HSC Grand Lamb Mixer, champion drive topdress
Hobbies: - Mark is the Agricultural Specialist for Kline Creek Farm, an 1890’s Living History Farm, located in Winfield, IL. There they farm with draft horses, and maintain a small quality flock of sheep as well a few Shorthorn and Angus cows, all of which are used in the educational programs.
- As consultants and custom fitters Mark and Amy have worked with most breeds of sheep including Columbias, Suffolks, Hampshires, Dorsets, Montadales, and Natural Coloreds, club lambs and North Country Cheviots. All of which have competed successfully on the local and national level.
Favorite Sports/Team: Loves all things OSU (Oklahoma State or Ohio State), loves the Red Sox, loves the Cubs and Bears.
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Ohio Showring Success Seminar - HUGE SUCCESS! |
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The Ohio Showring Success Seminar was tremendous success. It was pleasure to have such a terrific turnout for that event. I got to listen to a little bit of Bryan Vaughn’s and Jim Missildine’s programs, and they were awesome. I will look forward to working with those folks again. Dr Kevin Burgoon is the guy who makes it all possible and his feed is why we all are there.
The boys from Ohio who put this program together did an awesome job and didn’t leave any stone unturned. It made it easy for me to do what I love to do - talk sheep with other folks who like to do the same. Mapolyne Farms (Scott Shellhouse & Family) Sycamore, OH provided a real nice set of Southdown ewes for us to work with. Any time I get to work with great breeders and the most awesome breed of sheep, I am a happy guy. Dave Shellhouse and Emily Shellhouse pitched in to help round out a fun and educational program. They have all been very successful both in Ohio and on the national level, and it was great opportunity for them to share their stories and for us to pick the brains of some of the nation’s best. Thanks to all of the Shellhouses for the contributions.
This just in, Texas Roadhouse still wants to know who owns the red pig that is running around in the parking lot. D- Faub has all of the tools to be a great sheep showman when he retires from the feed business. He just has to put his heart into it.
There were a lot of new faces to meet in Ohio and few familiar ones as well. Hi Tyler! For those few didn’t make it to Springfield, OH…YOU MESSED UP! Life is all about being able to take advantage of those great opportunities when they present themselves. Don’t make the same mistake twice. Look for pictures on the HSC website.
Now is the time on the home farm when we start to think about weaning some of our older lambs. Weaning time management is crucial for the success of both the lambs and the ewes. It is less stressful to leave the lambs in the same pen and move the ewes. They know where to find the feed and water, things go smoothly, and they go off feed less. Worm, vaccinate, shear, or whatever either just before weaning or shortly after i.e. less stress on the lambs means more growth and more performance. Watch the ewes carefully; it is easy to mess up a good udder with poor weaning management. Limit feed and water until you’re sure they are completely dried up. It isn’t any fun to find out next year when those ewes lamb again, that you ruined their udder by not drying them up properly.
We will start to switch our lambs over to an 18% grower made with HSC Grand Lamb Mixer after they are weaned. We are in the severe mud zone. Dr. Tom says that this is the wettest start to the year ever in northern Illinois. We had more snow than normal, and seven inches of rain March so far.
We are starting to make contacts to help our daughter Emily and other local 4-H kids find their project lambs. It seems as though we are having to start that earlier and earlier each year. The club lamb sales are in full swing. So get out there and rattle the trees and see what shakes out. Our daughter and all of the kids that we help have a budget that each can spend on lambs. We can’t always afford some of the lambs that we like. Sometimes we have to kick a lot a stones to find the best lambs each kid can afford.
See you at the sales!
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