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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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What’s New with Mark Johnson! |
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Sandwich, IL: We have been busy lambing ewes at both A&M Ranch and Kline Creek Farm. We are lambing a little later than I would like. Things have been going pretty well after a bumpy start and the lambs are looking pretty cool. Sometimes no matter how hard you try to do everything “right” nature has a way of reminding us we don’t know as much as we think.
We have been feeding our brood ewes the Honor Show Chow Ewe Pellet since about mid –Dec. They are in good flesh prior to lambing and milking well on that feed. Prior to lambing we are adding Aureo 4G to the ewe feed to help prevent any abortion problems. Our oldest lambs are about three weeks old. We have the creep pens set up and each pen has heat lamp, good Alfalfa hay, and Honor Show Chow Showlamb Starter. We like to set up our creep pens in dry, draft free area of the barn. It seems like no matter what creep feed you use, it always takes the first lambs a little bit to get started it. There is no doubt that the younger lambs learn from the older lambs and pick it up much faster. That is a popular debate with feeders. Do they get started quickly enough? The results with Honor Show Chow starter speak for themselves. Come look at our lambs in 30 days and you can be the judge.
Congrats to all of the winners at the winter shows. Many of them have been on variety of HSC products including the HSC 18% Grower, Champion Drive, and Power Fuel. I am looking forward to seeing those pictures. Hey Mike, send me a picture!
Here in Sandwich, IL we have been enjoying slightly below average temps this winter and more snow than normal. We are ready for warmer dryer days. I have spent the last three weeks battling several kidney stone episodes. Not with the sheep, but with me! I am ready to start putting Ammonium Chloride on my breakfast cereal. Someone will have to explain to me why I can prevent this in my livestock but not people. My livestock probably eat better. Hey Kevin, start making a snack size Champion Drive that I can eat while driving. I need to firm up my top and prevent these damn kidney stones.
Had great trip to Ryan Watje’s pig sale in Jan. Ryan, Stacy, their family, and friends put on first class event with an outstanding set of pigs and lambs. It was great to see and meet so many enthusiastic sheep exhibitors. It was really cool to catch up with HSC hog guru Kent Bennington at the airport in Chicago. I still think Christopher Walken was the flight attendant on the flight. “I’ve got a fever and the only cure is more cowbell!” I have couple more HSC events scheduled in March and April. I am looking forward to those.
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