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!

Just got back from the Showring Success Seminar, held at MSU in East Lansing, MI. It was a terrific experience. The Animal science campus at Michigan State is very impressive and the pavilion used to host the seminar is simply the best.

I had great time meeting new friends and visiting with old ones. I always enjoy the opportunity to visit with people that are enthusiastic about livestock and sheep.

The HSC Ambassadors don’t all get to visit that often, but I enjoy the chance to see their programs and visit with those folks when we do. It was great to see Bob and Chris in MI and I ran into Kirk on Sunday doing clinic locally. Those guys are really good. You know… they are much shorter in real life!

Most of our snow in northern, IL disappeared but it followed us to Michigan. (Thanks Matt.) Dr Tom Skilling says we are supposed to get rain and snow off and on all week. I don’t know which I like least, snow or mud. The most important thing we are doing with our sheep right now is keeping the creep feeders full. Those lambs cant‘t eat and grow if there isn’t feed in the feeder. The little things at this age can make a big difference. HSC Show Lamb Starter, it is no brainer.

We will be participating in a couple more Show clinics over the next few weeks. Be there or be square.

See Ya,

Mark

This is my first attempt at blog entry in any venue, so please forgive my ignorance. 2009 marks my thirtieth year of raising sheep. There are only few things I have done for that many years. We have been lambing since mid-January and that along with both Amy and I working off farm jobs and Emily in school and playing basketball keeps us pretty busy.

No matter how many years we do this, lambing season is still something we look forward to. We only lamb in the spring, so we select and evaluate all year long, and this is when it all comes home to roost. This year’s weather has been more challenging than in the recent past. We have been considerably colder with more snow, and it makes us glad that we do all we can stack the deck for the ewes and lambs to get off to a good start.

We have just started experimenting with the new HSC Ewe Pellet, and so far so good. The best feed for young lambs is good milking ewes. The lambs are just starting to eat creep. We have been using the HSC Lamb Starter for the last several years, and found that it has been the best creep feed available. They start fast, develop the frame, muscle and bloom that we need to be successful.

We enjoy hearing about the shows in the southwest. We look forward to hearing more success stories about those sheep, those kids and their families. Our show and sale season is still a ways off in our country. The show updates from other parts of the country get us motivated during these dark, cold and snowy days. Keep us posted!

I will be traveling to several HSC Show clinics over the next few weeks and hope to see many of you there.

See Ya!

Mark