Sheep Industry News July 2024

BUILDING A NETWORK The family relocated from Pennsylvania to south-central Missouri in 2010 for a variety of reasons. “We had more of a dairy background,” Reuben said, “but we’ve always been in sheep. Dad moved here for the oppor tunity. The land was cheaper. At the time, it was some of the last land you could really pay for with cattle. And if you can pay for it with cattle, then you can do a lot better with sheep. There was opportunity here, which is how we happened to land in what most people would consider the middle of no where. We’re definitely attached to the land now. Dad passed away working on this land, so that makes it special.” In addition, the headquarters is centrally located to three facilities that routinely process the ranch’s lambs. It’s 800 miles to the Double J plant in San Angelo, Texas, 700 miles to Wolverine in Detroit, and 900 miles to Marcho Farms in Pennsylvania. “Our operation is fairly mobile, so where the headquarters is isn’t really that important,” Reuben said. “We have a net work of producers who are finishing lambs for us, and they’re located all over the country. Toward the end of Covid, we had lambs as far away as Georgia and Wyoming – at the same time. There’s only so many of us here on the ranch. We man age the place here and work with these producers to provide two loads of lambs a week all year round. We’re constantly shipping lambs all over the country.”

The family has worked to bring new producers into the sheep industry by providing a guaranteed income for finish ing its lambs. Those producers are provided a support system that includes veterinary contacts and program management tools. Thanks to Trent’s involvement with the Savory Institute, the family encourages its producers to develop holistic man agement practices that benefit not only the sheep, but the land, as well. “We want people to be totally vested in what we’re doing,” Reuben said. “It’s important as farmers and ranchers that we learn how to take better care of our animals and our land. Stewardship is important to us. We want to leave everything better than when we found it. We feel the same about the producers that we work with.” Knowing up front what they’ll earn on finishing the lambs is a key factor in convincing former cattle, dairy and hog producers to get into the sheep industry. “They have great facilities and a lot of livestock experience to bring to the table. They’re just looking for something that makes more financial sense, and our lamb finishing program works for a lot of them,” Reuben said. “We can guarantee a good price for finishing those lambs. When the markets are crazy high, it might still just be a good price and not a great price. But we’ll stick with you when the prices are low and still get them a good price. We aren’t printing gold, but we

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