Although the children are now adults, raising sheep remains an activity that our family shares and enjoys. We gather several times a year for "sheep weekends" to trim hooves, worm, weigh lambs and get ready for shows.
The sheep fit well into our land in Noblesville. They clean up our pastures and utilize the hay that we harvest. They provide a good break from our otherwise hectic lives. As David says, no matter what the day otherwise brings, the sheep are always glad to see me.
We strive to produce sheep that are productive and well balanced. We choose to keep those ewes that give birth unassisted and raise lambs without our intervention. We want good sheep with good fleeces but do not try for extremes in either size or any other characteristic. We expect our sheep to thrive primarily on grass, although we do supplement during late gestation and lactation.
Except for those lambs that may grow into replacements, we market our lambs at weaning time. We find that this practice produces the best returns on our efforts.
We also believe that raising sheep requires participation in local, state and national sheep affairs. In that regard, David has been president of his county's sheep producers, superintendent of the county 4-H show, a director of the Indiana Sheep Association for over ten years, president of the state association for two years and its current treasurer. Brenda serves as treasurer of the county association and, aided by all of her family, heads up the lamb barbecue at the county fair. Anna was the first president of the Indiana Junior Sheep Association.
We have been a member of the American Romney Breeders Association since we purchased our first Romney in 1993. David is currently an at-large director of the association.
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