January/February 2001

Most of you will be reading this article in February, while Christmas will be long gone. However, I feel it is still important to write about this time of year. I should at least wish you a Happy New Year. As we enter the new year, it is the job of every Suffolk breeder to promote our breed.

As I write this article, it’s getting near Christmas, a very special time for our family. As always we have our culture and traditions that never seem to change. We have an annual sheep drive in the early morning, followed by a big pancake breakfast. Then the grandkids put up the tree and all the lights. Our old farm home actually looks like a Christmas tree. Two days before Christmas, my wife and the kids bake a pile of cookies consisting of all shapes and colors. I use to hate all those cookies, but as the years go by I’m actually starting to enjoy them. On Christmas Day we’ll all be together. As always, my good wife of almost 52 years and I marvel at the production of human begins that we’ve created.

At this time, my wife has almost completely recovered from a very serious stroke that occurred a little over a year ago. It has been nothing short of a miracle, as she was in a coma for over six days and could not use the right side of her body. Her determination to get back to normal and the help from our family had to be a special act of God. This Christmas is very important to her, and the joy she gets from the grandkids is overwhelming.

Special Friends

At my age, most of my friends have passed on. The ones that are still on this good earth are either trying to think of ways to kill time or perhaps are searching for happiness. You can be sure this is not my problem. I have so many things to do that at times it can be depressing.

One of my biggest joys at Christmas time is what I call "young friends dropping by." These men are in their middle forties or early fifties. I still think of them as boys, as I do my own sons. I’m sure they remember back when I was in my prime. They remember the great times we had at livestock events when life was not so hectic and complicated. I’m sure they respect me because I have made my living off the land and livestock. Or perhaps they enjoy my comments on the animals and life in general.

One of these good friends is Larry Mrozinski. He probably judges more big sheep shows than anyone in the world. I’m always amazed at the polish and intelligence he has gained over the years. Larry has judged Louisville, the big winter show in Canada, and is going to judge in Mexico in the near future. I’m impressed by his ability to judge in three countries in such a short time.

I thought it was very interesting when Larry told me about his upcoming trip to Mexico. They were going to give him a $100,000 life insurance policy while he was there, plus he would have a special escort at all times. Talking about pressure or stress while judging is one thing. Worrying about getting bumped off is something else.

Special Letters

I love to get letters. It is one of the reasons I write articles. I try to answer every letter I get, as it’s very easy for me at this point in life. At this time, letter writing is a dying art, and it reminds me of dancing. Both are very difficult for men and boys.

We always get four veterinarian students from Michigan State to help with the lambing. This is a great experience for them, and we enjoy having them here. They are supposed to send thank-you letters to us and other breeders that they stay with. Come to find out, most of them had no idea how to even start a letter. Sad, you bet. In case you’re interested, a good letter is read five times, and outstanding letters are kept forever.

Almost all my letters are from women over forty or men who are probably fifty-five or older. I’ve been writing articles off and on for a good twenty-five years. Never have I ever got a letter than really took me to town, or just plain and simple-blasted me, for some of the remarks I made, until now. To say the least it really shocked me.

This letter was from a woman who is trying hard to breed good Suffolk sheep, and I do respect her. After giving her letter much thought, I have no intention of changing my writing style or the things I write about. I realize many of you think I’m getting controversial and maybe even critical. But just maybe it’s time that somebody does.

It’s a good thing this gal did not hear the conversation that Larry Mrozinski and I had about the plight of the American purebred sheep business as it is today. If she did, she might well have me thrown in jail.

Good Suffolk people, as we go into the new year, it is time for a wake up call. We have many problems and it’s time we face them. To my amazement the spider problem is still being talked about, and the scrapie issue may be with us for years. I think our government enjoys this problem and could make things very tough for our great breed. We also have two different type of sheep, one small and the other huge. While I like big sheep, it seems that a lot of women are taking care of these large animals. One of the biggest complaints that I get from these ladies is that they are hard to handle.

The promotion of Suffolk sheep is almost zero. When I was young there were maybe five to eight breeds that anyone ever heard of. Today I’m sure we probably have 58 breeds. Think of the explosion the meat goats are making, while we and many of the other top breeds sit idle and watch them grow. We have the fastest growing and best red meat type of sheep there is, to say nothing of their great style and beauty. We must spread the good word to people who are interested in raising sheep.

Many breeders don’t know each other and probably don’t care to. If one wants to get real picky, we had a merger and yet we may never really merge. I’m sure this may be the least of our problems. We have segregated ourselves from other breeds. The National Junior Show is a great event. The question is..will it continue to grow? My brother, Fred, gets a lot of credit for starting this outstanding event years ago. You can be sure if he were here today he would insist that we join the other breeds in Franklin, Indiana for the All-American Junior Show. Because the Junior shows at the state fairs are always held before the open shows, the kids seldom get to see the open breeding show. When this happens they do not have breeders to look up or learn from like it once was. Years ago it was a free education for a kid being around the top breeders, to say nothing of being in the show ring showing against them.

Let’s take a look at the Suffolk News, one of the best things we have done in years. I may well get more comments about this paper from other breeders then I do from the Suffolk people. Ronda Sparks, our good secretary in the Missouri Office, puts this paper together, or did the last I knew. You can be sure this saves our association a lot of money. To make this pay we need advertising from more breeders. We cannot expect Ronda to be hunting up ads with the many things she has to do. In the future, we must hire a person to get the ads, so our paper will continue to prosper. This would be a great job for Steve George of Ohio. Steve probably knows more Suffolk breeders than anyone. Give him a certain percentage and he would be making telephone calls all over America.

Changing Times

I realize I have lived in a different time: simple yet hard. Today our priorities and wants are different. Yet when our families gather together our grandkids want to hear the stories of the past. They want us to leave them a legacy that they can be proud of.

I like to tell them about our vacations, as they were always held at the State Fair. My children never figured it out until they started college. For me it was always a stressful, busy time…yet one of great satisfaction and fun. The fond memories they have of these special times will always be with them. We had an old house trailer and we would spend the full ten days at the fair. My wife and daughter would have the pens and walks covered with flowers. They would make sheep out of velvet and wool, with our names stitched under them. Today the walls are bare, like barren fields. We are never there more than three or four days, and the parties and great togetherness are history. For an older breeder like me it’s sad, but maybe this is progress.

My granddaughter, Kristi, has helped me get my articles ready to print for the past four years. She is now going to Michigan State, enrolled in both journalism and telecommunications. We have enjoyed doing the articles and she soon understood the pride and satisfaction one gets from breeding good livestock and tilling the soil. You’ll never guess what Kristi is worried about. She wonders if she’ll ever have the great stories of the past like I do to tell her children and grand children.

I’m going to give an excerpt from one of Kristi’s papers. She first writes that history conveys the changing of society from having an agricultural basis to the industrial revolution. The newest era consists of the dominance of careers pertaining to information. In other words, we have just entered an era controlled by technology.

She goes on to write: "Years ago, my grandfather had no such technology to make his life easier. His sweat and toil determined the success of my family today. My grandfathers tears portray the importance of my family history when he shares the stories of the past. Horses, plows, soil, and prayers were what his generation had depended upon for survival. I appreciate every effort my grandfather made to make our family so stable."

Kristi ends her paper by writing: "Despite how fortunate we are, stories of the past will soon lack romance and that Horatio Alger quality of human interest, all because of a modern convenience known as technology."

The moral of Kristi’s writing is simple. For those of you who have farms or land, don’t miss the opportunity of having livestock, especially a flock of Suffolk sheep. Let your children be able to pass down the special stories that can only come from an actual farming experience. Let your children appreciate every effort you made to make your family stable.