My dear and faithful wife of over fifty years is baking everything one could ever imagine. The smell of bread, cookies, and fruit cakes gives our home a wholesome aroma. The warmth from our little wood stove gives out a gracious heat that makes our old farm home a peaceful sanctuary from the cold outside. We all know that we are safe as a special peace relieves the stress of our busy lives.

My family has lived on this land for well over a hundred years. I’ve often thought I would write a book, that I would title "The Struggle." My other thought was to use one of my father’s favorite phrases; ‘God bless the old brood ewes." To this day I can hear my father tell my mother back in the 1930’s, "Don’t worry mother, the old ewes will bring us through these terrible times," and of course they did. The only trouble with writing a book in this day and age is it has to be filled with sex, or so I’ve been told. For some reason I hardly think that I’m an expert on this subject, nor do I care to be at my age.

Farming is no longer the same, and for the first time I worry about the future of the family farm. Farming is now big, big business. Large corporate farms are now nibbling at our very way of life. The question is: Can we be efficient enough to hold off these giant corporate farms with big money behind them? I have faith that our great old brood ewes will bring us through so that our wonderful, stressful, busy, yet happy lives will continue.

Merchandising Our Children

I hate to tell you Mom and Dad, but you’re letting every business in the world merchandise your kids, and you’re not doing one single thing to stop it.

My grandson Tommy is nine years old. As a long time ball player and a great baseball fan, I know he has a special talent. He’s very agile, quick and has love for the game. He has a dream of playing shortstop for our Detroit Tigers just as I did years ago.

With that said, what happens after some of the games? The local amusement park gives the kids a discounted price, and they all go drive these little fun cars, ride all the rides, and get hats and drinks. It’s a real fun deal for the kids, and of course they want to go and spend your money. If this doesn’t hook the kids, the local eating places are always handing out coupons so the whole family can go out to eat. These are just some of the many examples of how business hooks the whole family.

Just maybe it’s time we merchandise our kids in something that is really constructive, like getting a flock of sheep. Now don’t go telling me you’re too busy or the kids have a million things to do. The wasted time in our country is unbelievable, starting with the television. The money being spent for things we don’t really need is almost mind-boggling to me at this time in my life. I don’t even buy the excuse that kids showing wether lambs at the county or state fair should be enough. Every family in America, which is lucky enough to own some land, should have a flock of sheep. We should never let our children miss out on this special learning experience. I hope that we are not going to destroy a great culture of being able to grow up on a farm, have responsibilities, and learn how to work. In short, families that work together stay together.

Judging our Market Shows

I feel we should be picking market animals that would make great breeding animals, the type that we would put back in our flocks or herds. When we start picking animals that have the exotic look or just plain far out or maybe even freakish, we are not helping our children who are interested in outstanding livestock. Champion market animals should have bone, body capacity, some rugged mass, along with a great style that we all enjoy looking at.

While on the subject of market animals, my granddaughter, Susan, had champion steer at our state fair. This was of course a great thrill for her and our family. But the real surprise is that the steer sold for $36,000-an all time record.

I never thought I would say this, but I now feel that this is far too much money to hand out to one kid and their family. I think when market animals start bringing this big money, it only creates problems that we don’t need. Not only does it bring in the professional show-jocks, but it gives families crazy ideas about spending huge amounts of money for young calves, lambs, and pigs as well. While this may be great for the breeder, it’s very discouraging for the kids and their families when these animals do not win. At this time in Michigan, I’m sure there will be a $20,000 top for the steer, and if they bring more it will go into a scholarship for some other outstanding exhibitor.

While on the subject of cattle, let’s analyze what the beef breeders have done to the cattle industry. They have mixed so many breeds into their herds that they have no idea what their cow herds will produce. I think sheep people should take a long hard look at what they have done and not let it happen to us. In short, they no longer breed true.

For years, we bred Angus cattle, and we knew exactly what each cow would produce. Today we are just like everyone else…it takes 25 cows to get one really good show-steer. I purchased a bull calf this year, and you can be sure I did some thinking, especially when it comes to the mother of the calf.

Showmanship

I can’t talk about 4-H shows without mentioning showmanship. I’m too old to understand the great importance of this event. In fact, I don’t even try anymore. Despite what I think, it’s the biggest crowd-getter at the county fair.

My wife, an expert seamstress, has taught 4-H sewing for over 45 years. She judges many clothing events as well as ladies’ lead shows. To make a long story short, she was asked to judge the Lead Show at the Hillsdale County Fair, which is the last fair of the year in Michigan. Hillsdale borders the states of Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. It’s an old, rustic fair. There are lots of hills, and many of the buildings were built in the late 1800’s. I really enjoy this fair; in fact we used to show there many years ago. Of course I wanted to go, but what she didn’t tell me was that I was supposed to judge for the sheep in the Master Showmanship Sweepstakes.

Randy Sanders, who has been breeding Suffolks for about ten years, is Hillsdale’s sheep superintendent. Randy has purchased many sheep from us, so I had no choice. I was there and hooked into judging the sheep. He gave me an introduction like none I’ve ever heard, so of course I had to play the part of being an expert. I’m sure all you Suffolk breeders would have been very proud of me as I played the part, and I even amazed my wife!

The arena was a standing room only. Each judge had 15 minutes to judge their own species of livestock. I had the sheep showman picked the minute that they came in the ring. I did spend close to ten minutes having the kids do their things. The moral of this story is that showmanship must be a great event because everyone enjoys it so much. My only question is how can we transfer some of this great enthusiasm and interest into the breeding classes. There has to be an answer so that we can teach these kids and their parents about the breeding and feeding of sheep and get a realistic outlook on the true issue of raising sheep and other livestock.