In my last article I wrote of the value of our county fairs, and how they should not be taken lightly. The great bonding of families and the morals and sportsmanship that our children learn will always be remembered and talked about.

After missing Sedalia the past four years, my wife and I were able to attend. I’m sure my family thought it very important that I go. They knew I would pout or be mad for a week if I didn’t make the 700 mile trip, plus they knew I needed a short vacation.

For years, the Mid-West Stud Ram and Ewe Show and Sale has always been my favorite sheep event. I enjoy the town where everyone makes you feel special and wanted. There are sheep breeders there from about every state in America. It’s a gathering place for all sheep people. And yes, I don’t even mind the heat. My skinny old body doesn’t miss a beat on hot days.

I keep notes on sale sheets, catalogs, and even scraps of paper I took out of the trash cans. You can be sure in the future I’ll find a better way to write down the many thoughts, quotes, and advice that I get from you Suffolk breeders. I’ve been thinking of getting a tape recorder, but I would probably need a grandchild to operate the dumb thing.

In the fast moving world, I often worry that our children are not going to learn the great knowledge that is shared by veteran breeders. I had just gotten to our pens and found a comfortable chair when such outstanding breeders as Ron Young, John Sponaugle, John Conway, Jim Peifer, and Warren Kuhl were there to talk about Suffolks and the world in general. As terrible as it may seem, I have lost my notes on their remarks. Maybe the best remark I did remember was made by Jim Peifer. He wanted a class for aged rams at Lousiville, and they had to be six years or older. I thought this would be as great a class as he did. I’ve always talked about strong rams and how important it was for them to live many years and still be productive. Both, Jim and I thought this would be the most interesting class of the show, and wondered just how many breeders, if any at all, would attempt to enter such a class. We also wondered how many six year old breeding rams there were.

As a young teenage boy at our state fair, I always remembered the great stories and information I learned from the older breeders. Not only did I learn many things, but I looked up to these special people. They were special mentors to me. It was free education, and all one had to do was keep quiet with open ears. The kids today are missing out on all these great experiences because the junior shows are over with the open show start. Plus they have a million things to do, such as watching TV or playing on the computer.

Size Doesn’t Matter

All my life, I have been talking about getting our sheep bigger. As I’ve written many time, I think it’s time to stop, as judge Larry Mrozinski was trying to tell us last fall at Louisville and again this year at Sedalia when he had the honor of judging both of these special shows.

The Champion Ram was bred by the Heggemeiers. This ram was not the tallest ram, yet everyone could see he was the most complete, smooth, and wide over his top, and good heavy-boned with plenty of capacity. In short, this ram could be turned out with ewes in the mountains or the corn fields, get the ewes bred, and not look like a scarecrow when he was done. I made the statement in the November-December issue of the Suffolk News that Jim Heggemeier had forgotten more than most Suffolk breeders will ever know. I think he proved it once again.

The Champion Ewe was bred by the Wilts, who have their breeding program down to a science. They are working closely with Warren Kuhl of B.Y.U. Warren is one of the great master livestock men in America. His knowledge of sheep and all forms of livestock is astonishing, and you can be sure the Wilts are using it wisely. The ewe was much like the ram, very complete, wider over her hips, with a great feminine head and ear that just told you she was a great brood ewe.

I hate to tell all you breeders, but we have forgotten to look at the heads in this day and age. If I were to start a flock of Suffolk sheep today, the first thing I would look for is a very stylish, feminine head. Big hips and capacity would be next. Feet and legs would probably come last.

I was sure I would get your attention with that remark. I’ve talked many times about our annual sheep drive. We drive our 300 ewes from our summer and fall pasture to the barns where I live. It’s a two-mile trip and they have to walk at almost a trot to avoid a huge back-up of cars. We do this early on Sunday morning or a holiday. These ewes have to cross a five-lane highway, pass a huge store, plus many homes. Take it from me, the only feet and leg problem is foot rot, which I’ve written about far too often.

In the May-June issue, I asked the question: When are we, as breeders, going to realize that a 40-inch ram is a huge sheep, and why are we going to keep going for 45 and bigger? After asking many breeders, Kurt Birky, a wise Suffolk fellow that helps many breeders, said the answer was simple. We all want a ram bigger than our fellow breeder. Kurt was joking but it was the best answer I heard. As someone who has always bred sheep I hope we stop joking, look at the Champions at Sedalia, and try to get our sheep to resemble the Champion Ewe and Ram.

Is this going to happen? Don’t bet the farm on it. The third ram in the sale ring, probably the biggest and longest in the sale, sold for more than the Champion and Reserve. This ram was bred by Ansel Luxford. I’ve been talking about master livestock people, and this fellow has his breeding program down to an art when it comes to winning shows, and selling sheep for big money. Plus, he’s been doing it for years.

The Wether Breeders

After all the rambling about the big sheep, it’s time to talk about the weather people. It’s a fact that the breeds of sheep that can win the wether shows have the big advantage of selling breeding sheep.

I want to give you a big history lesson. Back in the 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s, the Shropshire was the most popular breed. In 1934, there were more Shrops registered than all breeds put together. This included cattle, hogs, etc. Then of course the Southdown was big at this time as well. In the 60’s the Suffolks and Hamps started winning the wether shows as they still are today. In short, as long as Suffolk wethers can win, we will always be the most popular breed. History has proved this.

The Suffolk wether people are here to stay, if you have any doubt just look at their age. Most of them range anywhere from 18 to 40. My son George, at 44 years of age, might well be one of the youngest breeders at Sedalia breeding big sheep. Come to think of it I may be the oldest. The wethers have the youth on their side, plus there was more action on their side of the barn than maybe just all breeds put together….to say nothing of the sale of their rams.

The wether people must be careful on the way they are handling and feeding their sheep. The almost starving of some of the sheep and the muzzles are not a pleasant sight. The few young fellows pounding on their sheep, the picking their front ends up like a pedigreed Poodle dog is a turn off to older breeders to say nothing about the public in general. If this was done at our state fair in Detroit, the animal rights people would have a field day on the cruelty of animals. I did get a kick out of the poking of lambs on the back with the fingers. I wasn’t sure if they were playing a tune on their back, or if this was just a way of showing them.

Here at Buckham Farms, we have been having a wether sale for 25 years, and have been using these rams since 1991. We have no choice, this is a fast, quick, sure way to get a profit. This business is not so lucrative as it was in the past, everybody and their uncle are trying the same thing. I would bet the farm that these sheep will continue to get bigger. It’s just an American tradition. I may be mistaken, but I think the wether people are doing the same dumb thing the big sheep did 25 to 30 years ago. It looks to me like they are getting them taller, larger with longer necks, and very narrow front ends with less capacity. On top of this, they are even getting them pretty and stylish. I like them to be pretty and stylish, but as for the rest, no way.

No one was more critical of the wether sheep than I was 10 or 15 years ago. I’m sure in life we all must make compromises as I have. This is a case where both types are useful and we need them to keep our Suffolk breed association strong.

I’ve talked about the breeders of the Champion Ewe and Ram, so now I’ll write about a very successful, intelligent Suffolk wether breeder, even though there are many. Her name is Karen Johnson Mason. She was National Suffolk Queen in 1970 when she was a Sophomore in high school. She told of what a great lady Betty Biellier was, and how she helped in Karen’s duties as Queen. Karen was keeping her sheep registered, and of course testing them for the Spider Gene, and finding out if they were RR or QQ etc. She told about starting with a "Walking Tall" son.

Section 201 Successful

I just got the publication of the American Sheep Industry Association. The headline read that our President imposes tariffs on lamb exports. For those of you who haven’t been following this case, it means that Australia and New Zeland can’t keep exporting their huge surge of lamb to our country.

As a large producer of lamb, of course this makes us all happy at Buckham Farms. The question is: Can our country step up the production of lamb for the American public? The answer to this question is that there is no way unless we change our ways. We must face the facts. There are other ways to produce sheep than on pasture. I realize this is a shocking statement for all you good extension and college people who have been preaching pasture for years.

When the pigs, chicken and dairy people wanted real production, what did they do? Of course, they confined them. They had every fact and figure on how it should be done, and they seldom, if ever, made a mistake.

The only mistake, and it was a big one, is that they over produced. They flooded the market with meat and eggs. Top hogs dropped as low as 8 to 10 cents in December, and they are still not breaking even. Big hog farms with 1,000 to 1,500 sows were losing 75,000 to 100,000 dollars a month. I’m not really up on the raising of poultry, but I know our state is filled with empty chicken barns, and just about every turkey farm is done. Only the very big companies were able to survive.

The way to produce more lamb is to confine them. The lambs will never go to pasture. If we have some pasture, wheat fields, or cornfields, we’ll kick the ewes out if not keep them in barns and lots. Only the people in the Mid-West are going to do this. We have an abundance of grain and other cheap feed supplies. We have the buildings, feed lots, and all the great machines one can imagine. The are just waiting to be used.

Who in the Mid-West are going to raise these sheep? The answer is simple. The crop farmers who have stopped raising livestock. These people have barns, or can rent them. Plus they have the tools and machines to make this work. They also have a wife and kids who can help. These are the people that have the time. They work like fools at planting and harvesting. The rest of the time they’re at the coffee shop, complaining about the terrible price of grain, or spending the winters in Florida, or else they are polishing their expensive equipment for the following year.

The next step will be to get these folks two big Suffolk yearling rams or older to breed the ewes. These rams must have sex drive, something we are overlooking in this day and age. These ewes will be bred to lamb at the end of January. The lambs will be sold in June and July when the crop farmer needs money to pay for his many expenses that come with planting crops. At this time there is always a short supply of lambs, so the lamb will bring big dollars. When the farmer gets his wheat harvested, he kicks the ewes out to clean things up. Then, when the corn is shelled, he can put them out in the corn fields. Now isn’t this simple. If any of you are wondering why I feel so strongly about never letting the lambs and ewes out to pasture let me share this experience with you. We had 300 commercial ewes in a large feedlot with three big silos. They started lambing the middle of April. We were so busy we just didn’t have time to get them on pasture like we had planned to. So, we just kept them there to lamb. All we had to do was turn on the silo and let it auger out in our 120 foot bunk. It took 10 to 20 minutes night and morning to feed them. We had no worry about fences, getting them water, worming them all the time, rounding them up to cut tails, etc. We didn’t have to go out to the fields to check them everyday, plus we didn’t have the worries of coyotes, perhaps the most brilliant animal living today. Easy? You bet it was. And better yet it was dirt cheap, as we can grow more tonnage from an acre of corn than we can from Lord knows how many acres of grass.

Did we leave the ewes there till the lambs were ready to wean, and then kick them out to pasture? The answer is no. I guess we couldn’t stand prosperity.

Don’t give me the old story that this way will be too costly. The price of grain, and other feed items are at a record low. Just ask any good grain farmer and you’ll get an ear full. In short, I don’t dislike pasture….I hate it.

The Suffolk News

At this time I want to put a plug in for our Suffolk News. In the past I have been critical of the many so-called publications. I doubt there is one livestock magazine that can match the many articles and advertising we have in our magazine.

John Eagle starts off with his President’s Message. Sort of a humorist newsy informative short article on what is happening. Then we have Executive Director David Kloostra, who may well do more thinking about the Suffolk sheep business than I do. Dave has many goals and big dreams about the future of our breed, and knowing him he can make it happen. I’ve told Dave if I ever own a sheep magazine, I’ll hire him as editor. Then of course we have News from Newton, from our western secretary Annette Benson. I always enjoy her down to earth writing, it sort of makes one feel good. She has a great Suffolk background and understands our business. Next is Sheep Health by Neil Anderson. This guy really amazes me. He can actually make this subject interesting. Plus he can do it without all the charts and graphs that most experts use. Then of course I have the honor of writing about many things. I do not take the responsibility of this job lightly. My son, George, tells me I’m doing nothing more than having a conversation with all of you good Suffolk breeders.

Besides all of this, we are getting all sorts of information and news of coming events. Then we have lots of advertising that is everybody’s favorite. Larry Mead of the Sheep Breeder once told me that the average person picked up his magazine five times looking at the ads before they ever read an article. This statement was not too encouraging for those of us who write, but I’m sure he was right.