Farm Tour 2025
We are a small 22-acre family farm that raises sheep and lambs for both wool and meat as well as small batch eggs. We have kept Romeldale sheep for the last 16 years which is a breed of sheep that is listed as an endangered breed by the Livestock Conservancy, meaning they are a breed with few numbers. This breed is known for its beautifully colored and patterned wool. Additionally, their body size is smaller and takes longer to mature than larger meat breeds. Sheep are very susceptible to predators, so we utilize livestock guardian dogs “LGD’s”, but purchasing, training and maintaining the health and feed for these dogs is expensive, and dogs are not a full-proof solution.
A Year at the Farm
- January/February: Surviving winter- feeding local hay to the sheep because pasture is limited.
- March: We get ready for lambing. We lamb out on pasture, but mamas and babies will come into stalls in the barn for a couple days to make sure they are all nursing and doing OK, so we have to get all the stalls clean and ready.
- April: Lambing! Late nights, early mornings, sometimes up in the middle of the night. Each ewe typically has one to three lambs. When a ewe has three lambs, larger commercial sheep operations will pull off the smallest or weakest of the three lambs which becomes a “bummer” lamb, meaning they are fed by a bottle. At our farm, we closely assess ewes and find that many in good health can handle all three lambs so we don’t remove a lamb unless we must. Sometimes we can supplement a lamb with milk and allow it to stay with mom.
- May: Shearing! Most breeds of sheep typically need to be shorn annually once a year. When done correctly, shearing makes the sheep much more comfortable for summer and does not hurt them. We utilize one to two professional shearers who are able to shear each sheep in a few minutes.
- June-September: We are in the grass growing business because our lambs are pasture based. We utilize irrigation water from the Klamath Irrigation District, which comes from the Klamath River. We flood irrigate using tarps, so we do need to not utilize any motor driven pumps. With this method, water flows across the pasture while recharging aquafers and domestic wells for the people that live and farm in the area.
- October: Lambs are sold for meat. Hay is purchased and stored for the winter. Sheep have grown enough wool to efficiently keep warm for the winter.
- November/December: Sheep are fed hay twice a day, have shelter from rain and snow but significant storms we can bring sheep into the barn.