Flock Composition

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sheep flockThe farm consists of 200 mature ewes and is comprised of three different production systems. The first is a flock of 60 wether type Hampshire and Suffolk cross ewes, which lamb from late December through March. The objective of this flock are to produce competitive show lambs for sale to junior livestock exhibitors for local, county, state, and national exhibition. The second production system is a 30 head registered Hampshire flock, which is enrolled in the National Sheep Improvement Program (NSIP). These ewes are lambed inside in January and February. Moderate frame size, rapid growth and ribeye area, in combination with desirable phenotype are the selection criteria in the Hampshire flock. The final management system is a 100 head commercial white face flock which is mainly comprised of Polypay and Polypay cross females. This flock is a low input, low labor system where ewes are moderate to small framed, easy fleshing, durable and prolific. Ewes are fed average to low quality forages during the dry lot period and little or no concentrate. Lambing is done on spring pastures in May on a rotational grazing system. Weaning usually occurs in late summer depending on pasture availability.