We Gambled.... And Lost

Gambling is a risky game. Yet, farmers are known for gambling more than any other profession.

They gamble on the weather. Will mother nature cooperate with our plans? 

They gamble on market prices. Will the animals that I purchase today be worth more next year?

They gamble on the prospect of customer demand. Will something happen in the upcoming months that turns public perception away from the product that I am raising? 

They gamble with reproduction. Will the products of the animals that we use to procreate yield the desired results?

In 2025, we chose to take a wild leap and gamble on a very young ram. His name was Willy. We were in the market for a new breeding ram when we found one that was descendant from the famous Greg Judy flock. We let the name and reputation overshadow our other thoughts and purchased this young male. For the record, we do not blame Greg Judy nor the seller of Willy. We believe that he was a descendant but simply didn't perform to the level of our high expectations. 

Willy didn't grow out to the size that we expected. He also didn't have the parasite resistance nor hardiness that we demand from our flock. We continued to tell ourselves that it was all due to his young age. We were wrong. He just wasn't right for our farm. 

To make matters worse and despite his faults, he was able to perform his reproductive duties. He may have been small, but he found a way! Again, we had hopes that the genetic line would push through and provide some good offspring. We were wrong. Willy's offspring were small, fragile and not right for our operation. 

I think now would be a good time to back up a bit and explain our sheep operation and why Willy wasn't a good fit. Our management style for the sheep is different than a lot of other farmers in the area. We focus on management intensive grazing techniques to reduce parasite load. This works when the animals being managed are not dependent on the various antiparasitic agents commonly used for high performance. We spend so much time managing the field rotations, improving soil health and ensuring that they have a good supply of supplemental minerals that we simply do not have the time to baby animals that require a lot of crutches to flourish. Our goal is to work WITH the land and natural design of the animal species to create an environment as similar to what God intended as we can realistically create. Some animals simply do not flourish in this type of management style and do better on other farms. 

The problem with having a ram that doesn't fit well with your system is that he has passed on his genetic material to the next generation. His offspring were not fitting in well. We raised them up for a while but eventually faced the inevitable. We must sell them. 

Why am I telling this story? 

In late 2025, we had a few lambs processed. We had no idea if lamb meat would even be desired by our customers. Honestly, we hadn't even eaten lamb ourselves until we grew our own. We learned to love it and hoped that our customers would, too. When word spread that we had lamb in stock, we sold out faster than we ever dreamed.

We were in a pickle of a situation. Do we buy more and have them processed to meet customer demand or wait until our lambs are fully grown? We searched but could not find sheep raised in a similar manner that we could purchase. We decided to grow out our own. When Willy's offspring started to show their subpar genetics, we decided to sell them rather than raise them to processing weight and risk the possibility that the meat would also be below our quality standard. 

We have been out of all cuts of lamb since July. We have a few that we are monitoring that may be worth processing over the winter or early spring. We are again searching for replacement lambs that we can verify their management practices match ours and fit the specifications that our customers require.

As of this moment, we do not have a quick fix. Managing livestock can be a slow turnaround process. When things do not go as planned, it can take a lot of time to recover. We gambled on an unproven, very young ram and lost. 

We are adjusting and going forward despite this blow. As some old-timers say, "If farming was easy, everyone would do it!"