What started out as a small hobby sheep farm to raise a few lambs for my brother and I to show in 4-H has evolved into an extensive breeding program. Once we were too old to show in 4-H we stood at a crossroads of either selling the flock or continuing to breed sheep for the show ring. Knowing that I was coming back to the farm after college and that we were really starting to get competitive with the lambs we were breeding, it was an easy decision for us. The first thing I did after I scheduled my classes at Purdue University was talk to the livestock judging coach at Purdue and find out what steps I needed to take to be on the team and in 2012 I was. There I honed my evaluation skills and ultimately became a smarter and more knowledgeable breeder, with an emphasis on a sound structure. We continue to get better each and every year and we owe a lot of that to the people who have helped us along the way. To be successful with your feeding and breeding program, you really need to learn something new every year. With that said, we are also passionate about developing showman both through their showmanship skills in the ring and their animal husbandry outside of the ring. We stay in contact with our customers throughout the show season and we get offended if we aren't getting updates or questions asked, because to us 4-H is a learning process and if you never ask, you never learn. If you take a project in 4-H you should not only learn something new every year, but get better every year and that is what we strive to do. With our last 8 ram purchases being from Terry Knudson at Viking Genetics, we have continued to get better each and every year. In terms of our breeding program philosophy, we strongly believe that the next best one is ALWAYS just around the corner. With that said, we are very PROGRESSIVE and AGGRESSIVE with our breeding decisions. There is no room for complacency when breeding livestock that will win in the show ring; which is our main goal: WIN IN THE SHOW RING!!!!! You hear people all the time talking about "Trends" in the show ring and how they come and go. Well for us, we want to make them TRENDY. We chase the trends because we want to WIN in the show ring. Sometimes you see a breeder who has success and builds a good reputation and popularity and then has a great sale, but then they get complacent and their winning slowly tapers off. Well the sale keeps going well year in and year out and the money keeps coming in so the breeder continues to breed the same way because the money keeps rollin' in. Well that will NEVER be the way things are ran around here. When you go to shows you can almost guess the age of some of the judges just by listening to the things they say on the mic. Young guys use words like FREAK, NASTY, TRENDY, MAN CHILD, EXTREME, MASSIVE, PUSHIN THE LIMITS and use them all in a good way! But then you here an older guy get on the mic and talk about sheep being "Too trendy" and that "Too much bone" will lead to lambing problems and some of the Trends in the show ring are bad for the industry. WRONG WRONG WRONG! Those older judges are going to continue to get older and eventually the terminology they use that supports the complacency of their own breeding program, or lack their of, will be gone. If you're having lambing problems then get ewes that are wider pinned and can lamb a stouter featured lamb. Stoutness of bone is also shown to translate a heavier muscled carcass. The words "Too Trendy" might be the dumbest thing I've ever heard come out of a judges mouth and the guy was a breeding sheep guy. Breeding sheep are really tall, narrow, slow growing, and light muscled due to breeder complacency. While it is always great to hang your hat on sound structure; it is just as important to stay PRACTICAL and PROGRESSIVE. Sheep that are winning now are MODERATE and CLUBBY, or CLUBBY & CHUBBY. Cattle that win in the show ring are the same way. MODERATE, STOUT MADE livestock finish quicker and with more amount of muscle, or retail product. Can this so called "Show ring trend" lead a breeder down a dead end with sheep that don't have a length of body to go with their wide frame, it certainly can, but that is why a breeder should stay PROGRESSIVE and PRACTICAL. A sheep that is sound structured, quick to finish, easy feeding, and balanced up will ALWAYS be good for the industry and when you stay committed to those principles while chasing the trends like bone and shag and hair in cattle, you will be in business for a long time. If you examine some of the trends we've seen in the show ring in the last 20 years or so there are some that are good and some that are bad. In the 90's people chased those high-spined, tuby, blue sheep that ended up getting too narrow and shallow bodied. Then the Trend went away from that in the 2000's and the word "SHAG" entered the livestock judging terminology dictionary. With this trend came more foot and bone which led to an all around stouter carcass that ultimately provides more foundation for a heavier muscled carcass. The people that think/thought shag was just a "Trend" are getting a news flash here. You can never have "too much shag" and if the powers that be happen to place rules that limit the amount of shag, it can always be sheared off. I don't think this will happen, but then again, we show at the Indiana State Fair and the rules there are rather asinine. The current "Trend" that we face today is a desired high tight chest floor and I think the jury is still out on this one. Personally, we think you can pinch em too tight in their rib cage and and get too narrow up front. I think today we do push the limits in terms of moderation, but when they start getting to be "Toads" breed em to a "Giraffe!" Which leads us to where we think the show ring is going. We had a couple 2014 Grand Champions at County Fairs and they weighed in at 126 lbs., one was full and one was empty, but either way we think that is way too light for an animal to be considered ready for slaughter. We need to continue to stay practical in producing a feed efficient type of sheep but we need to get them in the area between a "Toad" and a "Giraffe." One that is wide and and powerful but can carry a heavier weight and give us bigger cuts on the rail while still keeping them balanced and attractive from the side. Which is what you will see in Texas and at the Majors. At the end of the day good sheep beat bad sheep. Good things happen to good people. The assets are better kept in the pastures and Thou Shalt Not Judge People, but rather JUDGE LIVESTOCK!
Need a sheep judge for a show? Contact me if you are in need of a sheep judge. If I can't do it, I will help you find someone who can. I have several young judges that I would be willing to recommend for a show. Ones that will pick the best sheep, and NOT pick faces!
Thanks for taking time to visit our page,
Taylor Plank
