By Janet McNally Hinckley, Minnesota—One of the more rewarding things I do is visit sheep graziers around the U.S. and Canada who do an outstanding job producing a quality product. I’ve been absolutely amazed at the healthy, well-grown lambs with clean backsides and loads of bloom that reach marketable weights on all-forage programs. While everyone [...]

By Janet McNally, Hinckley, Minnesota — At this writing I am smack dab in the middle of lambing, so please forgive me if I’m having a difficult time writing about any other subject. I had planned to finish a second article on crossbreeding, and will get to that in the next issue, but I would [...]

By Janet McNally, Hinckley, Minnesota — Seventeen years ago, Kelley O’Neil handed me a tattered magazine clipping from the April 1990 issue of Beef Today. Headlined “Stop Farming Your Ranch,” the article was festooned with handwritten comments, circled paragraphs, and underlined sentences. Kelley, a beef and sheep producer near Rushford, Minnesota, had long been a [...]

By Janet McNally, Hinckley, Minnesota — In the previous two issues I examined late-gestation ewe rations: and ewe lactation/early-lamb growth rations using conventional hay/grain and pasture-based solutions. In late gestation, the relatively little grain required had only a small impact on total feed cost. Pasture presented a much larger cost-saving advantage over grain/hay during the [...]

By Janet McNally, Hinckley, Minnesota — How you manage your ewes between September 1 and November 1 will make or break next year’s lamb crop. Once winter weather sets in, outwintered ewes seem to be challenged to gain any further weight, especially if they are starting off thin. For us the magic date seems to [...]