Doon Elevator

old school and join the new technology crowd.” They adopted accelerated lambing production. “The ewes lamb three times in two years – February, September, and the following May. It adds about 30-40 percent to the bottom line. The lambs in February pretty much pay the feed bill for the ewes and the lambs. There’s a little bit of profit and the lambs in the fall are a little bit of a bonus because the feed’s already been paid for.” About 70 percent of the ewes that lambed in February will breed in the fall. “It takes about a year to transition to get everything synced up. It requires a lot of management to keep that all straight – to make sure the right sheep are in the right pens and getting the right feed.” While Brent and Mark, along with their younger brother, Kyle, share ownership of the flock, Brent runs the operation on a daily basis. Mark is the sheep manager at the USDA Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Neb., and is in process of starting a flock at his home acreage there. Kyle works for a custom harvest and farming operation near Nevada, Iowa. He and his wife Emily, raise National Sheep Improvement Program (NSIP) registered Polypay breeding stock with the goal of raising superior genetic rams and ewe lambs. They also raise cattle, Guineas, and Pea fowl.

“We buy his NSIP rams to better our genetics here,” said Brent. “They are genetically selected, top-of-the-line rams. NSIP is all data-based, tracking maternal wean weights, number of lambs born, number of lambs weaned. NSIP pretty much took the beef industry model and adapted it for use with sheep. You can choose the best rams whether you want a more maternal line or a more terminal line.” Genetic predictability is achievable through NSIP’s Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs). The bottom line goal is produce a superior and more consistent product for customers, whether they are feeders, processors or consumers. In addition to the NSIP breeding stock, Brent also utilizes the Pipestone Lamb and Wool Management Program to finetune his approach. This education and consulting program is offered by Minnesota West Community & Technical College in Pipestone, Minn. Through short courses, tours, online courses and newsletters, the program helps sheep producers increase income and profit. The Pipestone system of sheep production revolves around lowest cost feed ingredients, efficient labor use, low input costs, high production levels, and intensive management. It’s based on achieving optimum production of a quality product. Maximum profit is more important than maximum production. “It’s funny how many sheep we can run on the yard versus cattle. In this area, a rough estimate on pasture you can figure on is 10 ewes for one cow-calf pair. If you look at it from a cost standpoint, if you get 20 lambs out of 10 ewes, and we get $200 a lamb, that’s $4,000 an acre – compared to the cow-calf guy who sells one calf an acre for $1,100,” he said. Brent also manages a pig finishing unit his brother Mark owns across the road from the sheep site. Brent owns a bedded

Vanessa and Brent Hoogendoorn with their sons, Jaxon, Garrett, Lincoln and Brentley.

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