CHEROKEE

1956, residing on their Tilden Township farm where they raised their five children: Becky, Kevin, Bobbi, Roxanne, and 12 years later, Kyle.

“We wanted our children to show livestock, so we started with calves,” said Darlene Schmillen.

“We started with the older kids, Becky, and Kevin. When Ron saw them fly through the yard with a 1,000-pound calf, he said, ‘That’s enough of that,’ so we decided to show something different.”

This is where sheep, Ron’s favorite livestock, come back into play.

“Ron was a 4-H leader, and we wanted to have our children involved,” she said. “All of our children showed lambs through their 4-H days and saw success on a local and regional level. When Kyle was little, he said he was going to win more trophies than the other four kids combined. I said, ‘Oh, that’s not going to happen,’ but it did.”

“Yes, it did,” said Kyle Schmillen, “but — to be fair — I showed at more shows than they did.”

Kyle’s affinity for showing lambs has become a Century Farm business, right down to using the barn that has stood on the property since William and Alvina purchased it in 1909.

“We have raised and sold showlambs all throughout the United States,” said Kyle Schmillen. “Dad started out raising Purebred Suffolks; when I was in high school, we started converting over to more of a Hampshire-based club lamb type, so we could compete in the market side of the show ring.”

Since Kyle Schmillen has a full-time job at Cherokee State Bank, his wife Jill does most of the lambing during the day, and the family uses the barn as the facility where it happens. The Schmillens stock 100 ewes, which is manageable for Jill, and for December lambing in the heated barn.

“With laparoscopic artificial insemination (AI), we get a 60 to 70% conception rate, which is very good for sheep,” said Kyle Schmillen. “It allows us to have 60 ewes come in within a week. If we average 1.5 lambs per ewe, we’re looking at 90 babies on the ground which are all uniform in size. We have sold lambs in almost every state from coast to coast.”

The Schmillen’s customers are 4-H and FFA kids who participate in shows at their local county fairs, state fairs, and national shows.

Kyle and Jill have raised and sold state champions in Iowa, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Kansas and Texas, just to name a few. So far, they are also the only breeder to raise the Grand Champion Market Lamb at the Iowa State Fair in both the 4-H and FFA shows in the same year.

“When Sam began his success in showing lambs,” said Kyle, “customers were nervous about how many we’d keep back for him to show. We decided prior to Sam starting 4-H that everything we raise, we will offer for sale, so we make it a practice to offer all the males we raise to the public.”

At least half of Darlene’s grandchildren have also shown lambs, continuing the family tradition, and Kyle and Jill’s son Sam, 16, is one of them. He has exhibited the Grand Champion Market Lamb at the Iowa State Fair in 2018, 2020, 2021, and 2022. In 2021 he made history being the first 4-H exhibitor to win both Grand and Reserve at the Iowa State Fair in any species, a feat that had never been accomplished until then. Sam Schmillen has also had success on the national level, winning Arizona Nationals in Phoenix and being Reserve Champion at the NAILE show in Louisville, Kentucky.

This year their daughter, Brittney, will enter the show ring at the State Fair for the first time and next year their son Archer will as well.

“The neatest thing about this is how involved the whole family has stayed,” said Kyle Schmillen. “Once I was done showing lambs, my nieces and nephews were old enough to compete; now that they have aged out, they are all watching my kids in the show ring. It’s fun to have everyone come down to the Iowa State Fair to cheer us on. It usually winds up with everyone reminiscing about old times spent in the sheep barn.”

“Our grandkids are doing better at this than what we were when we first started,” said Darlene Schmillen. “It’s exciting. That’s when we have lots