The 2013 Show season is about to begin! We're getting ready for one of our favorite shows in the Midwest......the Midwest Preview Show! We went for the first time last year, and met so many great people and were so impressed by the flexible and acommodating way that Kate Lambert, Show Coordinator, and her team of youth Breed Directors,  runs the event. It really is all about the kids and learning. You can find more details about this great event here:

www.midwestjuniorpreviewshow.com

But recently, I'm beginning to wonder. What's up with all of the "placed by", "fed by", "fitted by", "shown by" I'm hearing lately....what happened to a youth evaluating a group of animals (either their own or going to another breeder's place or a sale), picking one they think is the best, and doing the work themselves to get it ready to show??? Got to wonder what we are teaching kids showing livestock these days! Sorry, this is probably an old-fashioned, unpopular opinion but I really wonder how this is going to develop future generations to be good livestock people.

As for us.....we'll continue to do the work ourselves and encourage the youth working with us to do the same.

Best of luck to all Southdown exhibitors this season! Especially to these kids from Wisconsin, who do all of the work themselves! Great job guys! Keep up the good work....

 Haley Yunker, St. Croix, WI

 Casey Lobdell, Darlington, WI 

 Clifton McClintock, Bangor, WI 

 Kelly Vierck, Juneau, WI 

Kailen Smerchek, Rosholt, WI

Lamb Swedish Meatballs

One of our favorite lambs recipes that is super easy, so delicious and easy to prepare!

Lamb Swedish Meatballs

2 slices white bread
1/4 c milk
3T butter
1/2 c onion chopped
1 t salt
1 1/2 lbs ground fresh lamb
2 egg yolks
1/2 t black pepper ground
1/4t allspice
fresh ground 1/4t nutmeg
1/4c all purpose flour
3 c lamb or beef stock
1/4 c heavy whipping cream

Preheat oven to 250F. Tear up bread by hand into small pieces and place in small bowl. Add in milk and set aside for 10 minutes. Meanwhile in a large skillet saute onion in butter with a pinch of salt but do not brown. Remove from heat and cool. In a standing mixer with paddle attachment mix together lamb, egg yolks, spices, and cooled onion mixture on medium for 5 minutes.

Shape meat into 1 oz balls. Brown meatballs in small skillet that you cooked onion in. Remove meatballs to baking tray and place in oven retaining juices that came out of browning meatballs. Add in flour to skillet and turn heat to low. When thick, add in stock and whisk until gravy consistency is achieved. whisk in cream. Remove meatballs from oven cover with gravy and either serve immediately or keep warm in crockpot.

Preparing for Lambing

Our focus this time of year is on preparing the bred ewes, our facilities and supplies, etc. for lambing which will start shortly at Circle J. We lamb twice a year, fall (October) and winter (January through March).  The winter lambing ewes are scheduled to start lambing shortly after the 1st of January. Every shepherd has different "protocols" they follow. Here's what works best for us:

Bred ewes about 45-60 days before lambing.

Our Ewes

• Receive a vaccination of CDT,  2-5 weeks before lambing. We feel this is so important that it is the one thing we never miss! The ewe will then transmit these antibodies to the lamb before it is born, so you don't have to vaccinate baby lambs until they are about 3 weeks old. 
• We are watching "condition scoring" very carefully this time of year! Meaning, we want our ewes to go into lambing with the appropriate amount of "cover" or fat; they should have enough to be able to handle growing a lamb, then lactation but not too much so they have difficult deliveries or are unhealthy. 

Facilities

Homemade lambing "jugs"

• We're setting up lambing "jugs". We made our own 6X4 jugs of plywood and 1x1s and painted them white. I've thought several times about buying a fancy lambing "system" from one of the great sheep equipment producers, but in our climate where it can be below zero when we lamb, we've found the solid wood sides of our jugs keep in the heat better from the ewe and the heat lamp above the jug.
• Our lambing camera has changed our lives! We purchased one about 7 years ago online for $125. It is mounted over the "drop pen" and transmits the live video and sound from the pen to a small TV in our kitchen. 

Resources

• We review the lambing calendar with everyone in the family who will be helping; so people can plan ahead! We live to have 100% "coverage" during lambing, meaning someone is always here. That isn't always possible, but we try! Because our flock is small, we do everything possible to prevent any losses or accidents from happening.
• We assemble a lambing kit - both a small hand held kit that goes out to the barn with us when a ewe is lambing, and a larger rubber maid tub with misc. supplies in it that may be needed. 
• I take inventory of the drug cabinet and make sure we have the drugs on hand that might be needed during lambing.