Sheep Industry News July 2025

“We just take it one day at a time, and hope we can pay the bills,” he said. “I’m at the lamb buyer’s mercy, but I guess this is all I know how to do. I’d like my kids and grandkids to have the same opportunities I had. I don’t have a lot of fancy, frilly stuff, but I’ve got a house and a good family, and that’s all I need.” While Clark doesn’t see his sheep much once they head to the mountain in the summer, he’s as hands-on as any large-scale sheep producer during the lambing season. His home is just five miles from the lambing barn he built nearly five years ago, but he moves into a sheep wagon parked next to the barn for the entirety of the lambing season. “I start at 4 o’clock in the morning and if I’m done by midnight then I’m doing good,” he said. “But I just love lambing. During that time, I can see nearly every sheep I own from this place, and I really like seeing the sheep every day. Once they go to the mountain, I don’t see them much until they come home in the fall. I’ve got some great help that takes care of things up on the mountain.” The lambing barn came about due to an early inheri tance from Mike and Nancy’s parents. “My mother said, ‘If you want it now and can spend it wisely, then you can have it now. But if you’re just going to blow it, then you have to wait until I die,’” Clark recalled. “So, we had the building built and brought her out here to show her the building. I said, this is what your money did for us, and she said, ‘I thought you were going to spend that money wisely and not for a damn lambing shed.’” Clark’s dad and uncle passed the operation onto

their children, but Clark’s cousins weren’t interested in running a sheep outfit. Lawsuits followed in sorting out the business and Clark said the judge told him he “had an addiction worse than heroine.” “But I’ve been here a long time and these sheep have been here a long time and I don’t want to see that go out the window,” he said. The commercial flock is an eclectic mix that is typical for Western range operations. The flock is Rambouillet-based, with Merinos and Targhee among the group, as well. Suffolks serve as terminal sires, but there’s a bit of Hampshire breeding in some of the rams, as well. He looks for ewes who can regularly raise twins and triplets and estimates his lambing percent age to be in the 175- to 180-percent range. Most of his lambs end up at Harper Feeders in Colorado. “My family has done pretty well for themselves in the sheep business, and if it works, why change it,” he asked? “It’s hard to change things sometimes. But I know we need to change some things. People don’t know where their food comes from anymore. They go to Albertsons or Costco and that’s where food comes from. They have no idea what it takes to get it there.” SCOTT STUBBS Based in Parowan, Utah – just north of Cedar City – rancher Scott Stubbs was surprised to learn he’d been selected as grand marshal of the Cedar Livestock Fes tival in 2024. That’s an honor reserved for “old guys,” and in his mind at least, he’s a long way from reaching that qualification. The gray hair on his head, however, tells a different story.

July 2025 • Sheep Industry News • 13