Our family has been in the sheep business for approximately 25 years. Early on our flock consisted of 35+ commercial ewes of predominately Hampshire breeding. In 1997 we started purchasing purebred Hampshire (frame type) ewes for my son's 4-H project. We used the same purebred Hampshire rams on both our commercial flock and the show ewes.

We tried running the show ewes and commercial ewes together on grass pasture as one flock. By mid-summer the commercial ewes would be almost too fat for breading. On the other hand, the show ewes would have to be separated out and feed cracked corn for the balance of the summer just to get them in breeding condition. The show ewes also required extra hay and grain during gestation in order to keep them in good lambing condition.

At lambing time we also could see significant differences. The lambs from the commercial ewes had much more vigor at birth. They would quickly be on their feet and nursing from their mothers without aid. In contrast lambs from the show ewes would have problems getting up, be unstable on their long legs and some even had to be held up in order to receive the first drink from their mother. We quickly found out that raising show sheep was much more difficult than the traditional Hampshire commercial flock.

After about 5 years in 4-H my son lost interest in showing sheep and I was tired of all the extra care and attention that these show sheep required. At the same time I started culling all of the show ewes that required supplemental grain, produced problem lambs or any other negative trait. In 2002 we purchased purebred Hampshire ewes and 2 ram lambs from Jr. Houghton. The Houghton sheep are a smaller framed more traditional type of Hampshire with emphasis on ribeye area, low backfat and other carcass traits.

We had good results with the thick meaty Houghton rams paired with the best of our remaining purebred Hampshire show ewes. The offspring generally had a little larger frame and height than their fathers and definitely more thickness and meat than their mothers. We currently have about 30 brood ewes from these bloodlines.

In the summer of 2004 we purchased what I think is one of the best traditional type (large frame) Hampshire rams in the country. Hubbard Roselawn 1319 has done an excellent job for us. His second lamb crop is now lambing Jan. 2006 and they look as good if not better than the first. For those of you not familiar, Hubbard Roselawn Hampshires located in Oregon has been in the Hampshire sheep business for over 80 years. The sheep are a more traditional Hampshire with a large frame, wide straight top and loaded with meat.

After bring impressed by Hubbard 1319, I purchased 10 ewe lambs from Hubbard Roselawn Hampshires in the fall of 2004. They have all been bred to Hubbard 1319 for 2006 lambing.

In the fall of 2005 we made the decision to take our flock to the next level. Chauncey Hubbard allowed us the privilege and opportunity to privately purchase 33 aged bred brood ewes and 1 stud ram from the Hubbard Roselawn Hampshire's flock. The majority of these ewes were exposed to Hubbard Roselawn's outstanding stud rams "Charlie Atlas" and "Lucky Strike". These ewes are bred for Jan. and Feb. lambing.

Our flock has now grown to over 90 medium to large framed, thick, meaty Hampshire ewes and 4 very impressive stud rams. We will continue breeding the more traditional meat type of Hampshire that appeals to Hampshire purists, commercial sheep producers and the packer.

Thank you for visiting!

Steve Paul - owner