Tag Archives: sheep

East Georgia Sheep Operation Thriving

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Crawfordville, GA |

What started off as just a way to make extra money while in college, has turned into a passion for Tucker and Emily West, a young farming couple that got married in 2020 and decided to turn their dream into a reality with Liberty Farms Livestock – a sheep operation just outside of Augusta that’s dedicated to providing great, quality lamb to their customers.

“We actually run a Katahdin ewe base, which are one of the most hardy types of sheep, and they’re real popular here in the Southeast. They’re resilient, they’re tough in environment, they’re great mommas, got great maternal instincts, adaptability is fantastic on them. So, we really try to keep a focus on that katahdin ewe base and then we breed with a white dorper. That way we get that carcass quality and that yield back out of the lambs. The dorper breed is known for their meatiness, their rail weights, and their yield percentages coming off carcass. So, we’ve been able to kind of narrow that down to where we want it to be,” says Tucker West, Owner of Liberty Farms Livestock.

In the last couple of years, business has exploded for them, as they’ve managed to tap into farmers markets, grocery stores, and even restaurants, which according to West, has been nothing short of a blessing as their demand continues to exceed their expectations.

“That’s kind of caught us by surprise. We thought we would deal with more ethnic groups in those kind of markets, but we’ve actually haven’t been able to tap into those just because we’re having trouble meeting the demand of the regular markets, but we sell a lot to independently owned grocery stores and markets. We sell a lot to that and we have a farmers market over on lake Oconee that we visit from May through December and we’re able to sell a lot straight to consumers that way. We’ve also built a great relationship with some restaurants in the state and we’ve been able to work with Cam Floyd a good bit. Just being able to build those relationships has been the biggest key to getting our product out there,” says West

As for the future, West says they want to continue to see their operation grow, one that is sustainable for them and the family they’re currently expanding, all while also still striving for that great quality product that speaks for itself.

“The most important thing for us now that we’re expecting our first child in July is making this operation generational. How can we continue to grow and make it profitable off the land that we have to where my kids can come back and still do what we do here, whether it’s sheep, cows, the chicken houses, whatever the case may be; having an operation where they can come back and still continue this generational farm, that’s probably the most important. Second is quality; at the end of the day, business is great and volume is great, but I want to make sure that we’re putting out the best quality product that we possibly can and that chefs, individuals, customers at restaurants, or people at the farmer’s market or at the retail locations, when they buy our product, that is the best piece of lamb meat they’ve ever had,” says West.

By: John Holcomb

Georgia Sheep Dog Heroically Saves Flock From a Dozen Coyotes

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Decatur, GA

In the days leading up to November 4th, something wasn’t right. I guess you could say it was the calm before the storm. Except, there was nothing calm about them. No, in fact, they were very active.

“The week that this happened, that Monday, a neighbor said he had seen thirteen at one time, which is a lot of coyotes. You know, like two and three is a normal thing. One and two is, is normal. Seeing thirteen coyotes at one time, that was worrisome,” says John Wierwille, a Decatur Shepherd.

Worrisome indeed. Especially for John, owner of “Ewe Can Do It Naturally”. A Decatur based landscaping company whose workforce includes some ninety sheep. On the night of the attack, only six were on the property. According to Wierwille, Casper, as well as another dog were relative newcomers. He had recently acquired the dogs as a test run to see if they could live up to the task of guarding his sheep. Well, Casper quickly proved his value.

“He just charged him and I mean, it was, I think, maybe ten seconds. He had the first three dead,” says Wierville.

Courageous as it was, Casper’s efforts came with a heavy price. When the thirty-minute battle was over, most of the coyotes were dead, and Casper was nowhere to be found. Two days later, and badly wounded, he found his way home. The moment John laid eyes on him; he feared the worst.

“I thought we were gonna have to put him down,” says Wierville. “I didn’t think he’d make it another couple hours. He was terrible. It was, everything badly infected and he just had these huge wounds. I mean, just one of them on his side was like this. And the one on his neck was like that. And I thought one ear was torn off, but it was just matted back with blood. And you know, all the hair was gone and his tail was, you know, missing about half his tail and he wouldn’t even let us get close to his tail. And so the first thing was clean him up enough to be able to assess, you know, do we take him to a vet or not?”

Ultimately, the decision was made to take Casper to a vet. Multiple surgeries would follow, but his long road to recovery was just beginning. So were the medical bills. That’s when John turned to an old friend and an organization created for situations just like Casper’s.

“I think fifteen, sixteen days or so he was at the Emergency Vets. That’s a lot of money. And then he went to Lifeline, and you know, it’s a spay neuter clinic, right? But Dr. Susan Brosman, she and the team over there were just wonder workers,” says Wierville.

As an added bonus, not only did Lifeline Animal Project assist with Casper’s Road to Recovery, the group also launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover his medical bills. In total, they raised fifteen thousand dollars, more than the original goal. That extra money will now help save the life of another animal in the future.

“We thought we were gonna have to do skin grafts, all that, none of that. And he’s, you know, he moves around well and still loves to get dirty and loves to get cleaned; just loves to lay there and watch things and pay attention to everything going on. He’s doing well,” says Wierville.

According to Wierville, this tale just proves just how resilient and defensive the breed is when it comes to their flocks.

“They’re determined to stay with their animals,” says Wierville. “We couldn’t do our jobs without them, because I can’t be out with my sheep twenty-four hours a day, but the dogs are, and the dogs make a lot of the decisions if we try to coexist with coyotes, but you come across the fence and that’s where coexistence ends, especially for the coyotes, right? The dogs decide that’s it. They take care of those threats and it’s not just coyotes. They chase hawks off, they chase owls off. They chase people off. They’re just an incredibly important part of our business.”

By: Ray D’Alessio

Northwest Georgia Sheep Farm Making Sheep’s Milk Cheeses

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LaFayette, GA

In Northwest Georgia, these ewes are getting to enjoy some R and R before starting their next production cycle – a time in which they produce milk that will be made into artisan sheep’s milk cheeses. This of course, not a common practice here in the US, but is something Brent Smith and Hannah Walker set out to do four years ago and now have what they believe is the only sheep dairy in the state.

“We bought this farm in 2019 and there was nothing out here,” says Brent Smith, Co-Owner of Rosemary and Thyme Creamery. “There was no driveway, no covert, and no fences. There were pastures but the weeds were up about head high, so since 2019, we’ve been developing everything that’s out here. Um, and the first thing we built was the milking parlor and the creamery.”

After getting the farm up and running, they started working to build up their flock – one that produces the best quality milk and will do well here in Georgia.

“We have east Friesians and Saint Croix. East Friesians are the typical dairy breed. They have high quantity milk, so that usually gives them a little less butter fat, so adding the Saint Croix, not only are the Saint Croix parasite resistant, they also have more butter fat in their milk, so it helps make really great cheese and we want to get the Saint Croix parasite resistance into the flock down in Georgia just because there’s a lot of parasites down here in sheep,” says Hannah Walker, Co-Owner of Rosemary and Thyme.

As you can see however, their hard work has paid off. They’ve managed to build up a great flock and have perfected the cheese making process and now make several different types of delicious sheep’s milk cheeses that take the farmer’s markets in the area by storm – something they take great pride in as sheep’s milk cheese has quite the reputation around the world.

“Some of the best cheeses in the world are sheep’s milk cheeses,” says Smith.  “Pecorino Murano out of Italy, Manchego out of Spain, Roquefort out of France – those are all award winning cheeses that are made out of sheep’s milk, and anywhere you travel throughout the rest of the world, people make cheese out of sheep’s milk, goat’s milk, and cow’s milk, and they probably have more cheeses made out of sheep and goat’s milk than they do cow’s milk, but in the United States, the cow dairy is the king of the dairies, and most of our cheeses are made out of cow’s milk cheeses.”

Unfortunately, though, Smith says that presents quite the challenge for them, as many don’t know about or have never had sheep’s milk cheese.

“People don’t know about sheep’s milk cheese, and some are not only hesitant, they don’t want to try, because they think they think it’s too different. So, they’re very hesitant to even try it.  If we can get them to try it, over 90 percent of them really like it. So, it’s just the fact that we’re into a territory where people don’t really know about our product very much, and because of that we sample it and we try to educate,” says Smith.

By: John Holcomb