Dan and Ryan dig deep into the importance of paying attention to wool.  Sheep are a dual purpose animal, providing both fiber and meat for our society.  Unfortunatly, our US industry has focused on meat and often neglecting the value of the wool.  This episode provides a few simple tips to improve your clip and how to begin to realize the value of your wool by first understanding it. 

Dr Busch and Ryan talk about what happens at Emigh Livestock prior to ram turnout.  This is really exciting stuff.  

Rams are true athletes. To make sure they have a successful season, shepherds and shepherdesses put their rams to the test with tryouts and spring training. This week, Dan and Dr. Busch talk about preparing rams for the big season, the breeding season that is.

Dan and Ryan tackle mentorship in the sheep industry.  Mentors play a huge roll in passing industry knowledge to new generations of shepherds & shepherdesses.  We hope you enjoy this reflection on the people who influenced our ranches and how they left an impression, often without even knowing they did.  

Today Dan and Ryan talk about the time in between lambing and weaning.  Though often overlooked, the time between having the lambs born and getting them weaning is critical to a successful ranch or farm.  Proper attention to nutrition, parasite control, and understanding when to wean, all either add value or costs your sheep ranch money.  We hope you enjoy and this conversation inspires discussions about how to improve your ranch.

Dr Busch joins Ryan and Dan again to talk about some different diseases and try to begin to understand what ranch biosecurity means.  This year's American Sheep Industry's annual meeting included a talk about the foot and mouth epidemic that hit the UK in the early 2000s and what happened to ranchers as a result.   This presentation really opened our eyes to the reality of the real possibilities of a pandemic hitting the sheep industry and why its important to understand our risks and what the plans that are in place will do to our ranches if something like foot and mouth hit the US.  Beware, this episode is full of tangents.  Enjoy!

Dan give some insight on how to take that question you are having about your ranch and turning it into a research project, complete with grant funding and university help.  We also discuss how to conduct farm research without breaking the bank.  

Dan attempts to ask a handful of questions from listeners and Ryan successfully runs down tangents and ends up talking about sheep things completely unrelated to the original question!

Ryan quizzes Dan about the challenge of navigating the USDA regs around custom processing and selling the wonderful lamb you grow to you neighbors.  We touch on the background as to why the regulations are in place and hope that some regulators are listening to our podcast, especially when we discuss some of the exemptions other proteins have.  We hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed recording!

Dan quizzes Ryan about his lamb weaning practices and challenges him to explain why he does what he does.  When deciding best practices for your sheep ranch, it is always important to know all the assets you have and use your pastures and feed the best way possible.  Throw a drought into the mix and a successful rancher needs to get creative.  We hope you enjoy this episode and as always, leave a review and message Dan (@flyingmule) or Ryan (@californiasheeprancher) any topic ideas, questions or concerns