During lambing season on Old Lexington Farms, Tom and Sharon Nowlin walk the fields every night looking for newborn lambs. The ewe’s udder fills with colostrum shortly before labor begins. A colostrum meal provides not only energy, but antibodies vital for the young lamb’s health. Immediately after the ewe gives birth, Tom milks from the mother ewe 6 ounces of colostrum per newborn lamb of singles, twins or triplets, making sure each gets the necessary colostrum within the first hour. Tom stays until each lamb is able to stand and adequately move about, then administers essential vaccinations and iodine to navels.
The Nowlin’s farm is located 12 miles from Clinton, Ark., where they breed and raise high-quality sheep, Suffolk and Suffolk/Hampshire cross. Currently they have 22 head they run on 25 acres of pastureland. Their purebred Suffolk are all registered with the United Suffolk Sheep Association. When possible, their three children return home at critical times to help build fence, repair shelters and assist Tom as he shears sheep or trims hooves.
“Aaron is our youngest son and was fully involved in showing sheep,” Tom said. “He’s away at college, now in his second year at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.”
Daughter Kristen Hale lives in Maumelle, Ark., with her husband Blake and children Emma and Nathan. Their son Justin, wife Hannah and daughter Rosemary live in Little Rock where he is a medical student at the University of Arkansas Medical School.
Suffolk lambs grow faster than other breeds, yielding high cutability carcasses of the type demanded by today’s health conscious consumers. They have medium wool fiber that’s soft, with a lot of spring to it. Sharon makes pet beds with the wool.
“I use wool from our sheep as stuffing for the pet beds.”
Their ram, named The Admiral, because of the strong Navy tradition of service in the family, is a double R, double A, and double N genetically tested Suffolk.
“Suffolk sheep have superior meat conformation, with superb muscling and an over-all good physical makeup,” Tom said. “The mothers are good milkers with an excellent mothering ability. They make high-quality show lambs, and ours have placed well in county, district and state show arenas.”
Tom is serving his third year as Northern Director for the Arkansas State Sheep Council. The Nowlins are also members of the American Sheep Industry and the United Suffolk Association. With his background of growing up in a farming family, Tom stays close to his roots. Years ago his grandparents lived in Brinkley, Ark., making their living as sharecroppers raising cotton. In the mid 1970s his dad Richard Nowlin owned an 80-acre farm in southern Missouri and raised cattle and hogs; later he moved back to Arkansas.
Tom and Sharon are in the process of clearing more land for pasture. “We’ve taken a conservative approach,” he said. “We don’t want to incur a lot of debt. It’s pretty much a pay-as-we-go operation. We’re also still cleaning up after last winter’s ice storm.”
Their sheep graze on orchard/fescue grass and lespedeza, with a supplement of alfalfa, grain and minerals. The animals are hormone and antibiotic free. They have a very selective breeding program to make sure all the ewes are covered, and they schedule the lambing season so they are born in February and March. Club lambs are usually available for sale by the end of May. To keep predators away, they have an Anatolian Shepherd Dog named Champ.
“He’s not a herder,” Sharon said. “He’s a guardian dog.”
Most of Tom’s sales have been by private treaty, but he’s branching out, using his website for potential buyers. They hope to build a wider market by selling wool to crafters. “We aim to bring to the state of Arkansas the best genetics in the sheep industry from across the United States,” he said. “The Arkansas State Suffolk Sheep Council works toward improving the genetics of Arkansas sheep breeds, providing top quality club lambs to Arkansas youth for show, as well as offering superior breeding stock for meat and wool production.”
