Pin Oak Club Lambs Farm is a 115-acre farm in Faulkner County, near Greenbrier, Ark., and a work in progress. Mike and Karon Reynolds met a few years ago and both had teen daughters, and a love for raising lambs. They started dating four years ago and married three years ago. It was both their daughters’ involvement in showing lambs that attracted them to raising and selling show lambs. They started their farm three years ago and it has grown by leaps and bounds.
The farm is an old home place, maybe 100 years old, that was all grown up so there has been a lot of work involved and ongoing. Mike and Karon built their home, cleared the land for pastures, built a barn and added fenced areas for groupings of lambs and ewes, and for their rams. There are additional plans for a new barn and more fenced in areas and pasture. Two ponds have been added to accommodate the water needs for the pastures.
Mike grew up on a full-time dairy farm, and though he wanted to raise farm animals he didn’t want to go back into the dairy business. After cattle, horses and other farm animals he found raising sheep, show lambs in particular, was what he really enjoyed. Karon grew up with working parents, who also raised beef cattle, and finds that she too likes the sheep and especially the show lambs.
The Reynolds started with a small group of ewes and a ram and today there are 67 ewes, 4 rams, 31 lambs, and more babies to arrive this spring. Approximately 100 lambs are born each year. Most of which will be sold as show lambs. The Club Lambs have done very well as show ring animals; in fact very few haven’t been show animals. Karon said, “We like raising the lambs, and we especially like seeing them win.” It is their desire to have good show lambs for 4-H and FFA kids, and keep them affordable. They have been sold in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
The sheep are constantly being shuffled around. The babies seem to do better if they are born outside. Mike puts hay out in the pens where the lambs are to be born and the ewes makes a bed there. The lambs and ewes are taken to the barn shortly after the birth, in order for them to bond with their mothers and to keep the other ewes from trying to adopt the babies. After 72 hours their tails are banded and then they are put in a larger pen. At 90 days the lambs will be picked out for showing and sold, the circuit starts around the first of May.
Mike serves as president of the Arkansas Lamb Show Council and Karon keeps the points for kids. At the end of the season the points are added up and kids can win prizes. One of the lambs from the last season was one of the show lambs they sold and both Mike and Karon are very proud of that. They go to all of the shows and support the kids they sell the lambs to. They had a 2011 Arkansas Bred Lamb Show Reserve Champion, and the 2012 Arkansas State Fair Reserve Grand Champion Ram. At the county level one of the sheep they sold won the 3rd Overall Best at Faulkner County and won in White and Pope Counties. Last year 21 of the lambs sold went to the Arkansas State Fair.
Morgan Scroggin is the daughter of Karon, and loves showing her lambs at the county fair, state fair and at national lamb shows. She is a senior in high school and will be attending college at North East Oklahoma, where she will also have the opportunity to do some judging.
In addition to selling the show lambs, the Reynolds sell sheep guard dogs. Since they already had Old English sheep dogs and Anatolian/Great Pyrenees cross. They also have a border collie they are training. Two Boston Terriers are their pets and part of the family, along with a beautiful red hound dog they found. The Old English sheep dogs and the Anatolian/Great Pyrenees are strictly large guard dogs. They are not treated as a family pet and ironically, assume their job without training by any person. They are trained by their mother and their entire life focus is the sheep. There currently are six puppies which will be sold for the purpose of guarding sheep herds. Amazingly they don’t get far from the sheep they are guarding. The have been sold to farmers in surrounding states and as far north as Iowa.
The future looks bright for Mike and Karon, they hope to continue to grow their business and increase their herd to around 100 sheep. In addition, they want to make continued improvements.
