Bill Gray of Farmington, Ark., retired as the Razorback Associate Athletic Director and thought “the good life” was ahead of him.
He was living in Fayetteville, Ark., and looked at his wife Peggy one day and said, “I can’t do this anymore. I need to work even if it’s for no money and I need a hobby. I want to buy land and raise goats or sheep.”
Peggy laughed, “I thought maybe golf or tennis. Never in a million years would I have figured that was what he was going to say.”
The couple looked for a year while Bill devoured everything he could find about goats and sheep because he did not come from a farming background. One of the most useful pieces of advice he ever received was choosing the animal that fit his 10 acres of land. Sheep were the obvious choice because his land was almost all pasture and are much easier to care for than goats.
The next step was to decide the type of sheep he wanted to raise. He wanted to raise hair sheep because they don’t have to be sheared, produce meat and can also be sold as breeding stock. Then he discovered Katahdins, which have no lanolin and therefore milder meat, are bred to produce twins and produce enough milk to raise those twins.
Informing Peggy he was going to buy four or five for a starter herd, he came home with eight sheep, four of them pregnant. At one sale, he saw some Katahdins that were longer and heavier. He made a point of meeting the seller, Howard Brown from Prague, Okla., one of the top five breeders in the country.
Bill read about Howard in the “Katahdin Herald” and knew the breeder had an exceedingly good reputation. Realizing he was 70 and could not sell off his own reputation, Bill decided to buy Howard’s sheep exclusively so that he could say the roots of all his stock and meat come from the Brown farm.
Consequently, people knew the quality of his meat and breeding stock, and he usually sells out of his breeding stock quickly.
At this point, Bill has 28 purebred registered Katahdin breeding females and hopes to increase to 36 by next year topping out at 40 in the nearby future, which would mean 80 lambs. His sheep produce twins 95 percent of the time. Any female who gives birth to only one lamb is culled. The females are bred by two registered rams in October and May, with lambs born in January and May.
The Grays sell their USDA inspected meat at the Springdale Farmers Market and to individuals off the farm.
Needless to say, running an operation on 10 acres requires meticulous and systematic organization. The 10-acre farm contains 10, one-half to three-quarter acre pastures. Sheep are rotated once a week in prime growing season and then according to conditions so the grass is never below 2 inches tall. The system has numerous benefits: the minimal worming, full utilization of pastures rather than selective grazing, the elimination of chemical weed control and Bill having easy access to all areas of the farm through carefully designed fencing.
Bill over seeds his Bermuda and fescue pastures with winter rye, oats, Orchard grass and wheat to provide natural nutritional balance and fresh forage throughout the year. Bill uses a grain supplement made up of sheep mineral, corn and oats. Females receive the grain two weeks before breeding and one week before giving birth in order to ensure high-quality milk. The grain is withdrawn two weeks before weaning so the new mothers start to dry up. Bill buys a few bales of hay each year and feeds his rams, and new mothers the first day after giving birth to give them an easier recovery time.
The first day after birth, the mothers and their babies are put in individual, small pens inside the barn. This procedure allows Bill to limit what the new momma eats that first day. It also allows momma and babies to become acquainted while Bill ensures each is getting sufficient milk. Vaccinations are administered to the lambs when they are 8 weeks old and again at 12 weeks with the breeding stock receiving boosters once a year. The females receive their booster one month before lambing so they can hopefully pass on some of the immunity.
The Grays have embraced farming life. They continually raise a Jersey cow for meat. They used to raise pigs but found their facilities were insufficient to manage the pigs. The Grays also have a large garden and 20 laying hens with the eggs for themselves and neighbors. Their young granddaughter Kaya earns $2 a week for collecting eggs and saved up $30 to buy a My Little Pony Castle.
“Most of our meat and vegetables come from right here which is how we like it,” Peggy said.
“I never expected Peggy to get so involved because this simply isn’t her, but she loves bottle-feeding babies and will never let me sell them. She and I worked together and we love this place,” Bill said.
