The Dobbs family are focused on raising quality show lambs for the youth
LINCOLN, ARK. – Brian and Melinda Dobbs were married for twelve years before their daughter Brinley was born. She came into this world at a whopping one pound thirteen ounces. She spent the first year and a half of her life on oxygen. At the age of five Brinley started showing rabbits, and that was what led her down the path to becoming a sheep breeder, a title she holds with the rest of her family as they own Dobbs Show Lambs in Lincoln Arkansas.
When Brinley was seven years old her brother Brycen was born. Both Brinley and Brycen spend time in the showring. They have shown rabbits, lambs, goats, and cattle. The Dobbs family is an integral part of the sheep industry in Northwest Arkansas and would like to extend their footprint even further.
The first market lambs were bought from local breeders. The first ewe they bought for Brinley to show was named Cookie; she is the foundation of their breeding program, at nine years old she is retired and enjoying life as the matriarch of the flock. They currently have twenty-seven ewes that are Suffolk, Hampshire and Whiteface crossed. Most of the ewes are bred using artificial insemination (A.I.); they use two rams for cleanup.
“We’ve taken the slower route of building up our ewe base.” Melinda says, “I don’t know if it would have been wiser to have spent the money up front and bought a bunch of ewes or through a progression like we have.
“There are advantages and disadvantages to both. This is our family’s hobby, but we do want to be profitable, or at least break even.”
The Dobbs family is part of a large network of breeders through the Arkansas Sheep Council.
“Once the babies are born, we start looking at what we want to keep for ourselves and because our quality has improved, we look for others to sell them to because we sure can’t show them all.”
Brian states “Honestly, we want to get more kids showing so we can continue to do this.” Melinda adds “By breeding the way we do it allows us to have lambs in every price range and that allows the kids who may not have as big of a budget to still get a nice lamb. You must be able to meet everyone where they are at.”
Lincoln FFA, along with other sheep professionals, hosts an A.I. clinic at the high school each year. Lincoln FFA has been hosting this event for the past five years and they usually have between fifty and sixty lambs and goats.
“Anyone is welcome to attend.” Melinda continued, “They have semen tanks shipped so they can have them all in one place. This saves on shipping costs. They order medications and then divide them between the members. This way we have one location to set up and the Lincoln Ag kids help so much. It is an educational opportunity for them, and it helps us, the breeders, out because it is a lot of work.”
Brian adds “They show the animal through the scope when they do laparoscopic A.I. so the kids can see what is happening. The kids do everything; shearing, insemination ultrasound, or anything else that is needed. It shows the kids there are so many opportunities within agriculture. It would be hard for a kid to take their animals someplace further away to get them taken care of. We have a shortage of vets that cater to sheep.”
November and December is family time for the Dobbs, they get to wind down from the breeding and show seasons before lambing begins in January. In June/July they begin routine health checkups, checking eyelids for signs of worms, supplementing vitamins and minerals. They feed each animal approximately 3/4 pounds of high-quality feed. They have access to all the hay and pasture they want.
If a health condition is found, or they suspect worms, they remove those animals from the flock. They send fecal matter samples to the University of Arkansas-Division of Agriculture to be tested by specialists. While the animals are separated, they are fed more to get weight back on them.
“We don’t want to just throw something at them” Brian says “we check them and watch them. We don’t want them under any stress when they have a load on them.”
They start breeding late August for lambs in late January through late March.
They split the ewes up into three groups. The first group will lamb in January, second in February, the third group is covered by the ram only for March lambs. Sixteen days after A.I. the ewes are put back with the ram for cleanup.
“We did twelve ewes with A.I. this year and six were bred by the rams.”
The ewes are moved into the barn before lambing and watched closely until they give birth. The lambs have their tails docked around two to three days after birth and are given selenium, vitamin D and two separate rounds of CD-T to give them a jump start.
Brycen still has many years left to show but Brinley is looking to the future. She would like to continue to have a herd of her own. She is considering going to college to be an Ag teacher or a livestock judge.
“By the time she graduates we would like to have bred some Champs and Grands” Brian said “This year we had the Grand Champion commercial ewe shown by Wyatt Day. Third overall was Brycen’s ewe. Those were all out of our flock and we took pride in that. We know what it takes to get to the top tier. The Washington County Fair is the largest county fair in the state, and it is extremely competitive. Competition gets harder every year. I’ve told the kids to do the best you can do, with what we have, and I will always be proud of you.”
