We caught up with the breeder of the Grand Champion 4-H Market Lamb at the 2023 Nebraska State Fair. We invite you to read our candid interview with Burch Livestock below and please continue to check back often for our next edition of “Breeder Spotlight.”
What’s the pedigree of your champion?
Big City x Nathan donor (Legend x Rainman)
What makes your operation run smoothly?
Luckily many days it does go smoothly and that’s because of Micky. She lambs the majority of the ewes, nurtures any and all sad cases…”Buzz” the grand at our state fair was 3-4 lbs at birth and had fused ankles, he couldn’t stand and nurse…without Micky, he wouldn’t have made it. Micky also evaluates and packages all of our fresh chilled semen shipments and does 100% of the office work.
How many head do you run?
We own 43 ewes and 2 1/2 rams. The overwhelming majority of our barn is filled with leased recips. We source around 300 recips annually.
Do you have another job besides raising sheep? If so, what’s your occupation?
Strictly raise sheep.
In your opinion, who has been the most influential ram across the industry?
Unicorn and Say When for sure. If you go back even further bucks like Rainman and Mr June we’re very unique sheep too. We believe Big City will be influential as well.
What’s your favorite livestock show?
Aksarben
Do you prefer online sales or live sales?
Live sales. We sell our fall borns on a live farm sale we call Santa’s Favorites – Dec 16th and our January flush group sells April 5th on Heavy Hitters along with our Heavy Hitters Genetic Appreciation Sale April 6th.
