We caught up with the breeder of the Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion Market Lamb at the 2023 Michigan Livestock Expo. We invite you to read our candid interview with Hild Brothers Show Stock below and please continue to check back often for our next edition of “Breeder Spotlight.”
What’s the pedigree of your champion?
The Grand “Tanner” was a Ride Time x Happy Days x 78 shown by Kate Stewart. He was actually the twin brother to our Dynamic Diva ewe that has won a fair bit in Iowa this summer shown by the Felton Family. We flushed the mother back the same way for full sibs for Mid Decembers, and will flush her again in late August.
The Reserve was a Chief x 78 x Brisby shown by Davis Hill. This is Davis’ second trip to the backdrop with an HB sheep! We feel very fortunate to work with these elite show families in the state of Michigan!
Ironically enough, both of these sheep sold on the our NYE Born Sale on SC. We’re breeding over 100 head to be born in the same time frame for next year!
What makes your operation run smoothly?
We have A LOT of good help, and that is no doubt what makes our operation run smooth.
Monica is a Rockstar- she runs all the books, manages our social media page, does all of our photography (shameless plug for 4 Back Photo), and some of our marketing materials. She also manages our semen lab for fresh shipments, and helps out in the barn when time allows.
Tanner is now back full time on the farm, splitting his time between row cropping with our dad, and sheepin. He’s an immense amount of help with every aspect of our operation.
Brycen Stark now runs some ewes with us and has been awesome addition to our team helping in all areas of the operation, and has been great helping families leading up to the big show day. He can really put the smoke on some furry legs!
Our parents Mark & Nancy are still involved as well, Mark still helps chore, can run a skid loader like nobody’s business, and is guilty of making farm visitors stay late into the eve. Nancy still has the magic touch of bringing weak lambs back to life during lambing season, and always seems to make that home cooked meal when we really need it.
We also get a wide variety of seasonal help- this year our summer intern is Billy McCoy. Billy’s been great help doing anything we ask him to- even tried his hand at welding this summer, but will not be entering any of his welding projects at the fair.
How many head do you run?
Approx 350 head that would include our Polypay recip flock. This is a floating number depending on the time of the year, and if our dad Mark is asking the question!
Do you have another job besides raising sheep? If so, what’s your occupation?
Yes, I work as a Strategic Account Manager for United Animal Health.
In your opinion, who has been the most influential ram across the industry?
Hard question, but I think DTM is a hard one to get around. He sired many champions in the ring, daughters that are still relevant today, and sons that carry on his legacy. It’s hard to find bucks that can do all 3 of those things.
What’s your favorite livestock show?
Being Iowa born and bred, it’s no doubt the Iowa State Fair
Do you prefer online sales or live sales?
I think both are a great way to market your livestock and we’ll continue to use both platforms, but I do think we’ll start to see more live sales pop up in the near future. I think it’s a great way for the breeders to meet customers in person, and customers to meet the breeders behind the operation. There’s nothing like face to face interaction.
We’re currently building a new live sale facility on our property to host live sales throughout the year. We’re optimistic to have it done for our “Breds, Brisket & Brews” Bred ewe sale on October 28th. We’ll also be holding our first annual spring sale “The Brand” there, on March 1 & 2. We’ll sell all of our ET males & select set of females on the 1st, and we invite our genetic clients to come sell on March 2. Lots more details to come here.
