Statewide Sheep Tour

Hardin County – A statewide sheep production tour of Knox, Licking, and Crawford Counties has been planned for Ohio Sheep Producers the weekend of Saturday, October 15 and Sunday, October 16, 2022. This year’s tour is jointly sponsored by the Ohio Sheep Improvement Association and Hardin County OSU Extension. Join us for a drive your own, sheep production tour focusing on dry lot/confinement sheep operations. There will be four tour stops on this year’s statewide tour, with each farm stop only being offered at the time listed.

The first farm stop will be at Cable Family Lamb Feedlot (10491 Canal Road, Hebron, Ohio 43025). This Licking County stop will be at 10:00 am Saturday, October 15. The Dave Cable family is the host of this stop which includes a large contract lamb finishing feedlot in Ohio feeding several thousand lambs from all over the United States. This farm has more recently added a dry lot/confinement ewe flock to produce additional lambs for the Cable Farms feedlot. Primary facilities include hoop buildings. Lunch will be on your own at 11:30 am.

The second stop on the tour will be Lone Pine Ranch (25267 Blanchard Road, Howard, Ohio 43028). This Know County stop will be at 1:00 pm Saturday, October 15. Greg and Bev Miller are the host of this stop which is in the prime sheep producing area of Knox County. Historically known for their pasture-based sheep production systems, but for the purpose of this production tour, we will be concentrating our educational efforts on their buildings and facilities, where they lamb out their 160 commercial ewe flock and feed out their own lambs for market.

The third stop on the tour will be Skyline Farms (14501 Skyline Drive, Danville, Ohio 43014). This Knox County stop will be at 3:00 pm Saturday, October 15. The Don Hawk family will be the host of this stop, which is a large contract lamb finishing feedlot in Ohio feeding several thousand lambs from all over the United States. This operation has more recently added a dry lot/confinement ewe flock to produce additional lambs for the Skyline Farms feedlot. The primary facilities include renovated turkey barns. There will be a scheduled overnight stay in the Mt. Vernon area. If you need hotel accommodations, contact Hardin County OSU Extension Educator Mark Badertscher at badertscher.4@osu.edu or 419-767-6037 for details. Dinner will be on your own.

The second day of the tour will feature a stop at Hartschuh Livestock (6348 Parks Road, Sycamore, Ohio 44882). This Crawford County stop will be at 10:30 am Sunday, October 16. The Greg Hartschuh family will be the host of this stop, which has recently added a dry lot/confinement commercial and Club Lamb operation in combination with their confinement dairy herd. The recently built confinement/lot building has new and innovative methods of feeding the ewe flock and concentrate many resources to high quality forages due to the dairy cattle part of the operation.

Producers and others who are interested in participating on this statewide sheep tour should register at https://www.ohiosheep.org/osia-programs.html#tour to let the tour hosts know how many people to expect at each stop. Hotel reservations need to be made in advance to assure room availability. Tour participants will be responsible for their own hotel room and meals. As in the past, we have rented a van for Hardin and Hancock County area producers to travel together. If there is enough interest from our area, we will meet for breakfast and travel together in the van. Let me know how many from your family plan to attend so we can make local arrangements.

Leaf Rubbings, Scarecrows & Scavenger Hunts

Children’s Program at Friendship Gardens

Hardin County – The Hardin County OSU Extension Master Gardener Volunteers are hosting a children’s program at the Friendship Gardens called “Leaf Rubbings, Scarecrows & Scavenger Hunts” on Saturday morning, September 24. This event is from 10:00 am until noon and will provide several activities for kids of all ages. Each child will be able to leave with a leaf rubbing and scarecrow that they made themselves with the help of the Master Gardener Volunteers. There are also garden scavenger hunts planned for the kids. The event will take place at the Friendship Gardens of Hardin County, which is located at 960 W. Kohler Street in Kenton.

Each child is asked to bring either an old button-down kid’s shirt, hat or maybe even both, to dress their scarecrow. Children of all ages are welcome with a responsible adult.  The adult must remain with their children for the entire event. Wear old clothes as making scarecrows involves participants painting faces on their project. The event is free and open to the public with no registration necessary. Come enjoy fall activities in the garden! Questions about this event can be directed to the Hardin County OSU Extension Master Gardeners Facebook page or by calling the OSU Extension office at 419-674-2297.

Carcass Show of Champions

Hardin County – Have you ever wondered how well the grand and reserve champion fair animals will grade out on the rail?  The OSU Extension office is announcing that the 2022 Hardin County Fair Carcass Show of Champions will be held in-person at Jenkins Meats, 670 E. Marion Street, Mt. Victory on Monday, September 19 starting at 6:00 pm. Viewers will be also be able to watch the OSU Meat Judge giving oral reasons and results at both the Hardin County OSU Extension and Ohio State – Hardin County 4-H Facebook pages in addition to the hardin.osu.edu website after the event. The carcass show will evaluate the meat value of the grand champion and reserve champion steers, barrows, gilts, and lambs from this year’s Hardin County Fair.

Carcass value will be determined by evaluating the dressing percentage, yield grade (external fat thickness, ribeye area (in2), internal fat, and hot carcass weight), as well as quality grade (marbling score and skeletal maturity). Carcass information is very important to breeding livestock operations for making genetic improvements in their seed stock animals; and serves as an effective marketing tool for producers who sell their livestock for meat. The Hardin County Fair Carcass Show of Champions is sponsored by Ohio State University Extension, Jenkins Meats, the Hardin County Fair Board, the Hardin County Sheep Improvement Association, the Hardin County Cattle Producers, and the Hardin County Pork Producers.