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To keep their sheep healthy, Teresa
Maurer and Jim Morgan monitor pasture growth and minimize animal stress
by keeping stocking densities low.
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Jim
Morgan and Teresa Maurer
Fayetteville, Arkansas
New in 2005
Summary of Operation
120 Katahdin Hair sheep on 25 acres
Buying and marketing lamb from a small producer pool
Problem Addressed
Establishing an ecologically and economically
sound operation. Jim Morgan and Teresa Maurer developed their
farm gradually, employing direct marketing, rotational grazing,
grass finishing and improving animal quality through breeding to
better negotiate shifts in marketing opportunities and the weather.
Background
Growing up on a Kansas wheat, sorghum and cattle farm, Jim Morgan
would not have suspected that he’d become a full-time farmer,
let alone one who raises sheep. Despite working for more than two
decades as a university instructor and researcher, however, Morgan
did not lose interest in agriculture.
In 1985, Morgan and his wife, Teresa Maurer, got “hooked”
after hearing a lecture given by Wes Jackson on ecological agriculture,
a concept that married Morgan’s interest in farming and the
environment. The couple moved to and purchased 25 acres near Fayetteville
a few years later. Maurer, who had worked on a demonstration farm
at the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture in Oklahoma and for
Heifer Project International, was interested in raising small animals.
Maurer offered to let neighbors graze sheep on their property,
and volunteered to buy the herd a few years later. “Jim said,
‘This is your deal — my brothers won’t let me
come home if they knew I had sheep,’” Maurer recalls.
But by 2000, Morgan decided to make sheep farming his full-time
occupation.
Manager of the Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas
(ATTRA) program, a national sustainable agriculture information
clearinghouse, Maurer drew on ATTRA resources about rotational grazing,
animal behavior, and animal and plant physiology in her farm planning.
Maurer and Morgan say that their combination of on and off-farm
work is a key element enabling them to achieve their goals.
Focal Point of Operation—Raising
and marketing lamb and Katahdin sheep
Morgan and Maurer focus on marketing their meat locally, and on
breeding and selling registered Katahdin sheep.
Low wool prices since the early 1990s and the difficulty in producing
good quality wool in the southeastern United States encouraged Morgan
and Maurer to raise hair sheep instead. They like that Katahdins
are self-sufficient and perform well in a humid climate. They twin
well on grass, have their lambs right on pasture, and are good maternal
animals, helping their young to nurse. Moreover, Katahdins don’t
require shearing, since their winter coats shed when temperatures
warm.
In 1997, Morgan began breeding to improve the consistency of his
animals’ growth and boost meat production. In 2003, he sold
34 ewes as registered breeding stock, providing buyers with detailed
information about genetics.
Selling registered animals as well as meat diversifies their income,
“which is critical as small farmers involved in the business
of direct marketing,” Morgan says.
Maurer and Morgan buy lambs from four other farmers for re-sale.
They pay consistent and highly competitive prices of $1 per pound
live weight to the farmers and boost their sales supply—to
about 150 animals in 2003. The different growth rates and finishing
times for lambs on the four other farms helps stagger meat processing.
“There’s more money to be made when people help each
other,” Morgan says. Pooling meat helps support several family
farms while addressing “the puzzle of getting customer demand
to fit what we can produce,” he says.
Morgan and Maurer sell meat to natural food stores, restaurants
and at the local farmers market. They also sell half and whole animals
to individual buyers. Recently, Morgan has focused on learning how
to sell more meat to upscale restaurants. In 2003, he was pleased
that their lamb was showcased at restaurants during three special
meals featuring locally produced foods. While most restaurant managers
want to buy only large quantities of certain cuts of meat, at least
one chef has expressed interest in using a wider range of cuts,
in volumes Morgan can supply.
Economics and Profitability
Gradually, Morgan and Maurer have grown their flock to 40 ewes,
with about 80 lambs born each year. Morgan sells lamb for prices
that can range from $4 to $12 per pound, with registered animals
for breeding stock selling at “three times the price.”
For customers to pay higher prices than those found at conventional
outlets, Morgan and Maurer stress the high quality and healthfulness
of their meat.
Typically, Morgan and Maurer’s customers are interested in
gourmet quality and antibiotic-free meat, and/or are interested
in meat from humanely raised animals. Morgan and Maurer stress these
selling points in their marketing efforts.
Morgan and Maurer follow a sales model used by Texas cattle ranchers
Richard and Peggy Sechrist (see page 132), setting their retail
prices 26 percent above estimated production costs, a margin that
covers expenses for advertising, delivery and any damaged or unsold
product.
Maurer and Morgan have been able to avoid buying additional land
in their area, where rapid development has boosted prices to $5,000
per acre, by having their sheep graze on neighbors’ properties
in exchange for meat and the grass trimming service.
Because their sheep graze on non-contiguous parcels of pasture,
portable and permanent electric fencing have incurred significant
costs. For example, fencing a 20-acre pasture cost about $10,000.
Grass grows 11 months of the year near Fayetteville. If you stock
your pasture correctly and rotate animals wisely, you rarely need
to purchase feed, Morgan says. However, it’s important to
monitor grass growth rates and the animals’ nutritional needs.
Transportation to and from the meat processor 65 miles away remains
one of the operation’s major expenses. “One of the hardships
that any direct meat marketer is faced with today is the decline
of small meat processors in this country,” Morgan says.
To calculate net income, Morgan tracks the number and weight of
cuts that he receives from the processor, how much he has sold,
and transportation and other costs.
Environmental Benefits
Morgan and Maurer care deeply about achieving ecosystem health and
function on their farm. “Our guiding principle in farming
is to produce food in an environmentally sound manner,” Morgan
says.
Rotationally grazing their sheep enhances the health of their herd
and pastures. In fact, Morgan says he regrets not having established
baseline information about their soil fertility, as “just
by eyeing the pastures, in certain areas you can definitely tell
there’s been an improvement.”
If an animal’s having a problem, they’re more likely
to see it, since they’re with the animals once or twice a
day as they shift to a new pasture.
Morgan and Maurer have eliminated most of their sheep health problems
using a variety of techniques that minimize animal stress, such
as keeping stocking densities low and training them to follow one
another to new pastures, rather than being driven by dogs.
Striving each year to raise as many grass-fed animals as possible,
Morgan closely monitors pasture forage volume, taking care to protect
plant populations and to limit over-accumulation of parasites from
manure. He returns sheep to pastures about every 40 days. Moving
animals at the right rate “gets as much milk out of the mother
and into the lamb as possible,” maximizing returns on pasture
and animal production.
To boost plant growth where vegetation is sparse, Morgan limits
the movement of the herd, providing hay and allowing the sheep some
time to deposit manure. Afterward, with high levels of organic input
and conditions suitable for good soil-seed contact, Morgan will
overseed with clover, annual ryegrass and vetch, and on occasion,
cereal grains such as wheat or rye.
Community and Quality of Life Benefits
Morgan and Maurer are devoted to exchanging information and ideas
with others about Katahdin sheep improvement, rotational grazing
and grass finishing, and sustainable agriculture. They contribute
time for several organizations, which they say helps “bring
a larger perspective” to their farming.
Aside from tending to the sheep, Morgan is the vice president of
a local community development program for sustainable business,
and he serves on the Southern SARE administrative council, helping
to make recommendations on funding for farmer projects. With Maurer,
he also shares responsibilities in managing a nonprofit hair sheep
organization that registers and records animal performance, assists
with marketing and encourages research and development.
Morgan regards his work with various committees and consulting,
as “part of the puzzle of successfully managing my meat business.
My total hours worked each week have gone up, but the quality of
my life has gone up too. I get such satisfaction out of providing
food directly to people.”
Transition Advice
Maurer and Morgan strongly recommend evaluating the amount of time
it takes to farm. “Several publications that showcase grass
farmers paint the picture too rosy” in terms of the effort
required to successfully manage an operation, Morgan says. With
their operation now in a growth phase, “you feel the hours
a little more,” Maurer says. Having people trained to be temporary
caretakers when you need to leave the farm for short periods is
helpful, she says.
Morgan suggests raising other livestock in addition to sheep, because
“breaking a monoculture” provides unique benefits. For
example, “cattle and sheep can digest each others’ internal
parasites,” he says.
Do not be discouraged if your animals initially do not seem to
be enticed by pastures populated by wild plants, say Morgan and
Maurer. While the sheep once wouldn’t eat Lespedeza, now they
go for it first, Morgan says.
To become a successful direct marketer, it helps to identify local
marketing opportunities. Marketing through a variety of outlets
helps provide access to customers interested in different cuts,
Morgan says.
If possible, market to high-end customers, they say. “Fayetteville
is an upscale area where people interested in the kind of meat we
produce are rapidly moving in from other parts of the country,”
Maurer says.
The Future
They have begun to devote more attention to sheep breeding to get
better animals for meat. They hope to broaden local interest for
their lamb by promoting their meat more frequently through talking
with chefs, and distributing flyers and e-mail messages.
That the business is progressing has become increasingly obvious.
“For the first time ever this year, from August 15 to October
1, I was completely sold out of lamb. That was a good feeling,”
Morgan says.
 Profile
written by Amy Kremen
For more information:
Jim Morgan and Teresa Maurer
Round Mountain Katahdins
18235 Wildlife Road
Fayetteville, AR 72701
(479) 444-6075
jlmm@earthlink.net
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