Targhee Sheep Gaining Popularity

Targhee Sheep Gaining Popularity LIVESTOCK Miscellaneous Robert Padula is a Minnesota sheep producer who’s a strong proponent of the Targhee breed because of feed efficiency and better economic return “I’ve raised Targhee since 1990 and get much better feed efficiency than with larger white-face sheep The same feed I’d give to 3 of the larger white-face breed will feed 4 Targhees ” Padula says the Targhee wool is worth twice as much as the bigger breed and he gets a 175 percent lamb crop compared to 135 percent with the bigger breed “The bottom line shows I am definitely money ahead with the Targhee ” Padula says Padula is a strong proponent of the breed and recently participated in the Targhee national association’s Starter Flock Program for young producers interested in starting a flock Last year he loaned a Targhee ram to a Lake Benton Minn high school student who was awarded 3 ewes from Targhee breeders in South Dakota and Wyoming “The Targhee aren’t as demanding as the Hampshires that I started with ” says Desire Routier who earned the starter flock after learning about the program from other producers and further researching it through links on the Targhee breed website Routier says the Targhees are easy to care for easy to handle during lambing and are very good mothers This past July at the U S Targhee Sheep Association Show in Wisconsin her 5-mo old ram earned second place in its class and one of her yearling Targhee rams sold for $400 Like Routier Padula got his start in the sheep industry as a youngster in 4-H He showed Columbia sheep for several years and learned about Targhees from a neighbor who was raising them Later as a graduate student in Montana he met several Targhee producers and was further impressed that it was an excellent breed The performance records he saw in the National Sheep Improvement Program convinced him to switch to Targhee in 1990 It’s still his dominant breed but he also raises Merino sheep “Producers can buy Targhee rams with excellent performance data and bring their genetics into another breed to improve overall herd performance ” says Padula “The Targhee breed is also a great choice for non-traditional small farmers who can have a flock of 10 20 or 30 animals ” Padula says students with Targhee show animals may be at a disadvantage in competition because judges may not be as familiar with Targhee characteristics as they are with larger breeds but that shouldn’t deter them from choosing the breed “They’re excellent animals for youngsters economical to feed and easy to care for with good mothering qualities ” he says “I’ve been around sheep production most of my life and it’s a tremendous enterprise ” says Padula “I’m really happy to see young people like Desire get involved in production because we need young people who have a yearning to see the industry do well ” The Targhee breed is one of America’s youngest developed in 1926 at the U S Sheep Experiment Station in Idaho Targhee are crosses from Rambouillet Columbia and Corriedale genetics The name was chosen because the station’s flock grazed in the Targhee National Forest during the summer It’s a dual-purpose breed with good meat characteristics and heavy fleece of high quality wool They’re especially popular in the West because of wool that’s 3/4 in fine and 1/4 in long Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Robert Padula 3840 236th St Montevideo Minn 56265 ph 320 269-7973; rfp@mvtvwireless com or the U S Targhee Sheep Association Mardy Rutledge 8111 Foothill Lodge Ct Las Vegas Nevada 89131 www ustargheesheep org

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