WHITEWOOD, S.D. — Black Hills Land Stewards in Whitewood is working to raise quality sheep while also finding ways to better track and improve sheep genetics.

Jeff Clark moved from California to South Dakota a few years ago and last year started raising pure breed registered Targhee sheep on his operation in western South Dakota.

During his time in California, Clark managed a large flock of commercial sheep, and by doing that he noticed that the sheep industry was lacking in methods to select genetic traits for their herds. They were able to breed for frame size and wool quality, but there were other areas that were insufficient.

“So, I talk about wool quality and frame size, that’s great, you know we get paid by the pound. However there are things that are very important that we were not able to select off of pre-collected data points,” Clark said.

Those traits include everything from fertility, stayability and efficiency.

“Just because those sheep were big did not mean that they made more than, you know, some medium range to more moderate counterparts,” Clark said.

He began looking to other states for sheep genetics.

“I wanted to be able to select against EPDs just like we did with our cattle operation out there, and there just wasn’t anything to choose from,” Clark said.

Clark discovered the Montana Ram Sale, which is well-known for its Targhee sale. There is also a lot of data recorded about those animals.

“Everything from greasy fleece weight to microns to number of lambs born — it’s a pretty extensive list,” Clark said.

Throughout the sheep industry, genetic data point collection is a practice that is not extensively used.

“However, when you consider the value of an average animal, I understand it,” Clark said. “We aren’t selling bulls at a sale averaging $5,500 to $7,000 a head, right? So, collecting all of the data and more as we add in the progeny and number of lambs born and along with the fleece weight and micron and things of that nature, there’s a lot of data to collect to really do it right.”

However, data is something that has always interested Clark, and he is working to see advancements in sheep data collection.

“I have worked in the beef industry my whole life. This isn’t my full-time job, but it is a full-time passion,” Clark said.

One of the reasons he wants to see better sheep genetics is because they can be challenging animals to raise.

“There’s just so many things about sheep that make them harder to run than cattle, you know, from keeping them alive to marketing, and the sheep have always just kind of pulled me towards them because they aren’t easy to do,” Clark said. “I thought, well, if I am this passionate about it and I have a background on the cattle side of pulling these data points in together and producing a really good female, can I do that on the sheep side?”

After moving to South Dakota, he started his own small sheep herd, where he is focused on tracking genetics, inspired by the data recorded from the Montana Ram Sale.

“How we are going to do this is by actually building our own proprietary index that is going to be an ewe profitability index. It is going to take into account everything from the actual maintenance requirements from feed intake, testing the ewes, to the progeny, feed efficacy in production, pull that back to fleece weight, and pounds weaned per ewe,” Clark said. “We are taking all those production records back and building a background index on all of our ewes in order to properly rank them for all of the economically relevant traits.”

His goal is to have a program that is not focused on single trait selection but rather is focused on raising well-rounded animals.

“Really what we are building is the efficient ewe, right? So, we want the highest grossing product, per pound maintained, but most importantly, per dollar of input,” Clark said. “So that’s really the direction of our program, and we know it will put more money in our pocket and more money in the producers’ pockets that acquire our genetics.”

This is something he believes more producers are also looking for in the industry.

“There’s got to be other larger-scale producers out there that are looking for maternal quality bucks but can’t find them anywhere,” Clark said. “You know, they are either too big, the wool is not fine enough, they don’t have the production data behind them, or they are not efficient; so that’s kind of why I jumped into this game in order to really provide the commercial guy with what he has been asking for.”

Clark is also working to get the next generation of producers excited about raising sheep. His 12-year-old son, Everett, is also involved with the sheep, through showing them, helping to care for the animals and attending sales. Everett wants to continue to grow the sheep business, as well as raise cattle and possibly even do some rodeo.

“I am hoping to get a bunch,” Everett said. “I want to do the same thing daddy’s doing.”