Dakota Lamb Growers Cooperative

Hasbargen Ram Sale: Annual Hasbargen Land and Cattle Ram Sale will be Thursday, August 21st from 8am to 8pm online at Integrity Livestock.  Top 15 February Ram Lambs. Call Chad at 320-815-5185 if you have any questions or check out their website.

FOR SALE: 2 female guard dog pups. 12 weeks old. Had 2 rounds of wormer and first 2 rounds of shots.  Asking $400.  Call Travis Fowler at 507-236-5055 (posted 7/1/25)

FOR SALE:  Ile de France Rams and Ewe Lambs. Visit our website hasbargenlandcattle.com to view current sale offerings. (posted 10/11/24)

FOR SALE: Ewe lambs for sale, 3/4 Rambouillet x 1/4 Finn Dorset and FDR’s. OPP free and closed flock. Call Matt 605-742-3077 (posted 5/6/24)

FOR SALE: LGD puppies born Feb. 16, 2024 will be ready 1st week of April. Raised around sheep, goats, chickens, cats and children.  Contact Travis Fowler at 507-236-5055. (posted 3/27/24)

WOOL BUYING: Active DLGC member Justin Weatherford from Florence, SD is buying all classes of wool. Please call him at 605-520-8237 with any questions, concerns, and prices for your wool marketing. He is an independent buyer working to bring an additional outlet for wool in our region.  Thanks for checking it out. (posted 12/15/23)

FOR SALE:  67 of bagged open 6 year old Montana origin ewes for sale.  $137.50/ hd all to go or $150 choice. Joe Coplan 605-520-5262. (posted 11/3/23)

FOR SALE: Guard dog puppies. They are about 5 weeks old.  If anyone is interested contact Dallis 605-515-0266 or Tammy 605-515-0267. (posted 3/27/23)

FOR SALE: Great Pyrenees. Contact Alex at 605-520-3776. (posted 3/20/23)

FOR SALE: ShearWell Stock Recorder, used 2 seasons. Asking $2,100. Contact Lisa at 605-885-7275. (posted 2/27/23)

FOR SALE: Ewe Lambs. Ultrasound to start lambing the 1st of February. Shorn, poured with Ultra Boss, and breeding shots. Big XBred Ewes Dorset/Suffolk/IleDeFrance. Bred to Suffolk/Dorset rams. Call or text 605-885-7275. (posted 1/10/23)

Hello from southern MN. Where the weather can’t seem to make up its mind of late!

By now most of you are probably well into lambing. Hopefully things are going smooth. Here we are in the thick of it and other then working around these spring storms, things are going good and fast.

As the new president for DLGC I’m looking forward to severing the Co-op and working with you. I would like to let all members know that we have a mentorship program in the Co-op. It’s not just for the newer members, even if you’ve been in the sheep business awhile sometimes you might need some help figuring something out. So please feel free to call me or any other board member and we will do the best to answer any questions you may have or point you in the direction to find the answers.

In this newsletter there a few good articles to look at from Superior Farms. Including an update from Mark Dumdi, the current ABF guidelines, and purchasing feeder lamb guidelines. Hopefully this information will get you up to date.

I would also like to say Thank You! to Riley Braaten for his years of service to the Co-op. It was a pleasure and an honor to work with him! He will be missed.

Until next time Happy Lambing and stay safe!

Friday, December 6, 2024 at 8:00 am

Ramada Inn, 333313th Ave S, Fargo, ND

Sponsors:

biggain.com

sydell.com

Greetings Fellow Shepherds,

What a year. For many of us in this region, we started out very very wet and ended up being very very dry. Also, when we look as the markets, the first half of the year looked very positive and then all of a sudden things went south and we hit our floor price on the contract. Who could have seen that coming. Again it sure makes one wonder about all this imported lamb and the effect it’s having on us producers. Hopefully something will change soon for the positive for our producers.

We are fast approaching the time of our annual meeting which will be held in Fargo this year.  We would love to see as many new and returning faces as possible at our annual meeting.

I would like to share that I will be resigning as president and my spot on the board of directors. I have enjoyed my time and involvement on the DLGC Board.  I have met many great producers and worked with a really amazing board of directors. This decision didn’t come easily for me to resign.  My work schedule along with my off-farm job, and then trying to balance in my work schedule at home with the animals during the weekend, and being on multiple other boards, has left me up against the wall trying to balance everything. It’s not fair to our board of directors as well as our producers. I can not do an effective job when needed when I hardly have any time for my own personal life.

I’m asking it there’s anybody out there that would help us out and fill a position as a board member  Would you be willing to step up to the plate? That would be greatly appreciated.

May you find all the tagged ears in your flock alive and well.

Riley Braaten, President, Call or text me at 701-640-8335

Greetings Fellow Shepherds,

Well here we are almost at Easter time already and what a nice mild winter we have endured so far this year.  Most producers are well underway lambing, and I hope for a successful lamb crop for our producers with much better and hopefully steady prices for our lambs and culls.  Ramadan has definitely brought excellent prices for these 80 – 100 lb lambs, as well as cash fat lambs in the $2.10 – $2.30 range. Cull ewes have finally seen a nice rally with your average culls that are in the 158 lb range bringing $0.65 – $1.00 lb with these heavy ewes over 300 lbs bringing $1.10+ lb.

Greetings Fellow Shepherds,

Greetings fellow shepherds.  Well here we are on November 1^st of 2023 and we are all wondering where another year has gone.  For most producers harvest is about wrapped up and breeding season is well under way for our early born lambs.

Prices have definitely been better than the previous months.  We are still experiencing high input costs on our ewes with drought in many areas and shorter feed supply for some.  We saw cash fat lambs reach the $2.20 range and have steadily fallen to the $1.90 range.  Killer ewes have still been bringing about the same money in the past 12 months.  It will be interesting to see what the nontraditional ethnic market does in the upcoming holidays and into Easter. 

Greetings Fellow Shepherds,

What a blessing to see warm sunny days along with much needed moisture to soften the long overdue drought that many producers have faced.  For most of us it was a long cold winter with an abundance of snow and wind.  It has been very harsh on our fellow ranchers and farmers, as well as their livestock.

Greetings Fellow Shepherds,

What a beautiful fall it has been.  Harvest seems to be wrapped up in most areas.  A bigger concern for most of us is the lack of moisture.  A slow measurable rain before freeze up would by beneficial to all.

For most producers, our 2022 lamb crop is gone, or almost gone, and a new crop of lambs will be dropping soon.  What a complete difference in market prices from a year ago, and we aren’t talking about favorable prices either.  For those producers who don’t have a contract with Superior Farms and rely totally on the cash market it hasn’t been so good for them.  Cull ewe market had remained somewhat favorable all year long and there’s still demand for good quality breeding stock. Center of the Nation sale prices were holding steady as well as other seedstock producer sales.

Greetings Fellow Shepherds,

Well the calendar says its spring yet mother nature has provided winter conditions for many of our producers. From very dry conditions in some areas, to very wet in other areas. We need to continue to pray especially for those areas and producers who have endured severe droughts which continue to contributed to lack of feed and water.

Greetings Fellow Shepherds,

It’s amazing how some things can change dramatically and some changes move much slower.  Parts of our region have gone from very dry to actually being almost too wet this fall.  The moisture has been quite a surprise in many areas and some subsoil moisture has been restored.  With snow on the way for some of us in the next few days, hopefully you have finished up the outside work for now.

The lamb market has slowly changed.  We still have very strong prices on slaughter ewes, which is great for those moving ewes that don’t produce well enough to offset these high feed prices.  Fat lambs have remained strong for the 4^th quarter.  Superior Farms had once said perhaps we could maybe see $2.00 fat lambs as a new normal. Anyone’s guess is as good as the next, and hopefully it’s true as we continue to see higher input costs in agriculture.