07/03/2026
If you noticed the name change from Pin Oak Club Lambs to Pin Oak Livestock... Well there is a reason, that name change comes as we have dispersed all of our club lamb ewes. There were a lot of tears shed with lots of thought that went into this change and to be honest it is a super weird feeling but here is the how and why.
A few years back, Karon and I were on a buffalo river float, it was a quiet and peaceful morning, we had no phone service nor had we seen a single other person all morning. It just hit me that I wanted more of this and less of that so I told Karon I thought we should step back from state fair and the sheep council. That following winter we resigned from the sheep council and state fair.
We have also had a couple of other big changes in our lives the last couple of years that led us to this decision, our parents are getting older and we had the addition of a granddaughter. We were wanting the freedom to spend more time with them and decided to make some changes to our program. As Karon would say, she wanted some cow sheep, referring to some sheep that were more like our cows, sheep that could run open and lamb without constant intervention. Our plan was to cut back to 10 to 12 donors to flush with a commercial flock we could use as recips.
As we started working on that plan the opportunity came up to sell all of our wool sheep. This sale would mean that everything would leave at once, together, and go to a well established program. It was sad to know it was the last time we would run them through the working chute. It was sad to watch the ewes that we had raised from multiple generations leave. It was a super quiet and eerie feeling as they left but they went to a good home, one where they will be well promoted, their lambs will get plenty of chances to reach their absolute potential and hang some banners.
We want to thank everyone who has supported us over the years. We have made lots of friends from all over the country and a lot of our showmen have become family.
I tell Karon all the time, this isn't the whole book just a chapter, so as the next chapter in our book starts, our focus will be towards our family with cows and cow sheep to keep the pastures mowed. We will still get to see the lamb races but no freezing barn checks at 2am in February, the prime floating season will not be tied up with lamb sales and every vacation day we have won't be spent related to sheep.
Over the years, we did accumulate a stupid amount of sheep equipment and show supplies. However since we only changing directions on sheep that we raise and the fact that Audie might show lambs someday, we will not be selling any equipment at this time.
Again thank you to everyone who ever bought, bid, or came to look at a sheep on our farm and most importantly a huge thank you to those who hauled our sheep and put your faith in our program, we will forever be grateful for this chapter of our book and the people who are written among those pages.
Forever .
Mike and Karon
