© 2006 by Lynne and Russ Edgar
LOCATION
Edgar Ranch has moved to 13306 Granny Creek Road, Fredericktown, Ohio. The Ranch is owned and managed by Lynne and Russ Edgar. We both are level one wool classers, have attended Missouri Grazing School, and have had the same blood line of Production Dorset Sheep since 1985. We started with approximately 25 ewes in 1985. In 1999, we sheared 925 sheep and had 150 does. Currently we have about 250 Boer x Spanish does and 300 plus Registered Production Dorset Sheep. As the number of animals increased over the years, we have learned many things, a lot of them the hard way! We have also learned much from other livestock owners and written articles. There is a wealth of information available and always something new to learn.
OPERATION
Edgar Ranch operates on leased land. The Headquarters Unit is 9 acres with a very large former dairy barn.
The "Ridge Road" Unit is 100 plus acres. This unit is divided into 8 pastures with pressurized water to each pasture. The unit has new electrified high tensile fence.
The "Rock" unit has about 80 acres. The unit has a flowing creek and river. Fencing is six high tensile. There is a very nice barn on this unit.
The "Wilson" unit is about 15 acres with new high tensile woven and six wire high tensile fencing. The unit has a wonderful developed spring and horse barn.
EQUIPMENT
Livestock and forage are managed at Edgar Ranch. We do not "farm" in a conventional sense and have very little equipment. All hay and grain is purchased for delivery in truckloads. A small Ford tractor is used to handle big round bales of hay. A rotary mower, tine harrow and ATV round out the equipment list. Lynne and I do have equipment to make handling and working sheep and goats as easy and low stress as possible for both animals and people. The headquarters has 32 feet of Sydell chute system with a three-way sort gate and head gate. At "Ridge Road" are 24 feet of chute plus a turn cradle and three-way sort gate. The rest of the handling facility is made up of high tensile woven wire and livestock panels. A set of Tru-Test load bars is used to weigh livestock for production information, selling at the farm and putting together loads for marketing.
FENCING AND HOUSING
Along with permanent electric and non-electric fences, temporary electric fencing, both ribbon/twine three reel and net type, is used to subdivide pastures further when needed. A Stafix 18 joule unit is the charger of choice. Our goats and sheep stay in their pastures.
For many years, greenhouse structures have been used for animal shelter. A few years ago, we purchased some small Portahuts to use for kidding and ram/buck shelters. They have worked very well. The majority of the sheep are wintered outside with natural or manmade windbreaks and no actual buildings. We feel, for the most part, they are healthier this way. The goats have barns available.
PREDATORS
In our location there are two kinds of predators that can be extreme problems, worms and canines, coyotes or dogs. Worms are controlled by monitoring with fecal counts, strategic worming, and using effective wormers. Livestock guardian dogs, our choice being Great Pyrenees and Pyrennees/Maremma crosses, solve the second predator problem.
