Dave and Jennifer Shoemaker T&E Farms in East Carroll Township, which has more than 450 acres dedicated to tending over 2,200 sheep. “This is my homestead,” Dave Shoemaker said. “My dad, Tom, raised sheep in the 1950s here before I was born. I always wanted to stay in farming. I wasn’t dedicated enough to milk cows two times a day.” Mirror photo by Gary M. Baranec

EBENSBURG — Dave Shoemaker has been raising sheep for 25 years.

Shoemaker, 55, who with his wife Jennifer, owns T&E Farms in East Carroll Township.

“This is my homestead. My dad, Tom, raised sheep in the 1950s here before I was born. I always wanted to stay in farming,” Shoemaker said. “I wasn’t dedicated enough to milk cows two times a day.”

Shoemaker owns and rents about 450 acres on which he has about 2,200 sheep — 1,000 ewes and 1,200 lambs.

He raises the lambs for meat production.

“The breeds we have are not wool type breeds. They are commercial cross breeds, mostly North Country Cheviot, Texel and Scottish Blackface,” Shoemaker said.

Lamb meat is quite popular.

“Ethnic markets are the biggest buyers of lamb in the east. We deal with a lot of markets, local livestock brokers. Lambs are sold from September to January, Shoemaker said. “Local brokers buy them. A lot end up going to New York City and New Jersey. It is somewhat of a niche market; there are not a lot of lamb markets, but demand remains strong.”

Shoemaker said he breeds the ewes in December, and the lambs are born in May.

“That ties in with the peak grass production and through the summer. The lambs are sold off in the fall,” he said.

Shoemaker said he has one of the largest sheep-raising operations in the area.

“There are few operations that make their living raising sheep,” Shoemaker said.

His friend Jack Monsour — owner of Monsour Sheep Farm — has a similar size operation in the Dutch Corner area near Bedford.

“He is a hard worker and very persistent — you have to be in this business,” Monsour said. “We trade animals back and forth. I traded him a border collie for two ram lambs. We barter a little bit. We produce quality grass-fed lambs and that is very important.”

Shoemaker’s neighbor Ed O’Brien, runs a smaller sheep operation.

“I’ve known Dave since he was a little kid. He has one of the largest sheep farms east of the Mississippi River,” O’Brien said. “It is all based on rotational grazing. They are born on the pasture and sold off of the pasture.”

Shoemaker has gained some notoriety by providing sheep three times for the U.S. Border Collie Handlers Association’s National Sheepdog Finals — providing about 650 sheep last year. He also provided sheep for the 2010 and 2013 events.

“The first time I attended (in 2007), the quality of the sheep at Gettysburg didn’t provide much of a challenge for the dogs. People have complimented me on the quality of my sheep,” Shoemaker said.

Shoemaker said he hopes to do it again in 2020.

“It has put my name out there by supplying the sheep for the competition. I call it value-added sheep farming; anything that generates cash,” Shoemaker said.

Shoemaker is optimistic about the future, but challenges lie ahead.

“I think it will be here for a long time,” Shoemaker said. “It is sustainable. The biggest challenge as far as expanding is finding additional land to rent for pasture. We would like to expand both land-wise and animal-wise. It will be a slow, ongoing process.”

The biggest challenge with lamb production, Shoemaker said, is the parasite issue and predators such as coyotes.

“Baby lambs are an easy food source for the coyotes,” he said. “We have about a half-dozen livestock guardian dogs.”

Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank is at 946-7467.