On July 12, I visited the 42 acre sheep farm owned by Michael Everhart and his wife, Alex. They have 20 acres of pasture and the rest timber located near Mountain Park, NC. Currently he has 50 ewes and 30 lambs. He started his sheep farm in August 2017 when he purchased the land, put up fencing and begin purchasing sheet in October and November. He also has a llama to keep the coyotes out of the pasture.
He sells his sheep when they are anywhere from 80-120 pounds and under age 1 to a broker. When he has a pregnant sheep, he moves her to a pen a week before delivery and leaves the mother and lamb for about a week before moving the lamb in with a group of other lambs. At about 10-12 weeks, he starts the weaning process and separating the lambs by sex.
Michael also showed me how to check the lambs eyes for worms and to see if it’s healthy. He does this frequently. He rotates the sheep around the farm to different pastures so they have fresh grass. Michael comes to the farm early in the morning to check on his sheep and comes in the afternoon when he gets off work to feed and check on them again.
Michael grew up on a small farm in Lexington and went to NC State and studied Agribusiness and Livestock & Poultry Management at the Ag Institute. You can tell from being around Michael that he has a passion for working with animals and has a bright future in this business! He hopes to build a home on this farm property in the future.
