NORTH CRAWFORD - The sheep pasturing project on the grounds of North Crawford Schools is up and running. The project, a partnership between the school and Crawford Stewardship Project (CSP) is already helping to reduce the need for mowing of school grounds and clearing invasive species from the woods, and will serve as a component of agricultural education at the school.

“I truly believe, like the school district, that agricultural education and a farm background can provide rich experiences for children,” North Crawford graduate Joe Childs said. “When I listen to my dad and others talk about growing up, they will tell stories that begin with “when I was on the farm…,” and I want kids to be able to have that experience, whether they grow up on farms or in town.”

The North Crawford School Board approved the project, pitched by CSP’s Community Engagement Coordinator Joe Childs, at their February 2023 meeting.

“This program will work well with agricultural education at the school,” Childs said. “Students will be able to gain hands-on experience, and learn responsibility.”

The sheep have been on the grounds since May of 2023, and the project was showcased at an open house event on June 17 that attracted more than 50 people. More recently, about a dozen attendees of a Vernon/Crawford Chapter of Wisconsin Farmers Union (WFU) summer meeting were able to tour the project, including WFU state president Darin Von Ruden and his parents.

“So many people showed up for the open house, it was really exciting,” Childs remarked. “I got lots of advice about pasturing sheep – I had no idea so many people in our community had experience raising sheep.”

Childs said that former Crawford County UW-Extension Agent Vance Haugen had attended the open house, along with other people from the Great River Graziers group, and had helped to provide educational content. Lunch was provided by Solar Meats in Soldiers Grove.

WFU members touring the facility on July 23 could see the benefit of the agricultural education experience. One tour participant commented, “Viroqua and Westby are falling behind.”

Childs said that a key component of the project is to serve as a demonstration site that can show other school districts what is possible, and catalyze other schools to consider similar projects.

“Crisse Reynolds from the Seneca School District attended the open house, and later contacted me about how they might explore a similar program,” Childs explained. “They determined that they can’t do a pasturing project because they don’t have enough land, but are working on a similar project for agricultural education to create an Agricultural Discovery Center.”

Childs said that he has received support and financial assistance from a variety of groups to help make the project possible. That includes Great River Graziers and WFU for mentorship and publicizing events, as well as Wisconsin Rural Coalition (WRC) and the Food, Faith and Farming Project (FF&F).

“Wisconsin Rural Coalition provided a ‘no-strings-attached’ $2,000 grant that allowed us to put on the open house, and also create the sign that now sits in front of the school,” Childs explained. “WRC’s $1,500 donation allowed us to purchase the electronet fencing, water tubs, mini tubs and water hoses, and to construct a shade shelter.”

Forage quality

Currently Childs has 12 ewes and 14 lambs pasture on the school’s 50-acre grounds. The sheep are hair goats of the Katahdin breed, and are raised for meat and not wool. Instead of requiring shearing, the breed just naturally drops their hair in the pasture.

“With 50 total acres, 40 of which require mowing, expanding the project in the future could really reduce the school’s maintenance work,” Childs said. “To mow the 40 acres with sheep would require 250 sheep.”

Childs plans to improve the pasture for the sheep going forward.

“Right now the grass on the school ground is not ideal forage, but I’ve supplemented it with turning them out in the woods where they can browse and knock back the choked understory of the woods,” Childs said. “The school is open to the idea of improving the pasture, so that is something we’re looking at down the road.”

Marketing the animals

Childs said that the lambs currently in program were born in June of 2023. A ram will be introduced into the herd in coming weeks for next year’s cohort, and he said that this will position him to participate in the ‘100-pound lamb market.’ In this manner, Childs will recoup his time and expenses in volunteering with the school’s program. He also hopes to have some kind of celebratory meal at the school, allowing students to take pride in having helped to raise some of their own food.

“Currently, the best market for lambs revolves around the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday, celebrated because it marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan,” Childs explained. “I’m really excited to have learned that the Fennimore Livestock Exchange has weekly goat and sheep auctions, because it means a built in market only 40 minutes away.”

Volunteers/donations

Childs said that he has been approached about donations of sheep for the project. He said that would be welcome, with a preference for hair sheep to be raised for meat. He said that if wool sheep were donated, he would ask that they be sheared before delivery.

“Last week, we had a group of 10 campers and three counselors from Lake Valley Camp, a camp that functions as a multi-year leadership program for inner city youth from Milwaukee,” Childs said. “The kids helped to move the sheep to a new paddock, cleared brush and invasive species, and watched me demonstrate how to clear unwanted trees.”

Childs said that had also been another volunteer day with kids from the camp on July 29. He says he also hopes to hold a back-to-school open house event, perhaps in September.

Child’s beginnings

In 2022, Childs launched his custom grazing business, renting land and pasturing cattle and sheep during the grazing season. Childs said that this approach is a great way for younger farmers who don’t own land to get into farming.

One of the first landowners that worked with Childs was Margaret Simmons of rural Mt. Zion.

“I was renting land from her to pasture cattle, and I noticed one day that Margaret, who is elderly, was out in the heat struggling to mow her lawn,” Childs remembered. “Since she has her own herd of pastured sheep, I showed her how she could get her sheep to mow her lawn, and have helped her with that ever since.”

Later, he rented pastureland from Shirley Northern in the Nederlo Creek watershed to run cattle. As a result of a news story about his efforts in the Crawford County Independent & Kickapoo Scout written by editor Charley Preusser, Childs came to the attention of Willja Happe. Happe had just purchased property in North Clayton, and was interested in having regenerative agriculture practices implemented on her farm.

Happe, who emigrated to the U.S. from Amsterdam, had run a successful flower farm business in California for many years. Last year, when she decided to retire and hand the business off to her daughter, she had visited the Driftless Region and fallen in love with its hills and valleys.

“I came from a busy farm in California, and I wanted to see movement on the farm I’d purchased,” Happe said. “I saw the article in the newspaper, and decided to reach out to Joe right away.”

Child’s and Happe’s agricultural partnership almost didn’t happen, but in the end has proved mutually beneficial.

 “When Willja called me, a California area code came up on my phone, and the voice mail message came from someone with a Dutch accent,” Childs remembered. “I just deleted the messages because I thought it was a scam. But then she texted me, and explained what her interest was, and I said ‘Omigod, I’d better call her back right away!”

Now, Childs runs beef cow-calf pairs on Willja’s property for the cattle’s owner. He has built the paddock fencing, and installed a watering system. He says that the owner of the cattle makes most of his income off the herd by selling bulls.

“I’ve learned my lesson about trying to manage too many locations, and about the challenges of pasturing through the winter,” Childs said. “My approach now is to focus on doing more at just a couple of locations with extended leases, which will allow me to be more efficient and see a better return on my efforts.”

 Childs says his approach to grazing is to mimic the migration patterns of bison. This involves a high stocking density for a short time, which simulates the way bison would move, and stimulates what would happen with natural predator pressure. He gives each paddock a 30-day rest to recover, although he acknowledged that’s been harder in this year’s drought conditions.