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Mid-Summer Ram Lamb Photos and sale females.

We have now posted on our website our mid-summer ram lamb photos. We invite you to view these Suffolk-based ram lambs in terms of their correctness for the industry in terms of bone, structure, hip, depth of muscle, growth, and phenotypic design. We believe you will agree that these type of Suffolk-based rams will sire award-winning crossbred wethers when mated to Hampshire type females as well as winning Suffolk show lambs.

We also are offering for sale a yearling Steppin’ Up ram whose mother is Knop 200. The 200 ewe is the mother of our stud ram Blue Boy who was favored by many of our customers. This yearling has a huge hip and super bone along with extreme correctness of stucture.

We have also made the final female sorting decisions for the year and are offering about 6 key mature females as well as about a dozen ewe lambs from our keeper pen. These females are all the result of our double linebred Crazyhorse Suffolk and
Mayer Hampshire breeding program and will make outstanding additions to any ewe flock.

Let us know if you have any questions.

Fred Knop

2008 Ram Lambs and Ewe Lambs

It is our pleasure to invite you to stop by the farm to view our 2008 ram lamb and ewe lamb offerings. We are pleased with the development of these lambs especially in terms of their balance, bone, correctness of structure, hip, muscle and phenotypic design.

Our linebred breeding program insures consistency and predictability in the offspring of our rams and females for our customers. We believe that a ram needs to look like a ram and a ewe needs to look like a ewe. Our sheep can actually survive and thrive on grass in the summer time (what a novel idea!).

The ram lambs and ewe lambs are sired by the following Knop-bred sires: Steppin’ Up, Step Ahead, Woody, Ike, and Howard. Other sires include Marx 4-06 and Henry (Houghton Hampshire).

If you plan to be in Iowa in May or traveling to Sedalia in June we invite you to plan to stop by the farm. Or if you are in Sedalia and need something to do on the Friday between the show and sale our farm is only a few hours to the north. We are convinced you will be pleased with the uniquely linebred Crazyhorse Suffolk/Mayer Hampshire genetics that our flock offers.

2008 lamb photos

We have now posted a representative sample of our a few of our 2008 lambs. We should receive the first genetic test results back this week on some of the older lambs.

There are many more male lambs not featured in our sample photos that are just as industry appropriate as those we have featured. We hope you can stop by this spring to evaluate the entire lamb crop.

Please call us or e-mail us with your questions about specific sheep or your special show lamb requirements. We will do our best to be of assistance.

Fred Knop

Woody’s Twin Brother

The Fred Knop Family congratulates Weston Hill of Oklahoma and his family for feeding and showing Woody’s twin wether lamb brother to high honors at two major shows. Weston’s lamb placed 2nd in class to the eventual Grand Champion lamb at the 2007 American Royal. He also placed 2nd in class to the Champion Suffolk at the 2007 NAILE. Weston plans to exhibit his lamb this winter in Oklahoma. We wish Weston well with his project.

Reserve Grand Champion Arkansas State Fair

Congratulations to Tannehill Club lambs, OK, for raising the Reserve Grand Champion Market lamb at the 2007 Arkansas State Fair. The mother of this lamb was sired by Knop 4698–Leo–a Captain/Orange Tag/62 combination.

Ernie reports that the Leo daughters in his flock have produced many of his top lambs and that the combination of Knop genetics with the Hampshire influence in his flock has worked quite well. We wish Ernie continued success with his Leo daughters.

We used Leo’s twin brother Howard extensively for our 2008 lamb crop. We believe Howard’s ram lambs will work quite well for those of you who may have flocks with significant Hampshire influence.

We are pleased to announce that Burson Club Lambs of New Mexico purchased a key Steppin’ Up/Marx 4-06 ram lamb, Knop 5327, last spring to use in their flock of Hampshire influence. We also wish Burson’s well with the offspring of their Steppin’ Up son.

2008 lamb crop

Our 2008 A.I. lambs are due around Jan. 17th and 18th. Additional information about the sires we used can be found in earlier blogs and under the sire tab on our website. Watch for additional blogs detailing these lambs and our natural service lambs as lambing progresses.

We believe that the 2008 lamb crop will be the strongest, most well-bred set we have ever produced. Be sure to make plans to stop by this spring. Consider adding a Knop Suffolk or Crossbred market lamb to your show string. Our linebred rams and females, available in this form nowhere else, will “nick” on almost all the currently popular club lamb derivatives in our industry. Our rams and females will add Suffolk phenotype, bone, correctness of feet and legs, muscle, length of body, growth, carcass merit, excellent hides, awesome maternal traits and milk production, and the ability to win in the show ring to your flock.

2007 AK-SAR-BEN Carcass Results

The Fred Knop Family congratulates Sarah Sell for an outstanding effort in feeding and exhibiting a wether lamb purchased from us, Knop 5364, at the 2007 AK-SAR-BEN Livestock Exhibition. The lamb placed 6th in the Division 5 class from 154 to 157 pounds.

We now can share the carcass data from the 2007 AK-SAR-BEN. Sarah’s lamb measured the largest loin eye–4.5 square inches, with the exception of one lamb weighing over 160 pounds with a .05 square inch larger loin, of all the lambs at the 2007 AK-SAR-BEN show–491 head–including the live Grand Champion, Res. Grand Champion, and all the Division champions and reserves. The 491 lambs at AK-SAR-BEN averaged 3.37 square inches of loin eye area and .2 inch of back fat. The Grand Champion placed 198th in the carcass evaluation with a 3.45 sq. inch loin and .2 back fat. The Res. Grand placed 229th in the carcass evaluation with a 3.50 sq. inch loin with .2 back fat.

Sarah’s lamb was sired by Steppin’ Up and the lamb’s mother was a Howard daughter. This lamb was born on Jan. 22. Sarah’s lamb placed 3rd in class 17 at the Iowa State Fair judged by Larry Mrozinski. Sarah’s lamb was also named the Grand Champion at the Harlan, Iowa jackpot show and the South East Warren FFA market lamb show. The Fred Knop Family is proud of placings like this because we firmly believe that show lambs should not only look good in the show ring but should also be held accountable for unadulturated eximious carcass merit.

We will soon post a list of the bred females we will offer this season. Many of them are bred to either Steppin’ Up or Step Ahead. If you are interested in producing sheep that will work for you in the lambing barn and gain high honors in the show ring and on the rail then we would encourage you to evaluate our offering. We plan to offer less than 12 bred females so call soon to reserve your selections.

Fred Knop

Beck Family Winners

Congratulations to Jordan Beck and the Dave Beck family for a very successful show season. In addition to the Grand Champion Market lamb at the Great Lakes Expo mentioned in a previous blog, recent winners include the Beck bred and raised 1st place lightweight Suffolk at the Ohio State Fair sired by a Knop 4-06 x Omega bred ram, and damed by Knop 984, a 4-06 x Omega combination.

Another recent winner would include a young wether exhibited by Jordan Beck that was bred and raised by the Fred Knop Family sired by Step Ahead and whose mother is Knop 632, sired by the Knop stud ram “Blue Boy”. This lamb was the Lightweight Div. Champion at the Paulding Co. Ohio Jackpot Show. This lamb also placed 6th in the 120=122# crossbred class at the 2007 Ohio State Fair.

Watch our website Champion tab for photos soon.

2007 North Carolina Mountain States Fair

Congratulations to Adam and Megan Lawing and the Craig Lawing Family for exhibiting the Grand Champion Market lamb at the 2007 North Carolina Mountain States Fair. This Lawing family bred and raised lamb was sired by Knop 5157. a Captain son. The lamb’s mother was sired by Knop 4882, a Captain son. The maternal grand-mother was a Knop-bred female sired by Jubilee.

The Lawing family won 4 maket lamb classes and 3 ewe lamb classes. Also two lambs raised and sold by the Lawing family won their market lamb classes.

Adam and Megan also won 3 commercial ewe lamb classes.

Grand Champion S.E. Warren County FFA NPCLA Show

Congratulations to Sarah Sell and family for exhibiting the Grand Champion Market Lamb at the 2007 S.E. Warren County FFA NPCLA Show.  This Suffolk lamb was purchased from the Fred Knop Family flock.  His sire is Steppin’ Up and his dam is a Howard (Captain) x 561 daughter.  This was the first time this lamb has been exhibited.  We wish you well at the Iowa State Fair.