The Secret Sheep: Revealing A Funny Family Farm Story

“Every season brings something unexpected, but this one gave us a good laugh and a whole lot of learning. Between raising lambs, losing a ewe to a cougar, and a sneaky plan to hide a new one from Jeana, we found joy in the ordinary work of farm life.

Let us tell you the story of the Secret Sheep.” by Chad

On many of the tractor rides at this year’s pumpkin patch, I told the story of the secret sheep and asked everyone to keep a secret. Evidently they did…

We grow wine grapes, apples, pumpkins, flowers – blueberries, raspberries & peaches. We also raise chickens and sheep. Our high school ag teacher Mr. Pile is to credit for getting us into sheep. “I think they’d be a good fit for what you’re doing.” Couple that with our desire to farm regeneratively – and we’ve become sheep farmers.

But the reason I’m writing this story is to share some fun we had this season with “Mom” / Jeana. I’d like to walk you through what our sheep flock looks like, how we lost a momma ewe this year and how we replaced her and had some fun.

Our high school Ag Teacher Mr. Pile has been raising sheep for decades – looking for the best “line” of award-winning sheep. He’s always been focused on meat sheep – and lately Hampshires. A black-faced and black legged breed known for their excellent meat quality. Not wool quality.

In 2023 we started with 3 ewes – one for each of the boys. And with a grant from the Tilth Alliance – enough mobile fence and winter housing to legitimize our mobile shepherding adventure. We now have 9 ewes and successfully raised our first set of 8 lambs. Some of these lambs made it to the Chelan County fair, some made it to feed our family, some were sold to friends interested in grass fed grass finished lambs. We kept one female to grow the flock. And we used some shoulders and legs for our 1st Farm to Table dinner.

We’re pretty happy with 8–10 ewes and their lambs each winter. 16 sheep moving into our vineyard and orchard in April is quite a sight – and quite a hungry bunch. This is where the magic happens (soil says yum to manure). We have luscious and nutrient-rich organic grass in our orchard and vineyard. In exchange for food – the sheep leave behind manure that our soil absolutely loves.

Turns out, not long after the sheep move from their winter quarters into the orchard and vineyard, it’s also a time young cougars push into new territory (May/June). Late in May of this year, a cougar came in the night and killed one of our momma ewes. It was in the mobile pen they were grazing in. Quite a scene. Angel our livestock guardian tried, and we think kept things from being worse. There were sheep out, sheep that had gone back to the winter quarters and sheep still in their pen.

To keep a long story short – we got all the sheep gathered back up, had a visit from the game department – who showed up right away with a live trap and Jackson, Jesus and I buried the momma ewe. A sad day for all. We never caught the cougar – but we did get another livestock guardian to help Angel. His name is Jasper – our 2^nd beloved Karakachan living on the farm. With one newborn ewe lamb in 2025, this meant our momma ewes from year to year wouldn’t grow in number. We started with 8, had 1 born for 9, then a cougar killed one.

Enter the story of the secret sheep. It started when our oldest Carston and I had connected with Mr. Pile (our high school Ag teacher). We needed to line up a ram for August. Gestation in sheep is around 145 days and January born lambs work well for Chelan County Fair – plus our late summer/fall Farm to Table dinner.

The ram Mr. Pile thought would work well was in Quincy – our new friends at Fadenrecht Club Lambs. A Southdown owned by farmers with a lot of sheep. This prompted a question to the owner – do you have any extra ewe lambs? So, we ended up bringing a Southdown ram home named Milo and a yearling ewe lamb (aka the secret sheep).

On the way home Carston and I thought it would be fun to see how long it would take the rest of the family to figure out we had brought the secret sheep into the flock. Since this new sheep had a bright yellow ear tag and blue ear tag plus more wool on its face – it was pretty noticeable. Within one week I got a call from Jackson – our middle son. “Hey dad, what’s this different sheep doing in our flock with our sheep?” My reply “Oh, it’s our new ewe lamb, but don’t tell mom – let’s keep it a secret to see how long it takes her to notice.” Jackson, “Oh, ok, well, Owen and I noticed right away – it’s got a bright yellow ear tag.”

And the secret continued. Keep in mind, the boys and I are the ones who care for the sheep and chickens. Jeana can be found in the tasting room, flowers, winery or helping our family unit thrive.

And the sheep are either tucked into a vineyard row or orchard row – not super visible. Add onto that – the secret sheep at the time was one of 13. The secret lasted almost 3 months.

After seeing if I could get it to leak by telling many of the tractor ride groups (un-successfully) – one day in late October, the Manson School entire 5th grade was visiting the farm. This was Owen’s class, Jeana was there, one of the 5^th grade teachers, Gracie Phelps who worked for us this past summer was there. And as they walked from school, they were going to walk with us through the orchard stopping at the sheep. We like to talk about ruminants and how they can eat grass vs. us humans who can’t. A perfect opportunity for the secret sheep reveal.

With Jeana there, I asked the kids if they could keep a secret – and told them about the secret sheep. We all got a hearty laugh as Jeana got to join in on the reveal. She’s since told the story to others and we’ve all been able to have a great laugh.

It might seem like this is a laugh at her expense. Not at all. It’s quite an emphasis on the separation of duties. But I think the real moral of this story: Animals bring life to our farm. They not only bring life to our soil which in turn helps bring better wines to you all and more nutritious apples to you all – it also creates endless fun and stories. There’s something so natural about the mix of animals and crops.

I sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed getting to be “in the know” about The Secret Sheep (for those already in the know, it’s safe to tell Miss Jeana now).