"Three generations of Gartners continue a lambing tradition."
(Marvin Gartner, David Gartner, and Maloree Gartner share responsibilities on their sheep farm located on the edge of Mapleton.)
With the return of spring and annual holidays such as Easter, thoughts of family, renewal, and tradition often come to mind. One of the most powerful symbols of the season is found in one of life’s most delicate (and cute) icons–the spring lamb. Whether on the hills outside of Jerusalem or a hill outside of Mapleton, families have been tending to flocks of sheep for millennia.
For Marvin Gartner, who endured the hardships of the farming crisis of the 1980s, he’s seen his original small flock of two dozen sheep expand into an operation of 180 ewes. In an era of corporate farming, Marvin doubled-down on the idyllic concept of the family farm with the help of his son David and his two grandchildren Owen and Maloree. After his family moved from the Windom area to Mapleton in the 1940s, Marvin Gartner decided that if he couldn’t farm the grassy hill, he’d put the 14 acres to good use with a flock of sheep.
While his “Old MacDonald” farm involving hogs, chickens, and dairy farming was eventually phased out, for more than forty years, the Gartners have integrated their flock into their farming routine. As a commodity, sheep provide both wool and meat. After breeding in the fall, shearing sheep is done in December when the ewes are brought inside for the winter. Surprisingly, their body temperatures generate enough heat indoors to necessitate a haircut. For David Gartner, who grew up with sheep in his life, it’s all part of the seasonal routine, “Well, we like to take it off our good month ahead of time just to get it out of the way and get a little regrowth and make sure you can see the condition of the sheep. So if they're sending you more hay or grain, you got time and then it's not so hard on him like a month ahead to move around.” Shearing is a quick affair that takes under two minutes along with a few seconds for shots. By January, the ewes begin to birth, and by the time spring weather arrives, lambs are free to frolic. The party is short-lived however. While some lambs are separated to become breeding ewes, many are sold off as early as June with the last being sold to market by September.
Spring into Action
Over the past forty years, David Gartner has seen the sheep market change. Traditionally, livestock was hauled off to market, but in recent years, that process has diversified. While 50-60 lambs are still hauled off to market, “I got a guy I just met last year and he lives in Mankato, and he's from Kenya. And he has friends in the Mankato area. So it's a local market.” This new demand in Minnesota means the local market wants a different product. “We used to finish the lambs all out to like 140 pounds before we'd market them. Now, they want them fresher, lighter, as much money to pay for lamb, say like my 100 pounds, a lot of them we've been marketed to ethnic people directly right off the farm. Usually, we get like 10 bucks over market price for them. He takes them to another facility and processes them from there so he picks them up live from me right here in the trailer.”
A Spring in Her Step
For Maloree Gartner, springtime means stepping up for lambing season. “I still have my full time job but I come up here. I don't do morning chores he (Marvin) does but I do night chores and sometimes late at night.” With lambs being born days, weeks, and months apart, Maloree also assists in moving the groups of lambs from area to area. Like her father David, she’s always had sheep farming in her life. “ I'd like to continue the family tradition and continue raising sheep and crops.” She says that being involved in farming allows her to work with her father and grandfather, but she also believes the future of farming is bright. “There's a lot of technology involved, but I see good things gonna happen with more markets.”
No Spring Chicken
For Marvin Gartner, he still loves being active with farming, especially, “Getting out in the fields and working with machinery and doing that kind of thing.” When lambing season comes around, he finds himself quite busy. “It's every four hours we try to check them, and I haven't missed a night check at three in the morning since the end of January.”
While lambing and planting might be the same as it was in the 1950s, he’s seen a lot of change. From the size of the equipment to the size of farms, Gartner describes this change. “Now, you know, farms have grown from 80 acres to 1000s. Now, you know, in comparison to what people back then farmed maybe 80 or 160 acres or 240 was about the biggest. I mean, it's really growing.”
Marvin also claims he’s living on borrowed time, which makes long hours during lambing season tolerable. After a stack of bales collapsed on Marvin, his son David had to carefully extract his father by removing the large bales with a skid loader only to discover that his father had left an impression in the dirt after they removed him.
Having seen elder relatives cash out their properties, Marvin also understands how difficult it is for young people to enter farming. Regarding his own grandchildren staying involved with farming, he felt it’s “a good opportunity for them to do something like that. I guess they have to do what they love in life. You know, if they don't like it, then they'll have to do something different.”
While April showers bring May flowers, fall rams bring those precious spring lambs. Until autumn, the Gartner rams wait for their big day in a separate building.
Ada also lends a (paw) on the Gartner farm and is trained to wrangle the sheep from one pen to another on command.
(Originally Published with the Maple River Messenger).
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