The Southeast Kentucky Sheep Producers Association’s (SEKSPA) large-scale sheep grazing project is located on gently undulating pasture lands in the heart of mountainous Appalachia near Viper (Perry County), Kentucky. The location was once forested mountains, like most of Appalachia, but coal mining companies transformed the terrain in the process of removing the coal. The mining companies then rehabilitated (reclaimed) the land, replacing topsoil and planting extensive pastures that we believe are ideal for sheep production. To find out if we are right, we transported approximately 150 sheep and lambs on May 12, 2023 to a reclaimed Mountaintop Removal Surface Mine Complex located at the head of a tributary of the North Fork of the Kentucky River called Big Branch. The surface mine was reclaimed about 15-20 years ago to a hay and pastureland post-mining land use and is between 3,000-3,500 acres in size. We hope to graze the sheep on the plateau all spring, summer, and into September.

Free range sheep herding may seem like an agricultural practice that belongs to an earlier time, but this approach is still successfully used in many parts of the world today, including the Basque Mountains of Portugal, the Carpathian Mountains of Romania, and the alpine meadows of the Rockies. Mountaintop Removal (MTR) mining has resulted in over 735,000 acres of hay and pasture lands in Central Appalachia and SEKSPA wants to see if large-scale sheep production can be successful in eastern and southeastern Kentucky. This unsung section of Kentucky is a diverse landscape, characterized by beautiful forested mountains, rich bottomland soils, and lush hillside pastures. Yet, farmers and conservationists throughout the mountains are challenged by the many acres of eroded,  unproductive abandoned lands created by decades of natural resource exploitation and neglect. Sheep are well adapted to hill land agriculture and are ideal for improving and maintaining upland landscapes. There is an old saying that “Shepherds build the land.” Due to their small size and small hooves, soil compaction and erosion are minimized, especially on sloping hill land. Because of their preference for many weeds and unwanted plants, they are ideal for vegetation control, especially for the suppression of aggressive, non-native plants that are invading the grasslands created by the reclamation of coal surface mines. Hair sheep, such as Katahdin and Dorper, are the predominant breeds in eastern Kentucky. Katahdin is the breed we have chosen for this project. They are hardy and have the vigor to tolerate the high temperatures expected on the mine site in the summer and we expect them to thrive on the many of the invasive plant species. The land that we have is good for sheep, and the sheep we have are good for the land.

A fulltime herder has been hired to watch the sheep 24/7. His daily work includes moving the sheep and their lambs from one grazing field to another, watching over them during the day, making sure they have access to water sources, and corralling them at sundown. He is responsible for the day-to-day management of the project which includes caring for the herding dogs and guardian dogs that watch over the sheep at all times, especially at night when coyotes and other predators may be a menace. We recognize that predators can be a substantial challenge for the herder. Four bears were caught on camera within 500-feet of the sheep on the day we unloaded them! The guard dogs, a night corral and a constant, watchful eye will be necessary. The sheep camp for the herder is an 18′ x 36′ walled Army Tent donated to the project by a SEKSPA member. It has been set up in a central location on the mine complex. Several anonymous donors have provided funding to hire the herder. Eleven SEKSPA sheep farmers have put a significant amount of time, energy, financing, and sheep into this project to move it forward. Researchers with the University of Kentucky and Morehead State University are collecting data to evaluate the productivity potential of large-scale small ruminate production on the reclaimed surface mine.

Before there was Kentucky Fried Chicken, there was Kentucky Spring Lamb! In the first half of the last century, ‘Kentucky Spring Lamb’ could be found at the top of the menus of 5-star restaurants across the eastern United States. During much of that time, Kentucky was the second largest sheep producing state in the nation and a significant portion of those sheep came out of the bottomland and hillside pastures of eastern Kentucky. While the rich soils of the bluegrass became famous for growing thoroughbred racehorses and big-boned cattle, the proud, prosperous, and independent mountain farms of eastern Kentucky were known for producing high-quality lambs. Free range sheep, along with cattle and hogs, were fattened on American chestnuts and forages in the verdant understory of the mountain forests, giving ‘Kentucky Spring Lamb’ a unique taste and tenderness. Many mountain sheep farmers feel that the region, with its reclaimed mountaintop surface mines abundant with suitable forage, holds great promise and high potential for growth with the return of ‘Kentucky Spring Lamb’ to the marketplace. Raising and herding sheep is not for everyone, and the production of small ruminants is certainly not a panacea or silver bullet for Appalachia’s socio-economic woes. But perhaps large-scale grazing of sheep on MTRs can be one of the many silver buckshot that can be used to provide hope for the mountain people in the wake of the decline of the coal industry. 

SEKSPA works with partners to provide a strong, proactive voice for all southeastern and eastern Kentucky sheep farm families, serve as a resource for information and education for producers, consumers and the sheep and wool industry, and be a catalyst for enhancing producer profitability. Out Big Branch Sheep Camp is designed to be a ‘proof of concept’ project to demonstrate that large-scale small ruminant production of reclaimed Appalachian surface mines can be a profitable enterprise for mountain families. Our hope is to develop a prototype over the next three or four years that will demonstrate the productivity potential and financial viability of a small ruminant enterprise on reclaimed coal surface mines in eastern and southeastern Kentucky. This would be accomplished by aggressively pursuing economies of scale in production and marketing in order to decrease input costs while increasing sales receipts. This would have the desired effect of decreasing financial risks for individual farmer-members. The ‘Sheep on Reclaimed Surface Mines’ project may eventually evolve into an agricultural cooperative. Under this scenario, member-producers could provide animals to the pool from their existing herd/flock or purchase new livestock specifically for this venture. As such, the base unit of investment used for equity determination would be individual heads of breeding stock. If member-producers did not pool adequate animals to meet the targeted stocking rate, additional funds for livestock purchase could be raised from nonmember investors. Nonmember investors would not receive equity or voting rights, but they would be paid a set return on their invested capital. The intent would be for member-producers to retain equity and direction of the organization while retaining 100% of the co-op’s profits within the Appalachian counties of Kentucky. 

We invite you to join us in an adventure on a mountain top in the coal fields of eastern Kentucky.

Want to graze your sheep on the reclaimed surface mine at SEKSPA’s Big Branch Sheep Camp? Donations to our project are certainly welcome and volunteer work at the Camp is encouraged. You can play a major role in the agricultural renaissance of our region! We promise that the work will be challenging, and sometimes perhaps even arduous. But it will be a truly rewarding experience that has great potential for benefiting the people and the environment of the mountains of eastern Kentucky. Call 606-312-5264 for information on how you can become involved in the Big Branch Sheep Camp project.