B2 — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
FLOWERS
Continued from Page B1
she has enough plants in
bloom, she sells bouqets at
local stores and at the farm.
Also, Merrigan will have
“fl ower bar” events where
visitors will be able to
choose from a collection of
fresh-cut fl owers.
“People will be able to
build their own bouquets
with fl owers they picked,”
said Merrigan, who has
long dreamed of starting
her own fl ower business.
A Community Sup-
ported Agriculture pro-
gram is also part of Mer-
rigan’s business model.
People participating in it
pay a fee and then will be
provided with fi ve bouquets
over a span of fi ve months
each year. Merrigan will be
selling 15 CSA member-
ships this year.
A lift from the FFA
Merrigan started her
business with help from
three members of Imbler
High School’s FFA chapter,
freshmen Tayler Bowles,
Izabel Martin and Alex-
BUSINESS & AG LIFE
THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022
plants, soils and equip-
ment,” Merrigan said about
her husband’s contribution.
The new business owner
also credits advice she is
receiving from the Small
Business Development
Center at Eastern Oregon
University with giving her
a boost.
“They have been really
helpful,” she said
MORE INFORMATION
Merrigan’s Fresh Cut Flowers
can be contacted via its
Facebook page or via email,
smerrigan440@gmail.com.
andria Monger. The stu-
dents are doing marketing
work for Merrigan and have
taken steps like helping
create a logo for her busi-
ness, establishing a price
range for her bouquets and
creating ads.
“They have provided
invaluable help,” she said.
This is fi tting — Mer-
rigan has been a major
Imbler High School FFA
booster for years.
“Stacey Merrigan is a
superstar. She is one of
the most loyal supporters
of FFA I can think of,”
said Imbler School Dis-
trict Superintendent Doug
Hislop.
The business owner said
she has enjoyed working
with Martin, Monger and
Bowles.
“I am learning from
them and they are learning
from me,” she said.
Monger said assisting
A labor of love
Dick Mason/The Observer
Stacey Merrigan, owner of Merrigan’s Fresh Cut Flowers, on Monday, May 9, 2022, shows some of the
blooms she has grown this spring on her farm in Imbler.
Merrigan has been a tre-
mendous experience.
“To be able to help
someone start something
she has always dreamed
of is exciting,” the IHS
freshman said.
The students presented
a report on their work with
Merrigan at the state FFA
convention in Redmond
in March. The report pro-
pelled the IHS team to a
second-place fi nish in the
Career Development Mar-
keting competition. J.D.
Cant, the school’s FFA
adviser, said that the sec-
ond-place fi nish was espe-
cially notable considering
the team was competing
against teams composed of
older students.
Merrigan said that in
addition to the school’s
FFA chapter, she has
received a lot of help from
her family, including her
husband, Bill, the general
manager at Blue Moun-
tain Seeds in Imbler, which
is not associated with the
fl ower business.
“He is my agronomist.
I go to him with questions
about everything including
To compensate for
the absence of a green-
house, Merrigan is set-
ting up garden tunnels,
above-ground plastic
covered tube-like struc-
tures that warm the soil
in the spring, providing a
microclimate fl owers can
thrive in.
“They keep them warm
and protect them from the
wind,” she said.
Growing fl owers is
never a chore for Merrigan
and she hopes her fl owers
can brighten lives.
“It is very much a labor
of love,” she said. “I want
to bring joy into the lives
of others. We need more
joy, especially with the
state of the world today.”
SHEEP
Continued from Page B1
University, then returned to
practice as an attorney in
Eastern Oregon.
Both categories — those
in full-time farming and
those with off -farm careers
— participate in the family
board and council, con-
tributing their skills and
knowledge to the farm.
Sharing responsibility
among the family members
has kept the business in
its best shape, said Corey,
though it has demanded “a
great deal of coordination
and communication.”
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
A grain elevator bears the name of the family-run Cunningham
Sheep Co. at its headquarters in Nolin.
‘Wool was king’
Early in the farm’s his-
tory, Cunningham Sheep
Co. had about 25,000
sheep, and the farm has a
long history of selling its
wool exclusively to Pend-
leton Woolen Mills.
“Back then, wool was
king,” said Glen Krebs, the
farm’s lead sheepherder.
As markets changed
through the decades, Cun-
ningham Sheep Co. whit-
tled down its fl ock — the
farm now keeps about
4,000 ewes, plus rams and
lambs — and expanded into
other commodities.
In the 1960s, the family
added cattle and now raises
1,200 cow-calf pairs annu-
ally. The family also diver-
sifi ed by adding wheat,
timberland and a hunting
operation called Hunt
Oregon LLC.
Since the 1950s, the
farm has increased its
acreage by 60% to 80%.
Steve Corey showed
the Capital Press a map
of the family’s holdings:
private land, timberlands
and federal grazing lands
extending across Uma-
tilla County and parts of
Morrow and Union coun-
ties. Corey estimated the
farm is larger than 75,000
acres.
Although the farm now
produces a diverse mix
of livestock, wheat and
timber, many locals still
know Cunningham Sheep
Co. best for what gave the
farm its name: sheep.
Fine-wooled
Rambouillets
Wool remains a major
part of the farm 149 years
after Cunningham started
the business.
The Coreys and Levys
raise Rambouillet sheep,
a large, white-faced breed
that produces fi ne wool soft
enough to be worn next to
the skin.
“Shearing is a busy
time,” said Krebs.
The lead sheepherder
ascended a ramp to the
upper story of a barn lined
with shearing stations.
Annually, he said, the
farm pays a shearing con-
tractor to bring in several
shearers.
Shearing is fast-paced.
Shorn sheep are guided
down chutes resembling
slides at a park, while han-
dlers classify the wool’s
quality before it’s mechani-
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
Oswaldo, a sheepherder at Cunningham Sheep Co., marks sheep with chalk-paint.
cally stuff ed into bags.
When Krebs was
growing up, his family
stuff ed round burlap bags,
often 7-1/2 feet tall, with
wool manually rather than
mechanically.
“When I was little,
they’d throw me in a bag
and I’d have to work my
way out,” said Krebs.
He chuckled.
Krebs is not part of
either the Levy or Corey
side. The family hired him
because he has a lifetime
of industry knowledge;
Krebs’ family also runs
an Eastern Oregon sheep
business.
The farm hired Krebs
in 2013 after their former
Basque lead sheepherder,
Juan Erice, retired.
To the mill
Once wool is bagged,
it’s shipped to Pendleton
Woolen Mills.
The mill and farm have
a longstanding relationship
built on trust. For decades,
the mill has committed
to buy the farm’s wool at
the best price it can aff ord
to off er. Pendleton’s wool
buyer does a visual inspec-
tion, talks with the farm
about the year’s clip and
negotiates a price.
“If you want to call it a
handshake relationship, you
can call it that,” said Dan
Gutzman, who manages
Pendleton’s wool buying
department. “But it’s one
that’s withstood (decades).”
Corey, of Cunningham
Sheep Co., said Pendleton
Woolen Mills has been
loyal, buying the farm’s
wool even during diffi cult
years.
Many factors drive the
international wool market.
Tariff s, disease outbreaks,
drought and shipping con-
gestion all impact pricing.
Pendleton Woolen Mills
consumes about 2.4 million
scoured pounds of wool
annually — 40% from
domestic growers, 60%
from overseas — and Cun-
ningham is one of its lon-
gest-standing suppliers.
Wool, however, isn’t
the farm’s main mon-
ey-maker. More profi t
comes from selling meat
and breeding stock.
Registered,
commercial fl ocks
Twilight lapped across
the hills like a quiet tide
near Pilot Rock, south of
Pendleton.
Krebs, with help from a
Border collie, led a pair of
300-pound rams through a
gate.
These rams belonged to
the farm’s registered fl ock,
composed of sheep with
fi ne wool and white faces
that meet Pendleton’s wool
standards.
Each year, Krebs said,
he sells about 100 top-
quality rams as breeding
stock.
Animals that don’t meet
the standards are in a com-
mercial fl ock, many of
which end up as meat.
Krebs keeps track of
each animal’s pedigree with
electronic ear tags, which
the farm started using four
years ago. He said the tags
provide him with data for
targeted breeding.
Plus, Krebs said, he
anticipates the meat market
is moving toward con-
sumers demanding more
traceability — tracking
with ear tags which animals
have received antibiotics,
for example.
“Traceability is coming,”
said Krebs. “We’re trying
to get ahead.”
The sheep business’
main profi t comes from
selling lamb through Stan
Boyd, based in Eagle,
Idaho, the farm’s broker for
the Rocky Mountain Sheep
Marketing Association.
Krebs said he’s pleased
that demand for lamb is on
the rise.
“I’m really optimistic,”
said Krebs.
He was interrupted by
an uproar of dogs barking.
Cunningham Sheep Co.
has about 40 farm dogs,
each with diff erent roles —
working, herding, guarding
— across a range of breeds
including Border collies,
Turkish Kangal shepherds
and Great Pyrenees.
Some of the dogs protect
sheep from predators.
Main challenges
Predator pressure is one
of the main challenges the
farm faces.
Last year alone, the farm
had 17 confi rmed sheep
kills and two dog injuries
from wolves. Those were
just the confi rmed cases.
According to Corey, “It’s
tough to get a wolf preda-
tion confi rmed.”
The family says the
farm is aff ected by the
state’s decisions on wolf
management.
“It’s not us making those
rules. We just live and deal
with them as best as we
can,” said Corey.
To repel wolves, the
farm has increased its
number of guard dogs.
Krebs said the dogs take
diff erent roles. Some chase.
Others bark. Yet others
remain close to the sheep.
Krebs said he doesn’t
assign the dogs their roles;
they decide.
“It’s like they have a
coff ee every morning and
say, ‘You go here, I’ll go
there,’” Krebs said with a
laugh.
The farm faces other
challenges, too: the econo-
my’s unpredictability, envi-
ronmental regulations, the
ongoing agricultural labor
shortage and concern over
the new farmworker over-
time pay law.
Despite the challenges,
Krebs said he’s fortunate
to have a team of about
six H-2A migrant guest
workers who follow the
sheep on the range.
“We’ve got a terrifi c
team, couldn’t have better,”
said Krebs. “They’re just
go-getters.”
Lambing barn
The next morning,
Corey, Krebs, the herders
and a veterinary student
met at the lambing barn in
Nolin, between Pendleton
and Echo.
Beside the farm’s Nolin
headquarters, the Umatilla
River, brown from rain-
storms, meandered past
cottonwoods and hills that
buckled into each other.
In the river valley stood
a grain elevator and nearby,
the lambing barn.
According to the Okla-
homa State University
Extension Service, when
Rambouillets lamb, only
20% to 35% have twins.
This spring, Cunningham
Sheep Co. birthed between
4,500 to 4,800 lambs out of
3,800 ewes — a good rate
considering the breed and
last year’s drought.
Inside the barn, Leah
Swannack, a Washington
State University veterinary
student doing a mixed-an-
imal rotation at the farm,
was moving between jugs
— stalls holding a single
ewe and her young —
checking their health.
The Coreys and
Levys say they’re inten-
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tional about surrounding
themselves with good
veterinarians.
While Swannack did
health checks, guest
workers labeled ewes and
lambs with colored chalk-
paint: blue for singles, red
for twins. The farm also
uses letters with diff erent
meanings: for example, “A”
for “ayuda,” Spanish for
“help,” painted on a lamb
needing attention.
Even bummer lambs
have their own warm, clean
space with individual pens.
Krebs jokingly calls this
“The Hilton.”
With such a large opera-
tion, it’s crucial to be orga-
nized, he said.
The future
With younger faces
on the family board and
council, Corey said he
looks forward to seeing
how the farm innovates in
the future.
Younger family mem-
bers have bounced around
ideas that may take
shape, including har-
vesting more of the farm’s
timber, acquiring a small
lumber mill and buying
more land to expand
pheasant hunting. Young
family members have also
talked about marketing
lamb diff erently, with
more direct sales under
a brand name such as
“Cunningham Lamb.”
At this point, those ideas
are still just that: ideas.
But as new generations of
the family take leadership,
Corey anticipates the farm
will adapt with the times.
In the meantime, con-
sumers continue to see the
farm’s ripple eff ects far
and wide: at the grocery
store, on the landscape and
woven into cloth in Pend-
leton Woolen Mills’ 35
retail stores.
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