Raising the next generation
By Mel Luymes
People have said it takes a village to raise a child, and in rural Ontario that might look like dedicated 4-H club leaders and community members gathered at a Youth Show and Sale, ready to bid on a kid’s first market lamb.
For the last few years, the MapleHill Auction barn near Hanover has hosted a Youth Market Lamb Show & Sale in October. While it was inspired by the Huron County 4-H Thanksgiving Show and Sale at Brussels Livestock, this sale is just for sheep, and it is open to any youth (aged 9-21) in Grey and Bruce Counties or any member of a Grey-Bruce 4-H Sheep Club (Ripley, Grey Highlands, Hanover, Wiarton or Chatsworth).
“Not everywhere has a Sheep Club,” Theresa Wright explained. “We wanted more kids to have access.”
The sale is more than a transaction – it is a community investment. It has been spearheaded by Jason Emke and Theresa Wright, of Oak Generation Farms, both leaders/volunteers of the Hanover 4-H Sheep Club. Jason and Theresa were both raised through the 4-H program and are passionate about giving their four children the same opportunities to grow through the program.
“The sale is a nice touch for the kids at the end of the season,” says Jason. It brings the community together to support the youth and see the sheep they’ve been working with that season. “They typically get bids double what they would if they just shipped to a sales barn,” he adds. When they register, they need to have reached out to at least one potential buyer to invite them to the show.
There is also an educational component for the young exhibitors, learning about sheep shearing, various breeds, and parts of the industry. In the first year, not only did Ab Carroll himself volunteer to auction the show, but he also taught the kids how to do an auction chant and had them up on the mic. It was an experience they wouldn’t soon forget.
Last year, the sale was held on October 4 at MapleHill Auctions with Carl Wright running the auction. There were 21 registered buyers, with 13 lambs exhibited and sold for an average of $10.15/ lb. Not only do the buyers support the event, but there are also sponsors involved in putting it on. Gold sponsors were Dynamic Plumbing & Heating, Elora Road Meats, the Canadian Cooperative Wool Growers (CCWG) and McClure Agro, with additional sponsorship from Ontario Sheep Farmers - District 2 and Ontario Sheep Farmers, Bentinck Packers, Howick Mutual Insurance Company, Lewis Land and Stock, Jones Feed Mill and Davishill Nursery. Huron Tractor also supported the event by paying each of the youth’s entry fee. Farm Credit Canada (FCC) and RBC are additional sponsors; they are, respectively, Jason and Theresa’s day jobs.
Jason is passionate about Ontario’s sheep industry and especially about the opportunities in Grey-Bruce. He is Chair of Grey Bruce Farmers Week’s Sheep Day (held on January 10 this year) and was the recipient of OSF's Emerging Leader award in 2024.
There are 108 sheep producers in Bruce County and 169 in Grey; together they have an economic contribution of nearly $57,000,000 – Jason did the math. He is chairman of the local Ontario Sheep Farmers (OSF) board and, as a lender, he also has a good understanding of farm finance across commodities. For young people wanting to get into livestock, small ruminants like sheep and goats are likely their easiest entry option, and there are still so many opportunities to grow Ontario markets to their full potential.
New Canadians aren’t accustomed to cow’s milk or beef, Jason explains. OSF has done great market research to understand exactly what type of lamb cuts various consumers want.
“Greeks and Italians want fat lambs at 65 pounds, while our Muslim trade wants them leaner,” he says. And he is proud that it was a lamb burger from Denninger’s Meats that was crowned Ontario’s Ultimate Burger by Meat & Poultry Ontario in October 2025. And again, their People’s Choice award went to a lamb burger by B.J.S. Meats.
“This isn’t the mutton of war times,” Jason explains. “That was cull sheep and all they could afford at the time, but now we are making a premium lamb product.”
Still, you need to know how to cook it right, he admits. For Jason and Theresa, lamb is what’s on the table most every night. And if readers want to know what good lamb tastes like, they can attend OSF District 2’s 21st Annual Lamb Banquet for just $55 on March 27 in Neustadt.
Jason is a fourth-generation shepherd on Oak Generation Farms – a nod to his father’s farm, Tall Oaks Farm– outside of Elmwood. The farm raises breeding stock, so they have a strong focus on genetics and quality. They lamb in January and February, which is typical for sheep, because they can be bred most easily once the days get shorter in September. He explains that lambing year-round requires ewes to be put on a different lighting regime to be bred.
Jason participated in 4-H until he was 21 and fondly remembers the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto in 1992, when he was in the sixth grade. He won the competition overall, and his lamb carcass sold in a live auction for a whopping $340/lb to Denninger’s Meats, after a (very) heated bidding war they had with Knob Hill Farms. Jason walked home with $18,900, which he invested – it became a downpayment for a house in Guelph when he went off to university.
Theresa has been involved in 4-H since she was 11, showing Simmental beef heifers, and often going to the Royal.
“I remember it was like my summer job, showing at all the local fall fairs,” says Theresa. It means hours every day spent with the heifer, grooming it and showing it nearly every weekend.
As exhibitors are judged on their showmanship, the quality of the animal, and their ability to control it, it is quite an investment of time. Sheep must be halter-trained, accustomed to touch, clipped or sheared precisely, and conditioned to walk calmly with the exhibitor. But 4-H is not just about showing livestock, she explains. There are horticulture, crops and cooking clubs as well, and opportunities to grow leadership through running meetings.
“Not only are you building confidence when you’re in the ring showing but also at the meetings,” says Theresa. Now as a 4-H leader, she has seen nervous kids blossom into confident, dedicated young leaders. Working with livestock is another level of self control because the animals can tell if you’re nervous, Theresa explains. “If you’re calm, the animal is calm,” she says.
For Jason and Theresa, 4-H is what helps knit their blended family together. The two knew each other from 4-H when they were kids and were even high school sweethearts. They reconnected in 2018, each with their own children, and married last September. They were given a barn quilt to symbolize the pieces being remade into a whole. And of course, there is a sheep in the quilt.
Together they have four children – Wyatt (17), Ava (15), Mason (12) and Reece (11) – and all are involved in the Hanover 4-H Sheep club, each having their own genetics (Suffolk, Dorset, Île-de-France) within the flock at Oak Generation Farms. Ava’s Dorsets are even the continuation of a breeding line passed down from her grandfather.
The family’s passion has taken them across the country to All-Canada Sheep Classics, loading everyone up in a pick-up truck with the sheep in the trailer. They took a road trip to Richmond, Quebec in 2024 and to Brandon, Manitoba in 2025. They plan to go to Nova Scotia for 2026.
The kids recall the drive to Manitoba being especially boring. “Just rocks and trees, rocks and trees,” they shook their heads, especially when they were out of range of service for their devices.
But the trips were well worth it. Mason won best junior lamb in 2024 and was the champion showman in 2025.
“He is the sheep whisperer,” says Jason. “He could take a wild one, and it just stands for him, while the rest of us would be flat on our a**.”
Mason just shrugs, and says he doesn’t know what the secret is. But Theresa says its about having true confidence and control, keeping his cool. There are even times in competition when the exhibitors switch animals and show something they have never worked with, and that is when it is all about the handler. Jason laughs that he once had to show a horse for a competition.
If you ask Jason and Theresa why they commit so much time to 4-H, they would say it is because it builds kids. And they aren’t the only ones keeping the tradition going into the next generation. They say that many of the competitors they remember in the 1990s are now the parents of their kids’ competitors, and many come out to the MapleHill Youth Market Lamb Show & Sale to support the dedication of the next generation.
“Buyers feel good about supporting the kids,” Jason explains. “And the kids take pride in raising an animal, showing it, and getting a cheque at the end of the day.”
For this coming year, Jason and Theresa hope to host the sale in conjunction with the International Plowing Match running September 22-26 at the Lang’s farm outside of Walkerton. Stay tuned for more details. ◊