Most people don't think of sheep as typical livestock for Georgia, but as
Sunshine and Drew Conner found out, the characteristics of this breed
developed in South Africa are ideal for our southern climate and conditions.
From “Mary had a Little Lamb” to “Baa Baa Black Sheep,” sheep have been the subject for many of
our most beloved nursery rhymes. In spite of our songs of lost sheep and bags of wool, we don’t
expect to see Mary’s little lamb in the South Georgia countryside. But on Rockin C Farms near
Mount Vernon, Georgia, fields of grazing sheep are an everyday scene for Sunshine and Drew Conner’s
five-year-old son Luke.
About six years ago, the couple bought a thirty-acre farm and tried to raise Angus cattle as a
profitable hobby. “Unfortunately, the market fell not long after that,” said Sunshine, which, by the way,
is her given name. “My mama said that’s what I was: her sunshine,” she responded when I questioned her
about it.
The cattle were sold, and the couple began thinking about other livestock they could raise. In 2014,
Drew learned that his co-worker David Beckworth had bought some sheep from ESCO Farms run by Kyle
Copeland in Odum, Georgia. At the time, Sunshine, an RN, BSN, was working at Oxley Park in Lyons and
expecting her son. “I wanted something I could manage while pregnant and feel safe with my son near.”
She felt cows and horses were too big and unpredictable, and her husband thought goats were too much
trouble. “He believed they were always getting out of a pen,” said Sunshine.
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