Good, George 2012-11 27
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General Interview Information
Interviewee Name: George Good
Additional Parties Recorded:
Date: November 27, 2012
Location: Lubbock, Texas
Interviewer: Robert Weaver
Length: 01:01:29
Abstract
Life, Born in Lancing, Michigan, Father worked for Michigan State from WWII, Father was a WWII veteran, Father was in charge of the horses, Raised in Lancing Eastern, Went to college at William Penn College for 3 years, Main reason for going there was Roy B. Warrick a sheep breeder, It was a little liberal school, Went to Kansas State to get degree in animal science, Met his wife there in Oskaloosa, Wife is from New Hampshire, Married In December of 1967, He has 3 children, Tim, Old and Hannah, They are 44 42, and 38, Went to Kansas City for a physical, Couldn’t get into the army because of asthma, Got a job as a Livestock Marketing Specialist, Michigan Farm Bureau called and hired him, That was in August/ September of 1969, Worked at Michigan State for 35 years, Got the sheep barn manage position, Didn’t really like the farm bureau much, Got an interview to do the job and got it without a resume, They knew his background and experience, Had his degree, Increased the salaries because responsible for more things, Hired college students to help run the sheep unit, The Michigan State flock back in the late 40’ and 50’s was on experimental farm, They were suffix sheep, They purchased a ram from the arcane farms, They had purchased a ram from the University of Wyoming, Easier to get imports through Canada, Pedigrees look like they line bred the sheep, The rams they were using were actually genetically similar, Established a sheep sale, Most of the schools had meet judging teams and livestock teams, First sale was in 1970, They made a good amount of money at the start, They showed their sheep and they had the national championship sheep, The school grew a lot while he was there, They are at 44,000 now, There were about 275-325 majors when he was there, Pre-vet kids required to take animal sciences classes, In 1973 he found new sheep in the west that people wanted more, The prices went up for everything once that happened, Michigan paid $12,600 for a Ram called the King, Bought a ewe the same day for $1800, They inbred and line bred and got really strong sales, Good success showing the sheep, The national show was in Chicago, The national suffix show was moved Louisville, Tax payers were jealous because they thought they were using their money, A lot of people started to raise a lot of 4H rams, There was a genetic flaw in the breed, A spider was a lamb born with a twisted spine and was lethal, They tried to blame it on vitamins and toxic grass, They lost a lot of money because they bred their ewes with rams with the genetic fault, One year out of 60 lambs 25% were spiders, Everyone wanted really tall sheep, They didn’t sell any animals that produced a spider one year, They made sure they told them they weren’t sure if they had the disease, The suffix averaged $700 that year despite the whole genetic default, Artificial insemination wasn’t around then, The cancelled their sale that year, Sheep don’t live very long only 7-8 years, They went from top 5-6 in production sells in 75- 85 and didn’t have a sale in 86, They developed a DNA test for the spider gene, Had the trust and reputation but didn’t have the product to sell, They are in the top 2-3 now, Now they can figure it out by the DNA testing and let you know before, Everyone thought that they had the better deal, The breed itself was very successful, The sheep were inducted into the NSIP (National sheep improvement program), Most board members over last 10 years have been kind of hesitant, Research started to get pushed up, A lot of doors were opened for him by being the Sheppard and manager, Almost all the students under him graduated, He had a place where the students could live, Mostly guys thought, The last two years he let girls stay, When the last group came out to farm most were women, From 1969- 2005 a lot of backgrounds were changing, Fewer from Backgrounds, Tried to develop a flock of sheep with good genetics, The spider thing hit in the 80’s and early 90’s, A lot of people who had the spider gene in their flocks started raising club rams, It really killed the registration numbers, Suffix sheep come from England, Warren Kuhl was friend with him, Was in the organization from the time he was younger, Had a little flock of suffix sheep when he was about 19, They use to inbreed the flocks and ruined the pedigrees, He knows a lot of the older breeders, Moved to Wyoming to be a better grandfather, One of his sons has 3 kids, Rolie Rosenboom
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