Big Tom Perkins grew up on his parents dairy farm that later raised beef cattle in Fombell Pa. After high school he left the farm to pursue a music career as a singer and a musician. After traveling the country with a few different bands for several decades, he returned home in 1996 to run the family farm and continued raising cattle. He soon started implementing regenerative practices with a focus on intensive rotational grazing. In 2017, he added Katahdin sheep to the farm and slowly transitioned to an all sheep operation and enrolled his flock in the National Sheep Improvement Program (NSIP).
Tom runs 150 registered Katahdin ewes on 70 owned acres along with 8 acres that are leased, focusing on production tested breeding stock raised on pasture in a rotational grazing system. Tom grazes 365 days a year. His ewes are broken into 3 groups that lamb at different times of the year to focus on getting lambs off to a good start and collecting data on new borns and mothers. Sheep are only brought off pasture during breeding and lambing times. All ewes are bred to specific rams with the ewe’s weakness being bred to a rams strength. This ensures that the lambs are better than the ewes they came from. Sheep are moved to a new paddock everyday and most paddocks are rested in excess of 90 days. His flock is heavily bred for parasite resistance and gain well on just grazing alone. He sells registered breeding stock, a few freezer lambs along with lambs for the ethnic market.
Today, Tom spends his time moving fence, hosting ‘The Grazing Sheep Podcast’, speaking at grazing events and singing and playing at local churches.
Tom can be reached at,
bigtomperkins@gmail.com or by phone at 724 480 5187
