No Ounce Wasted  Talking to a diversified lamb rancher about farming, marketing, staying afloat on your own and working with Niman Ranch. Cody Hiemke has a BS and MS in Animal Sciences from UW-Madison. His MS work involved using ultrasound to determine the size of the lamb chops in live lambs.He and his wife, Ruth Koepke, have a small farm where they lamb out approximately fifty Shropshire ewes each year. Their target market is to sell stud rams to commercial producers, but they also sell meat and wool off the farm. In addition, Hiemke manages the Niman Ranch Lamb Program and the Pork Production Planning. He also serves on national sheep organization boards, including the American Lamb Board (ALB), the National Sheep Improvement Program (NSIP), the National Sheep Industry Improvement Center (NSIIC, different from NSIP), and the Implementation Team for the Sheep Industry Roadmap. (from wpr.org) ~ More About No Ounce Wasted ~  Profit margin perils, mental health crises, employee challenges. Being a butcher is so much more than cutting meat. No Ounce Wasted is a safe space for butchers to share their successes and woes, so that we can all learn and grow together. Join host Bryan Mayer, butcher, educator and Team USA World Butcher Competition member, as he has honest conversations about staying sharp in the meat business. https://www.thebutchersguild.org/NOW The Butchers Guild Member Community – https://www.facebook.com/groups/290306161876773/ Butchers of America – The Butchers Guild Team USA – https://www.facebook.com/Butchers-of-America-The-Butchers-Guild-Team-USA-256752331467954/     To get more of  No Ounce Wasted, be sure to visit the podcast page for replays of all the shows here: https://www.inspiredchoicesnetwork.com/podcast/no-ounce-wasted/