One hundred miles west of Chicago, City Limits Sheep Farm is located on the edge of LaMoille, Illinois. For more than 35 years Tom along with his son Brad, have been raising and showing a variety of breeds of sheep including Montadales, Oxfords, Suffolks and Shropshire. Their first Shropshires were purchased in 1982 from Ken Jorsted of Illinois. With just a few ewes and a stud ram, they were in the Shropshire business. Even though the Shropshires weren’t the first breed on the farm, they quickly grew popular with Tom and eventually became their sole breeding and showing focus. The decision to focus on the Shropshires was made easier because in 1989 they purchased a ram by the name of Holiday from Grant Basting of Illinois. Holiday had stamped his lambs with size and style. It only took two lamb crops to produce City Limit’s first National Champion on a yearling ewe at the 1993 National Show held in Indiana. For the next six years, Holiday consistently sired champion rams and ewes at Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Indiana State Fairs along with Louisville and the Shropshire Spectacular. They continued to use Holiday and Holiday sons until 2003 when a new ram was purchased. Tom and Brad purchased Knockout from Randy Rife at the 2004 Shropshire Spectacular where he was the high selling ram. This ram proved to be just what they needed as they transitioned into slick shearing. Knockout quickly transformed their Shrops from big frame sheep to slick sheared type sheep. Knockout sire the 2006 National Champion Ram and Reserve National Champion Ram along with other state fair and sale winners. In 2008, the breeding rights to Randy Rife’s Duke ram was given to City Limits. With only one lamb crop, Duke made his mark. He produced many good females and a future stud ram that we called Bandit. Bandit went on to produce two National and one Res National Champions. With the switch to more muscular Shropshires they next purchased a ram from VIP Shropshires called X-Cite. This ram was a step in the right direction with adding more meat, muscle and mass but it wasn’t quite enough. In 2015, Tom and Brad traveled to Tom Slack’s in Indiana and purchased Entourage. They looked for this ram to add even more mass and muscle to their larger frame ewes. They were not disappointed. Entourage quickly became one of the most exciting rams in the Shropshire breed siring champions all every major show and sale. Entourage was lost in 2018 but with frozen semen and 3 stud ram sons (Burn Out, Kaboom and Fear Factor) his legacy will live on.

Today, City Limits has a second location. Brad purchased land in rural Maple Park, Illinois which is located about 50 miles west of Chicago. He built a large pole building and now houses about ½ of the Shropshire flock. Currently, they have a ewe flock of approximately 75 Shropshire ewes. They show at a few state fairs, the All-American Junior Show and the National Show along with selling at the National Sale and Midwest Stud Ram Sale. Brad’s wife, Carol, daughter Jaedyn and son Drake are also actively involved in the operation.

Farm visits are always welcomed, so if you are ever in the northern Illinois area, stop by and check out their operation.

Brad's Farm	Tom's Farm