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Congratulations
on your well-
deserved retirement Larry.
We appreciate all you have
done for the sheep industry.
We also thank you for the
support you have given our
boys over the years. Hopeful-
ly we will continue to see you
at the National sheep events.
--Jeff, Mary,
Austin & Aaron Held
Tribute to Industry Great
and Past Sale Manager
LARRY MEAD
Larry Mead’s dedication and devotion
to the
sheep industry has been chiseled in stone. What
he did for the sheep industry will only intensify in
value as the years pass. He guided the Midwest
Stud Ram Sale from a struggling beginning until
today—the World’s greatest and most influential
sheep show and sale—Congratulations Larry!
--Tom Burke Suffolks
Larry Mead began with sheep as a 4-H project with a crossbred market lamb in 1949. He became a
Corriedale breeder, but as a teenager and college student exhibited Suffolks for a number of breeders.
Larry joined the staff of the Sheep Breeder magazine in March of 1961.
The Midwest Sale was founded in 1945 but discontinued/cancelled in 1962 due to insufficient entries.
Larry engaged as Sale Manager in 1963. Larry was engaged to re-establish the Midwest Sale. The 1963
Midwest Sale had 123 entries, consisting of Suffolks, Hampshires and Southdowns. In 1988 the Wether
Sire portion of the Midwest Sale was created and staged. It was an immediate success. Within two or
three years Wether Sire Sales were everywhere. Larry also managed numerous other sales around
the country.
Larry served as a consultant to the Canadian Government and played a major role in organizing the
first World Sheep and Wool Congress in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Larry was also the announcer and
sale manager at this event.
In addition to managing sales and magazine work, Larry also served as the announcer for the North
American Sheep Shows for some 25 years. His vibrance would have seats in the stands filled with ob-
servers standing four deep all around the ring. Larry would not only introduce all the exhibitors, telling
about each of them, but their showmen as well… and also other Sheep Industry Personalities standing
around the ring. Larry also served as the announcer for the first ever Ladies Lead Class held during the
International Livestock Exposition in Chicago.
This short bio only scratches the surface of everying Larry Mead did within and for the sheep industry!
(excerpts taken from a Mead bio provided by the United Suffolk Sheep Association)
...Continued from Page 131
Larry Mead cranking a
Chicago Flexible Shaft Co
Mechanical Shearing
Machine - 1992 Big E
