http://www.greatlakesvalais.com/

Great Lakes Valais, 1443 Eden Gardens Drive, Fenton, MI (2026)

10/13/2026

Say it louder for those in the back!!

🇺🇸🤍🖤🤍🇺🇸 What does it mean to be an AMERICAN VALAIS?

It means FREEDOM and INDEPENDENCE to make the choices that are best for YOU and YOUR Valais Blacknose sheep!

It means having the freedom to use husbandry practices that allow your sheep to thrive in YOUR environment, under YOUR management system, and on YOUR farm.

The American Valais designation isn’t determined by whether you choose to dock tails—or how long you dock them. It isn’t about how much fleece you want to maintain or show your sheep in, whether you wear a lab coat, or whether you choose to use a Spitti ram or IVF the heck out of a Spitti ewe! And it is not about fullbloods/purebreds vs. percentages!

American Valais is about GENETICS, PEDIGREE, and DOCUMENTATION 📜🧬📃.

The designation is based on DNA parentage verification to validate the percentage and generation of Valais Blacknose breeding, much like the registration systems used for Boer goats, Dorpers, Suffolks, and numerous cattle breeds.

The reality is that registration is about far more than attending a sheep show. It’s about documenting ancestry, preserving pedigree integrity, and giving breeders the information and tools to make informed selection decisions that move the breed forward.

And while we’re talking about showing sheep, let’s acknowledge another reality: washing, special potions, removing felted knots, and carefully maintaining fleece ARE forms of fitting and grooming—just as trimming and shaping fleece are. Different methods, same goal: presenting sheep at their best.

At the end of the day, there are plenty of things in this world worth worrying about—wars, diseases, fuel prices, weather events and input cost for our farms. How someone else chooses to manage, groom, or enjoy their sheep shouldn’t be one of them—that’s their sheep—we are in America they have that freedom.

You should LOVE the sheep you raise, ENJOY raising them, and have the FREEDOM to make the decisions that work for YOUR farm.

So, to each their own! Do what makes YOU happy, what keeps YOUR sheep healthy and thriving, and what moves YOUR breeding program forward.

THAT is the beauty of being an AMERICAN VALAIS! 🇺🇸🤍🖤🤍🇺🇸

10/03/2026

Friendly reminder: horns are not handles. If you hold or move sheep by the horns and they fight you, it’s because horns are connected to the skull and contain sensitive nerve endings and blood vessels. There are several more humane alternatives, like halters or hands under the chin and behind the head… or for the really tame and special ones like GLV Ron Swanson, scratching their chest floor.