Groverman Shropshires

05/03/2022

Found this yesterday while cleaning out my truck… think I’ll hang onto it❤️
Jamie Bruce

04/30/2022

“What does it mean that an island not much bigger than Kansas or not much more than twice the size of Kentucky should have developed sixty or so breeds of sheep? It means that many thousands of farmers were paying the most discriminating attention, not only to their sheep, but also to the nature of their local landscapes and economies, for a long time. They were responding intelligently to the requirement of local adaption. The result, when such an effort is carried on by enough intelligent farmers in the same region for a long time, is the development of a distinct breed that fits regional needs. Such local adaption is the most important requirement for agriculture, wherever it occurs.”
-Wendall Berry

That’s how Dan Macon opened the kind words he shared about Fred Groverman Dvm last week. Fred was one of those discriminating farmers, but was also much more.

Last Saturday we celebrated the life of Fred Groverman. It was a busy day in Petaluma, as this also coincided with Butter and Egg Days. Fred was the Grand Marshal of Butter and Egg Day in 2015.

The celebration of Fred was a wonderful opportunity to learn more about his impact on the communities wherein he worked and lived. Fred’s impact went far beyond Shropshire sheep and being a vet in the area for decades. For the work Fred did in community health care – including serving on the Association of California Hospital Districts Board of Directors and helping establish the Petaluma Community Hospital and Health Care District - one of the speakers considered him the “most distinguished citizen of Petaluma for the past fifty years.”

As my friend Joe Pozzi said, “he always stood up for what is right.”

I’d like to thank Joe and Dan for allowing me to share what they said about Fred last Saturday.
Joe’s talk: https://youtu.be/XQo6zIybLSE.
Dan’s talk: https://youtu.be/jZMjCB8acCY.
(sorry for the poor audio)

During Dan’s talk, he mentioned the Sheep Stuff Ewe Should Know podcast he recorded with Fred last year. I was reminded of the podcast and listened to it for the first time a week after Fred passed. It was amazing to listen to his voice, hear his laugh, experience his humor and energy, learn more about his history and the 113 years Grovermans lived on the ranch in Petaluma, and clearly realize Fred’s lifelong love of learning and helping others. Give this podcast a listen: https://anchor.fm/sheepstuff/episodes/Legends-Fred-Groverman-egt0fq/a-a2np39d. I listed to it again this morning while working in the barn. (and now I'm listening to Dan talk to James Rebanks)

Miss you, Fred.

04/15/2022

Friends of Fred, we will gather for a Celebration of Life next Saturday, April 23rd at 1pm at the Petaluma Fairgrounds. We hope to see you there.

02/15/2022

I think there were a number of people that followed Groverman Shropshires from the community that Jamie Bruce and I (Cody Hiemke) don't know. Jamie and I were the ones sharing stories about Fred and his sheep to this page.

Fred Groverman Dvm passed away last weekend. We know there are a lot of people out there that will miss him. We will too.

02/16/2020

Cody here.

I left Petaluma at 5am this morning. I just landed back in Madison.

I hugged Fred before I left. He expressed how he appreciates our moments together, and how those moments create lifetime-long memories. They do. They have.

While flying home I listed to a podcast that interviewed one of my favorite shepherds, . Toward the end, Dan mentioned the Shropshires he bought from Fred, and the podcast creator mentioned Shropshires will be covered in a future cast.

Enjoy.

Dan Macon, Flying Mule Farm

02/15/2020

Noon tour

02/12/2020

It's good to be back in California for work, and to see Fred. We woke to three sets of twins out of the New Zealand rams. The total is now nine lambs. Hopefully a bunch more to come this week.

-Cody

05/16/2019

Hi everyone! It's been a bit since the last post.

Fred emailed some ram pictures this morning. I include them here. They show the yearling rams Fred grew out last year.

Groverman Shropshires has over a dozen yearling-and-older commercial rams for sale. These are moderate-framed meat-wagons.

Please reach out to Fred ([email protected]) or me ([email protected]) if you're interested in rams.

04/26/2019

Gorgeous photos from the home of Shropshire sheep.

04/03/2019

Yeh. Another post. We took drone footage of the majority of the Shrop flock late this afternoon. This was my (Cody's) first "herding" of sheep with the drone. We picked up the limping ewes whose feet were just trimmed. As mentioned in the Sunday post, it's been continuously wet in California for a long time.