We are Mark and Susan Smith, life long grain and livestock farmers from West Central Indiana.We met showing Southdown sheep at the Indiana State Fair in 1974 and were married in 1978. We have 2 grown children and 3 grandchildren.
Mark has a passion for raising and breeding purebred livestock and all aspects of that business. He is past president of the American Southdown Breeders Association and the International Llama Registry. He has judged sheep & llamas nationally and llamas internationally.
When not working on the farm Susan has worked in the banking industry her whole life and currently works at Northwest Bank as a vice president and trust administrator in their trust department.
We established our llama program in 1994 and as it continued to expand and gain notoriety, we decided to disperse the sheep flock after 31 years of breeding several National Champions and 2 Supreme Champion Southdowns at NAILE and concentrate our efforts on our llama program.
During the past 10 years we have bred, owned or sold over 45 National Champions or Reserve Champion llamas. In 2019 we celebrated our 25th year anniversary raising llamas. Although we had sold many llamas privately on the farm and through sale consignments, we decided to hold our own production sale. Those llamas sold to top breeders coast to coast.
Our lives are not totally consumed by the farm and its many activities. We have been active as 4-H leaders, Farm Bureau, New Hope Christian Church, Community Organizations and Mark served 8 years as a County Councilman. We enjoy traveling to many places in the U.S and foreign countries. Attending our grandkids sporting events also gives us a break from our daily work.
At the 2021 Indiana State Fair we were recognized for 50 continuous years of exhibiting livestock at the fair and given a lifetime pass.
In the fall of 2023 Mark retired from the corn and soybean part of their farming operation to devote more time to raising llamas, attending the grandkid’s sporting events, judging llama shows and do some traveling.