Cody Heimke has a BS and MS in Animal Sciences from UW-Madison. His MS work involved using ultrasound to determine the size of the lamb chops in live lambs.He and his wife, Ruth Koepke, have a small farm where they lamb out approximately fifty Shropshire ewes each year. Their target market is to sell stud rams to commercial producers, but they also sell meat and wool off the farm.
In addition, Heimke manages the Niman Ranch Lamb Program and the Pork Production Planning. He also serves on national sheep organization boards, including the American Lamb Board (ALB), the National Sheep Improvement Program (NSIP), the National Sheep Industry Improvement Center (NSIIC, different from NSIP), and the Implementation Team for the Sheep Industry Roadmap.