District Sheep Producer Meetings

District 1
(Kent, Essex, Lambton, Elgin & Middlesex counties)
Normally meets the first Thursday of every month at the Coldstream Community Centre in Coldstream at 8:00 p.m. Contact John Barnett for more information at
(519) 965 2320. District 1

There are no District One meetings in June or July, but
be sure to mark Saturday August 30th on your calendar. We
will tour the dairy sheep farm of Axel Meister and Dr. Chris
Buschbeck. They have generously offered to barbeque lunch
for us. All interested producers should meet at Coldstream at
9:00 a.m. We will carpool to Markdale. It is about 3 hours
and 15 minutes from Coldstream. Members should wear
clean clothes and plastic boot covers to tour the farm. Please
notify Bill Duffield (E-mail duffield@Xcelco.on.ca/ or phone
519-899-2663) before Saturday Aug 23rd if you plan to
attend.
The District One AGM will be held on Thursday September
4th at Coldstream. Jennifer Fleming of CSF will be speaking.
The October meeting will take place in Sarnia at the farm of
Barb Dickenson. A demonstration on shearing will be done by
Peter Kudelka. November 6th Anita O’Brien will be speaking
to us. Please check our website at http://osma_district_1.
tripod.com/ for further details on upcoming events.
The Middlesex Lamb and Sheep Producers Association will
hold another lamb barbeque this year at Coldstream on Thursday
August 21st. District One will donate $200 toward the cost of
preparing the lamb. Anyone interested in tickets should contact
Marilyn Walker at 519-287-5637.
We would like to extend a sincere thank you to the
following speakers who have made this year’s meetings so
informative. They include: Norma Collett, Dave Thomas,
Anita O’Brien, Harold Wagner (of Wagner Orchard &
Estare Winery in Maidstone), DVM Andrew Thompson from
Strathroy, Christoph Wand, Bob Comfort, Delma Kennedy
and DVM Anne Levesque of Wyoming. The members of
District One are grateful to these talented people for sharing
their time and expertise. In closing we wish everyone a safe
and happy summer. Perhaps some members will meet at the
Classic in July.

District 2
(Grey & Bruce counties)

Normally meets the first Thursday of the month at 7:30 p.m. For more information contact Steve Ernewein 519-392-8624 or Keith Grein at (519) 369-2189 after 6 pm or email - mk.grein@bmts.com

The District Two Annual Meeting will be held on Thursday September 11, 2008 at 7:30 PM at Sprucedale Agromart. The 2008 International Plowing Match will be held on September 16th-20th in Bruce County near Teeswater. OSMA District Two is involved in two sites at the match. One site will be the Sheep Education tent. There will be approximately 10 breeds of sheep; including milk sheep, shearing demo, spinning and weaving demos. The second site is a collaboration with the other commodity organizations in Bruce County. This tent would be a vendor of meals prepared with commodities grown in Bruce County. District Two will compliment the menu with lamb on a bun. If you would like to help at the match please call Jason Emke at 364-0044 or Steve Ernewein at 392-8624.
District Two held a Lamb Evaluation Day on May 3, 2008 at the farm of Sarel Smit. Thirteen lambs were weighed. (7 under 80 lbs and 6 over 80 lbs). Bill McCutcheon live graded the lambs and explained how to feel the lambs and what to look for. Everyone had a chance to feel the lambs and write their fat and muscle score down. And then the lambs were “Live Ultrasound” by Rebecca Parker for fat and muscle. She explained her ultrasound reading and how to use it when you are looking for a new Ram to improve your flock. The lambs were then taken to Frey’s Custom Meats. On May 7 we saw the same lambs hanging in the cooler. Bill then scored the lambs on the rail. We were given May 3 data and May 7 data on paper to compare. Bill explained the rail grading to us. Tony from Holly Park Meats was there on May 7. As a buyer he told us what he is looking for in a lamb, and that we need to produce more lambs. It was a learning experience for everyone.A big thank-you goes out to Sarel Smit and Percy Harristonfor organizing this event, to Glen Porteous for bringing Rebecca Parker and to Bill and Tony for sharing their knowledge.

The Grey Bruce Sheep Farm Business Management Association meets the last Tuesday of the month at the Grey County Agriculture Services Centre in Markdale at 7:30 pm. They are information meetings for sheep producers. For more information on their next meeting contact

Normally meets the third Wednesday of each month, from September-April at the Tradition Insurance Building in Sebringville at 8 p.m. Contact Neil Mesman for more information at (519) 462-2423.