Key Factors to Consider in Organic Sheep Production
by Lynn Philp, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food
Switching to organic production can be driven by a variety of factors. Often, your desire to produce organic products may resemble many of the factors driving consumers to purchase organic.
No matter what your motivation, making the switch to organic production will require detailed analysis of your current pasture condition, supply of feed, availability of stock, local demand for organic products, market planning, etc.
In the case of sheep production, the key on-farm factors to be considered are:
What is organic?
There are numerous ways to define the term organic. Webster’s Dictionary defines organic as being “of, relating to, yielding, or involving the use of food produced with the use of feed or fertilizer of plant or animal origin without employment of chemically formulated fertilizers, growth stimulants, antibiotics, or pesticides”. Certified organic Market Potential In Canada, we import over 85% of the organic food products we consume leaving huge opportunity to take over the supply of our own markets. Fruits and vegetables account for 40-50% of the organic products available to consumers while dairy, meat, processed products, beverages, and convenience foods make up the rest. Currently, Canadian farmers export over 80% of the organic food products we produce. Across Canada the value of organic grain production is greater than fresh fruits and vegetable sales. Organic food processing is currently small in Canada, but Ontario is poised for expansion in this area. |
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Feed – Canadian and USDA National Standards for Organic Agriculture require 100% organic feed (some non-organic feed may be allowed for special circumstances).
Housing – Animals must be provided with living conditions that enable animals to perform their natural behavioural patterns and thrive in a healthy environment. Sheep must have access to outdoors (while weather permits), shade, shelter, exercise area, fresh air and direct sunlight. Total indoor confinement of sheep and lambs are not permitted.
Stock – to be classified as organic lamb/mutton, must be from animals born and raised on an organic farm. Purchasing of conventional lambs for finishing and sale as organic is prohibited. Animals must be sourced from certified organic breeders or raised from home stock. Non-organic breeder animals can be purchased before the last third of their gestation and the lambs can be raised and sold as organic, but the breeder adults could not be sold as organic.
Health – The use of conventional medication may be permitted only when alternatives are not available or are ineffective in treatment. Do not withhold conventional treatment of an animal to maintain organic status. Animal welfare must always be considered in treatment decisions. Some organic standards allow the use of ivermectin to be used in breeding stock during emergency cases of parasite infestation. The greatest challenge to sheep producers is to manage their flock without the use of synthetic parasiticides.
Parasite Management
Sheep are highly susceptible to parasites since they can graze directly over/around their manure (pelleted manure permits grazing around infected areas). Lambs are the most susceptible since their immunity is quite low.
Goal: The goal of a good organic parasite management program is to minimize the parasite load to a level that will not negatively impact the health or performance of an individual animal. Your goal is not to eliminate parasites completely, but to keep them to a manageable level. Lambs should have some exposure in order to build their own immunity. Producers need to have an excellent understanding of internal parasite management systems – what contributes to parasite burden on pasture; how to minimize that affect; and how to manage the different age groups of sheep and lambs for a successful parasite management system.
Organic Standards: In organic systems most certification bodies will permit the use of parasiticides for extreme cases. Depending on the certification body, the requirements vary from a doubling of withdrawal time, to use only in breeding stock (provided not used in the 3rd trimester or during lactation and resulting offspring will not qualify as organic), to a complete ban on parasiticides. If the certification body permits parasiticide use, it is not recommended for routine use and alternative treatment strategies are encouraged.
Management Strategy:
Keys to reducing parasite load
1. Cull unthrify ewes and those that are
persistently infected with parasites.
2. Select parasite resistant ewes for
breeding (research shows that some breeds are more tolerant to parasite infestation).
3. Treat ewes 4 weeks prior to lambing
with an approved dewormer (each standard will have their own list of acceptable dewormers i.e. botanical dewormers).
4. Shear ewes before lambing.
5. Treat ewes with organic dewormer
before they go on pasture (regularly feeding evergreen branches or garlic can be preventative. Refer to “Organic Livestock Handbook” for a list of organic dewormers).
6. Test fecal samples (fecal egg count) 3
weeks after treatment to measure treatment success, if parasite levels are still too high re-treat.
7. De-worm again when ewes come off
pasture.
8. Use only clean pasture for lambs (pasture that hasn’t been infected by ewes, see pasture management section below).
9. Isolate flock from potential sources of contamination.
10. Provide access to a vitamin/mineral source to compensate for mineral deficiencies in your pasture. Vitamin A, D, and B complex are important in parasite resistance.
11. Do not overpopulate. Parasite levels are 4 times greater when animal density is doubled.
Other factors that impact on parasite load:
Pasture Management – rotational grazing is preferable. With regards to parasite management, 80% of parasites live in the 1st 5cm of pasture. Let sheep graze only to 10 cm from the ground to prevent infection. Lambs should not follow ewes in a pasture rotation. Graze lambs on pasture that has a low parasite load or on clean pasture (pasture that ewes have not grazed for at least a year). Alternate species grazing can help to lower parasite load. Cattle can follow lambs in rotation to clean the pasture of mature larvae. Cattle can also graze pasture to a height of 5cm exposing the parasites to sunlight (kills most parasites). Complete cleaning of pasture requires 3 years rest period.
Moisture – high moisture = high parasite levels. Eggs and larvae develop faster during rainy seasons (spring and fall). Some parasites remain dormant without rain. Larvae can move further in wet pasture. Make sure pastures are well drained.
Temperature – Cold = dormant eggs and larvae (<10(C).
For more information, refer to http://www.gov.on.ca/OMAFRA/english/crops/organic/organic.html for articles on organic production
Organic Livestock Handbook. 2000, Canadian Organic Growers Inc.
The Control of Internal Parasites In Cattle and Sheep. 1997, Ecological Agriculture Projects
Introduction to Certified Organic Farming Second Edition. 2002,
Canadian Farm Business Management Council.