In April 2004, I finished my degree in Agricultural Science at the University of Guelph and headed home to Powassan to start farming with my parents. In 1996, after 21 years of milking Holsteins, the switch was made to beef cattle and the first group of 26 Rideau-Arcott ewes were introduced to the farm in December 2003. Currently, my parents and I run 85 cow/calf pairs along with 300 Rideau ewes on an intensively managed forage based feeding system with maximum utilization of pasture throughout the year. By 2006 we are planning to expand the cattle herd to 120 cow/calf pairs and the ewe flock to 400 ewes.
Why did we decide to expand into sheep? Well, as a forage-based farming enterprise, the introduction of sheep would make our grazing rotation more effective in terms of pasture utilisation and control of parasites, as well as not leaving “all our eggs in one basket”. Why Rideaus? Primarily because this was the first breed I was exposed to giving me a sense of familiarity when I planned to start my own flock. However, I was very much interested in the prolificacy of the Rideau and the ewe’s ability to raise multiple lambs. I felt this was an important trait mainly because more lambs mean more income. The ewes that have been purchased to build up the flock are currently on an accelerated lambing system and will eventually all lamb once a year (in May) in a renovated bank barn for lambing, which can double as a finishing barn in fall and early winter. Now, some of you may think it is odd that I have chosen Rideaus for their prolificacy, but only plan to lamb once a year. I see it this way: Rideaus will be just as prolific on this system (due to a longer recharge period) and for cash flow, our lambs will be marketed at different times than the cattle. Also, as long as we can get past the first 48 hours of a lamb’s life without it dying or becoming ill, then half the battle is won and they can go into a hardening pen/yard.
The advantage of farming here in the north is that we are able to produce lots of high quality, low cost forage to feed year round whether it is pasture, stockpile or hay. And it does not make economic sense to accelerate ewes on a grass-based system, having to import vast amounts of grains and breed out of season. True, the consistent cash flow isn’t there as well as the opportunity of seasonal markets, but with lower production costs, there are ways to make it work.
Building a successful sheep and cattle enterprise, in my mind, boils down to what I am willing to put up with and eliminating stupidity and inefficiencies wherever possible. When I say stupidity, I mean on the part of the ewes (people are a different issue!). If a ewe causes grief she gets a notch in the ear indicating that no replacements will be kept from her and she gets put on the potential cull list. It works as a “3 strikes and you’re out” system. Grief causing acts range from poor mothering ability and/or milk production all the way to cannibalism or deaths (laying or stepping on). History seems to indicate stupidity to be hereditary and the only way to strengthen the entire group and reduce headaches and labour costs is to cull aggressively. Having said that, ewe-lambs are given a bit more slack, but if the stupid factor is too high, the notcher makes a guest appearance; 3 strikes and they’re out. If she doesn’t pull her weight then she’s gone—that simple, young or old. I admit that this particular management tool is not ideal for a growing flock and/or ewes that need to pay for themselves in a short period of time, so even if they should be culled, they may have to stick around.
The other key component of our livestock operations is efficiency in all facets of the operation. The more time a person spends doing something where there is a faster and/or better way of doing it, the less time is spent observing the flock for problems that can be corrected and more importantly time away from family or relaxing. Obviously on a pasture-based system good fencing is a must to ensure excellent pasture management and feed for the ewes. But in a confinement setting where the ewes will be late gestation/early lactation, I believe that the best way to feed is by using head-rail type feeding systems. It doesn’t matter if it is grain, hay, silage or TMR, it can be done. We learned this when we built a fence-line feeder for the cows. Instead of filling single bale feeders for 30 minutes each day, we are now able to feed 100 head in under an hour, and the feed lasts 4-5 days. It is a situation of what you have and what you can work with, but a look 2, 5 or 10 years down the road needs to be taken to see what is worth it and where you want to go.
When it will come to finishing our lambs after they have come off of grass, no lamb will stay longer than it absolutely must. Whether it means selling them light because of a strong market or getting rid of lambs that just don’t want to grow. I see no point trying to grow a market lamb to 100 lbs if it will take too long to get there. It just costs too much to do that in terms of time, labour and feed.
The other biggest time gains can be made with a good handling facility. Once again, we learned this with the cattle: if they don’t flow through, and there’s lots of yelling, screaming, shortened tempers and fatigue on the part of the animals and the handlers, then something is wrong. We are at the point where one person runs the scale/chute and the other keeps pushing up cattle. It needs to be the same way with the sheep flock. With a little bit of extra time here and there left over, I have enough time to just stand and watch the animals which I enjoy doing. Many a time have I spotted something wrong or very positive about a lamb or ewe, which in the end can mean saving a lambs life or choosing a good replacement lamb.
And what about flock protection? Before learning the hard way, we invested in two guardian dogs and acclimatized the flock in the barn before they went to pasture. The Akbash female and Pyrenees male have been worth every penny, meaning we haven’t lost a single head to predation saving us good money in the long run and avoiding battles for compensation too.
So, my plans for our ewe operation seem great on paper and in theory should work, but there are always a few challenges along the way that throw a kink in the plans. So far I’ve had the usual problems like all other shepherds: some stillborn lambs, mummies, ewes rejecting lambs, pneumonia and so on. In our May/June lambing group we have had some problems with Toxoplasmosis and ewes aborting and/or having weak lambs at birth, so needless to say our mortality in this lambing group has been quite high. All these problems are correctable or can be minimized with proper management adjustments. There are always other shepherds and organizations that can help and having some well-established shepherds at my disposal to help trouble shoot has been a valuable asset for myself thus far. However, the biggest hurdle that I have had to overcome was getting a financial institution to lend me the money to finance the purchase of a neighbouring family farm and the renovations and herd/flock expansion to go along with that. It has been a very frustrating process securing financing and without the solid backing of my parents, financing would have never been an option. The problem that all financial institutions have (even agricultural lenders) with a young guy like myself is lack of assets and income straight out of university. Education, management skills and a love for farming mean nothing to any money lending organization. When discussing options with our banker, the benchmarks he used were basically unrealistic. Once again full-time management is not enough to convince lenders that there are reachable numbers beyond the current standard benchmarks, especially for sheep. But thanks to the help of my parents to whom I am grateful and with some hard work to convince a certain lending institution of the possibilities in the sheep industry, our farming enterprise will be on schedule in terms of our expansion plans.
As a new shepherd in the industry, I have also made the effort to get involved where I can in the sheep industry. I believe that for the industry to move forward and to stay strong, shepherds, especially young shepherds like myself who want a real future in farming, need to take the time and be active in our industry whether it is at the local, district or even the provincial level. I think it is up to each individual producer to contribute any way they can to our industry (not a “sit back and let someone else do it” approach) to keep it strong and allow young and willing farmers like myself to get in.
I would like to thank OSMA for this opportunity to share my farming enterprise with you and would also like to thank those that have helped me along the way thus far.