breeds

[freewheat]

I agree as well. Far too few people take
the sheep industry seriously. Here we
have an item that we are a net importer
of, yet our average flock size is what?
Something like 30 ewes. For such an easy
to grow into stock option, the
stagnation is holding us back. I too am
planning on expanding big time. lol I
have 7 ewes right now, but need more
fences. I figure I have the room for 5
or 6 hundred in the long term, just
using existing pasture and rough areas
on my farm.

We need more lambs!!! That is without a
doubt.

[kato]

Agree. On our place, the flock will grow as the fence does.

[DogPatch]

There are too many flocks out there that have too many different breeds. There is too much variation between each lambs. How does a producer put together a package of lambs, of a sufficient quantity to get a good price from any buyer. Having consistency across the whole flock is going to make the producer more change in the long run.

[freewheat]

Good point, dogpatch. Too many
icelandics crossed with dorpers crossed
with shetlands, crossed with ramboullet.
So true.

It just seems to me that sheep
production is a cottage industry almost,
where retirees, "pet people", and the
"sheep are cute" people have a large
stake in the production of western lamb
in Canada. There are too few commercial
operations that take it seriously. Not
knocking those that want sheep, this is
all great, but we simply need more
serious producers. For whatever reason,
cattle are king, and sheep are seen as a
poor alternative.

Why is this? How can it be fixed? How do
we grow the industry? How do we get more
commercial flocks? Why are there so few?

I know for me, when people find out we
are getting into sheep, the first
question usually is either, "for wool?"
Or else it is about coyotes.

IMO regarding coyotes, a lot of the
answer is not fiddling around with cheap
and low and crappy fences. A fence is a
30 year investment, so put something
into it!!! Build it tall, build it
tight, build it strong! Compared to
grain farming, throwing up a decent
fence is pocket change relative to the
input costs, and the machinery costs in
the grain industry. So many balk at the
costs of a flipping fence! yet a fence
is a long term investment, the heart and
soul of a sheep operation, in my view.
you are not ever going to keep EVERY
coyote out, but if people would not
chince out on fencing, coyote losses
could be drastically reduced. Guard dogs
as well.

To my mind, predator control is a major
reason more do not enter the industry.

Any other reasons you all see?

[oldwest]

One other reason people will not get into sheep is still the stigma that it isn't manly and your no 'rancher' unless your just a cattleman,i am into both now but when i first got sheep i was the brunt of many jokes and allmost one fist fight or two.People are taking me seriously now as we grow bigger and we are constantly promoting the industry and oh ya i sold all of my butcher lambs locally,mostly to the people who laughed at sheep.

[kato]

My husband, cattle guy through and through, was not convinced when I said I wanted sheep. He humoured me though, mainly because we have a lot of wasted potential grazing around the yard, and he saw the benefit of making use of it. We were amazed when we measured the farm yard, and it was 13 acres. And that's without even looking for pasture that the cows were using. Lots of room to expand around here. This first year is small in order to find out if we even like having them.

What surprised him the most was that he actually likes the sheep. He was prepared, and planning not to, but the little critters won him over. If I can turn a profit with this crop of lambs, then he will be convinced totally. Then the flock can grow.

Coyotes are not a worry with five donkeys (my other sideline) in the yard. The local coyotes know where the fences are, and stay on their own side. My jack has them trained. LOL

[tweaker101]

Kato... I keep getting asked by my wife when can
we get some sheep by reading some of the posts
on here I think we can proceed... Just need to
attend a sheep class? And throw up some fence.
As I read the posts about fencing I'm guessing
just spend he money and put up page wire
fence?. I think I would have the sheep separate
from our cows ...could only imagine what the area
folks would say...lol....they thought I was crazy for
bale grazing this winter...so ya back to the sheep
an cows together... Na I'm thinking it would be
one big shit show.....cows and sheep doing figure
eights around the wife and I...and her yelling at
me....separate pastures is the plan..

[Bez]

Breeds - well, we run a main family of Rideau Arcotts. These are pure bred registered. Familiy #1

We cross them with registered Dorsett to get the second family (F1) - We keep all the females out of this group to provide replacements and we sell the ram lambs. Once we get to where we want to be - somewhere around 400 breeding ewes, we will sell everything except the replacements. Family #2

We keep the F1 girls and breed them to Texel. We sell everything we get from this family. Family #3

While I do not care what breed you run, I do believe you need to count upon a multiple birth scenario or you will simply carry on and not make the profit you would like to make.

We do breed out of season and for that reason we went with Arcott - known for that ability. There are others that do this as well. If you do want to make money in sheep, I believe you need to have this ability - it allows you to have anuimals for sale year round.

We routinely have triplets and sometimes we have quads. This does mean a little more management - but (ducking!) what are wives and kids for anyways? LOL

If a first timer gives us a single - she gets a diagonal line drawn through the box beside her number. If she gives us a twin or better the next time around she is forgiven. If she gives a single the second breeding the next diagonal line means she goes to the big pasture in the sky.

Breed for multiples and you will make money

Finally - they go well with cows. We run them together at times with no trouble at all. When we want to catch them we go and put a pail of grain in the middle of a panel pen and they all come in through an opening that is too small for the cattle to enter - we cut the bottom off of one panel - run them into the trailer and away we go.

Best to all

Bez