Fencing

[roly]

Hello boys
I am buying a farm in Ituna Sask next month but ther is no fencing and i whant to keep sheep can you tell me the best sheep netting supplyer and how much it costs

[cakadu]

Congradulations Manitoba!

Wonder if our Ag Minister in Alberta will applaude this Canadian Initiative as much as she hailed the Tyson expansion like it is the second coming.

[Joe-2]

Kato,They were talking about Rancher's Choice and the Dauphin plant deal on CKLQ today.The plant they are looking at was built in Washington State in 1998 and designed for larger cull animals.PERFECT!!!Their proposal is to buy the equipment ,building and everything and move the she-bang up here. This plant has been closed since the BSE fiasco started last May. I think I'll have to sc**** some cash together and buy in to Ranchers choice!!!
I also heard on the radio that Cam Ostercamp is coming to Brandon but I didn't hear when or where.Does anyone know??
Who would I talk to at Rancher's Choice about buying share's?

[Cedar]

Joe-2: Here's a link to their website:

http://www.rancherschoicebeef.ca/index.asp

I see their mailing address is there at least and a contact form. David Reykdahl is the pres (can't remember where he's from right now, but some place around Ashern I believe). In any case, if you get MCPA's Cattle Country paper I believe most of the director's names should be in there somewhere.

[Joe-2]

Thank's Cedar. I have a little money in NISA, and CAIS is of very little use to me, so maybe that cash will go into Rancher's Choice.Dauphin isn't THAT far away that I can't haul a load or two of cows up there and I always enjoy seeing that north country.
I have never recieved any newsletter,financial statement etc from MCPA.I know that they know I exist because they have been collecting checkoff dollars from me ,though....?
I wonder(tongue in cheek here) if our provincial gov't will suggest raiding the surpluses at Manitoba Hydro and MPIC to provide cash for new slaughter facilities in Manitoba......?
.......BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!
That's OK Mr.Doer. We know our place in the food chain. We will "UP" our standard of living on our own...and "UP YOUR'S TOO".
Another thought before I get to work;Union wages were a big reason that we lost slaughter capacity in Manitoba,years ago.Burns in Brandon is a prime example.I doubt that labor cost's will be much of an issue this time around though.Maple Leaf has managed to set that bar quite low and I can't see the NDP gov't messing with them.The old buddy thing you know.Does anyone realize who one of the major investors in Maple Leaf is????

[kato]

Other than the McCains? I don't know.

You're right Joe, a drive to Dauphin is not a hardship. Stop for dinner at Boston Pizza...nice drive home through the park...dodge an elk or two..bear watch a bit on the way...not a hardship at all.

I sure hope it all works out. We've bought some shares already.

[pandiana]

I am no expect on sheep fencing but did a project last year with hog wire purchased from our Coop store for $80.00. Can't tell you how big the roll was but assume it was a standard length. This was our first experience with hog wire and quickly found out that it must be stretched very tight to work well.

[roly]

Thank you Pandina
It seems expensive is there other fencing i can youse
over here the felds are a lot smaller

roly

[cakadu]

Sheep, like most critters, will tend to stay inside the fence if they have enough to eat, so that is something to take into consideration. Another thing to consider is what sort of predators are present and how aggressive they are - in other words, do you need to fence to keep predators and dogs out?

You can get various kinds of electric fence that is netted - that would be more for temporarily moving them around, but is something else to consider.

There is barbed wire, which is what we have on our perimiter fence and the sheep rarely go through it.

One other thing to think about is the type of sheep you are going to get. We have hair sheep, so they tend to rub on the fence or the side of a building when the hair is coming out - it must be itchy or something, I don't know, but I have often felt that we should put a giant comb out there for them to run along and comb it out.

We have also used what is called field fencing out here, but that is more for inside fences. It is about $50 or so for a roll 48 inches high and about 100 feet long, if memory serves me.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

[topper]

Anybody interested in this plant had better get off their rearends and buy some shares. I know their are a lot of people out their sitting on the fence and thinking well I'll put some cash in when they get it going. It's time to put some cash into this project. I know times are tough and dollars are hard to find but I think we need this plant built. I got a letter from Ranchers Choice today and they will except letters of credit as payment for shares. Once your cow goes through the plant the money will be paid out. So broke is not and excuse. Time for action!!!

[roly]

Thanks for your reply, over here it is all netting for sheep but with it being such a large area over there do you think plaind wire electrified might be cheaper?

Also can you get your lambs sold alright over there? Is there a good demand for them?

Just now we are getting about £50.00 for a 40kg lamb.

Thank you,

Roland.

[cakadu]

You're probably doing somewhat better price wise than what we are over here. I haven't checked the prices for a while, but seems to me they were running in that 80 cent range for market lambs, which for us is about 120 lb or less.

Since the border closure, the lamb market has been in a mess. We had gone through a slump just before the border closure and were actually just starting to recover when the doors slammed shut because of the beef. Lamb should never have been caught in this, but here we sit with no place for the lamb to go really and not a huge domestic demand because we compete with offshore lamb that comes in from New Zealand and Australia.

The Americans liked a bigger carcass - probably 20 lbs (or more) heavier than what we like them here in Canada, so we had a lot of excess meat here that had to be moved, plus dealing with a larger carcass.

For me personally, we direct market our lamb, so our prices haven't been affected, but where we have been hurt is trying to get a processing date. Most places are booked into November, December and beyond, which does not bode well for a direct marketer. This will pass when things start to move again, but until then, it is a bit of a struggle and we are likely downsizing because we just simply cannot afford to feed all the mouths we have now.

As far as the fencing goes, if you have a well-grounded fence, then that should work just fine. You want it to be able to get their attention when they touch it. Generally we have about 5 wires, with the 1st, 3rd and 5th "hot" and the 2nd and 4th ground. Seems to work pretty good because I "tested" it myself one day. Took me a while to get up.

Good luck in your venture.