Reading Time: < 1 minute More lamb is being imported because there’s less Canadian product coming to market, says a provincial livestock market analyst. While slaughter rates in federally inspected plants in Western Canada are up nearly 13 per cent this year, they’re down in Eastern Canada as well as in provincial plants in both the East and the West. […] Read more
More lamb being imported into Canada
Has the time come again for Canadian producers to go deep into sheep?
Sheep and goats are challenging beasts but they can offer a way into farming for new entrants
Reading Time: 3 minutes The revival of the small farm has created a new interest in sheep and goats. And although Canadians are not known to be big consumers of lamb, mutton or goat meat, there is a much greater demand than there is product. Canada only produces 40 per cent of the lamb needed for consumers. As the […] Read more
U.S. to move BLM headquarters to Colorado
Reuters — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management will move its headquarters to Colorado from Washington, officials said on Tuesday, sparking ire from conservationists who said the decision would weaken the agency dedicated to managing the country’s vast public lands. The Department of Interior, which oversees BLM, announced the move in letters to key congressional […] Read more
Two Alberta sheep flocks quarantined for scrapie
Two flocks of sheep in Alberta are under federal quarantine after a sheep that lived at both farms was confirmed June 21 with classical scrapie. A degenerative nervous system disease affecting sheep and goats, scrapie is one of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) family that includes Creutzfelt-Jakob disease in people, BSE in cattle and chronic […] Read more
Finding a cause for lameness in sheep
Little research on sheep lameness has been done in Canada, but the incidence can be high
Reading Time: 2 minutes Not a lot of work had been done to figure out why sheep go lame, but some Alberta researchers are working to change this. “We would like to develop a strategy to diagnose lame sheep which can later be used to inform best management practices to treat these animals,” said Wiolene Montanari Nordi, at the […] Read more
There’s opportunity in the lamb sector but only for some
CEO of North American Lamb Company says the future belongs to those who offer consistency
Reading Time: 3 minutes Gary Alexander delivered a message at the Alberta Lamb Producers annual meeting that many didn’t want to hear. “I will tell you right now that the sheep business, in my opinion, is a dysfunctional and declining business and I’m not saying that solely about the Canadian business,” said Alexander, president and CEO of the North […] Read more
Too close for comfort: Farmers recount grizzly bear encounter
Bear makes sheep farm its hunting ground and wreaks destruction before being snared
Reading Time: 2 minutes Bears can wreak havoc on a farm — Norm and Irene Korth learned this the hard way. The couple has a sheep farm in Clearwater County and lamb about 200 head. “About four years ago, we had a grizzly here, but we never did catch him,” said Irene Korth But things escalated this April, on […] Read more
A little bit of Iceland thrives in central Alberta
Icelandic sheep are rare in the province but the hardy breed does well in its new homeland
Reading Time: 3 minutes When Stuart Somerville first started researching Icelandic sheep on the internet back in 2009, he never realized he would fall in love with the animals. He and wife Kayla ended up purchasing two ewes and a ram and bringing them to their farm near Endiang, 150 kilometres southeast of Red Deer, in 2009. Somerville had […] Read more
Merger a game changer for the Canadian lamb sector
New company will produce lambs year round — and that could transform the Canadian sector
Reading Time: 4 minutes A merger of two major players in the Canadian lamb sector is designed to be a game changer for the industry. The deal brings together the country’s largest processor of federally inspected lamb (and also a major feeder) and one of the biggest sheep-farming operations in North America. North American Lamb Company will control lamb […] Read more
Agritourism sustains central Alberta sheep farm
Reading Time: 3 minutes Susan de Rosemond had three strikes against her when she decided to become a sheep farmer in the late 1970s. First, she was an immigrant. Second, she was a woman. And the killing blow? She wanted to be a sheep farmer in beef country. “When I went to apply for my mortgage, the bank managers […] Read more
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