The latest Stat ist ics Canada numbers show Manitoba’s ewe herd is bucking the national trend – but in the wrong direction. Even though Canada’s flock of 813,600 grew by one per cent in 2010 (and replacement lamb numbers for the whole country grew by 7.6 per cent as of Jan. 1), Manitoba sheep numbers
Prices High, But Sheep Numbers Still Slump
Agassiz Lamb Co-Op Aims To Boost Shepherds’ Fortunes
Asmall flock of longtime shepherds has hit the road to recruit members for a proposed lamb-marketing co-operative in Manitoba. Proponents of the fledgling Agassiz Lamb Co-op want to get better prices for their lambs and boost the sheep industry’s long-term fortunes in Manitoba. So far, after two of five scheduled meetings in Brandon and Souris,
Feed Intake Testing Shows Many Cows “Eating For Fun And Wasting Your Money”
Imagine two cows: One tall and lean looking with narrow flanks, and the other short legged, with an enormous gut and girth. Most ranchers would be quick to put the first one on the cull truck in fall, and the other out with the bull on pasture for next year. But appearances can be deceiving.
Loose Horses Die In Highway, Train Collisions
Fifteen horses were killed in two separate incidents near Hargrave and Boissevain last week after they escaped from corrals and ran out onto busy highways. On Feb. 21 at about 7:30 p.m., Virden RCMP responded to a report that 17 horses had bolted from a corral, and stated that six were killed by a passing
Conservation Is Cheaper Than Restoration
What’s the difference between a poor country and a rich one? From the air, sometimes it’s obvious, as in the border between the impoverished – and almost totally deforested – Haiti, and the lush green hills of the much-wealthier Dominican Republic. Clearly, two different management styles are at play along the border between those two
R.M. Of Morton Plans Gopher Derby
Agopher-plagued RM in southwestern Manitoba has set its sights on a creative strategy to thin out the crop-and pasture-destroying varmints and boost local tourism at the same time. The Boissevain/Mor ton Gopher Derby hopes to lure 50-75 hunters to the area’s fields and pastures on May 28 for a one-day event modelled after the annual
Too Much Market, Not Enough Sheep To Fill It
Too much demand, and not enough supply. That’s not often a problem in the livestock business, and if you’re a sheep producer right now, it’s a nice problem to have. However, it has thrown a wrench into efforts to organize a value chain connecting producers, slaughterhouses and retailers, says the treasurer of the Manitoba Sheep
Switching Over To Sheep “Doable,” Says Rancher
After 12 years in the equine-ranching business ended last spring, it didn’t take Steve Dryden and his brothers long to convert their operation over to sheep. He and his brothers Clay and Dave got busy retooling a 96-stall horse barn into an 800-head lamb feeder operation that saw its first intake of lambs arrive in
Matching Lamb Production With Consumer Consumption
Most lambs are born on grass, then sold in fall. That means out-of- season breeding in indoor facilities, say in former PMU or dairy barns, could offer strong returns because prices traditionally peak early in the new year up until June because very few finished lambs are available during that period. Lucien Lesage, treasurer of
Crossing Regulations Inked, Abandonment Still Undecided
Aprotocol for crossi ng pipelines has been established, but the contentious issue of pipel ine abandonment is still undecided, members of the Manitoba Pipeline Landowners Association (MPLA) heard at a meeting last week. Dan Hacault, an MPLA director, said that the new regulations that were hammered out by the National Energy Board late last year
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