The Rural Voice, 1982-08, Page 10A woolly-headed enterprise
by Adrian Vos
Not tar east of Kincardine on Highway
9. a stone's throw west of the hamlet of
Bervie, is the farm of Bill and Judy
Geddes.
The sign on the mailbox states proudly
this is home to Arabian horses. and the
traveller can see a number of them grazing
in a nearby pasture. On entering the
farmstead. the visiter is greeted by a
gaggle of geese. a small flock of chickens,
a hopping rabbit, and the farm dog.
But all of that is camouflage for the real
purpose of the farm, for when the visitor
enters one of the barns he is greeted by the
bleating of hundreds of sheep and lambs.
Next October, it will be 16 years since
Bill left his father's feedmill to start the
present farm enterprise.
Judy says her parents loaned the couple
$1.000. and with that money. they bought
18 ewes. one ewe Iamb and a ram.
While the Arabian horses were an
important part of their income until the
recent economic slump. it was the
intention from the very beginning to make
sheep the main product.
Judy smiles when she thinks back to
their first year. It was a year that turned
great success into disaster. she recalls.
PG. 10 THE RURAL VOICE/AUGUST 1982
They had out of the 18 ewes. 12 sets of
twins and six sets of triplets. Only the
lamb produced a single. Then they got
every possible disease. All the veterinary
literature of that time. told them not to
treat the lambs or vaccinate until they
were a month old, but those that got sick
before the month was up, usually were
dead before that time." We lost them like
flies." Judy recalls.
From that early experience. Judy
advises any new producer to start slowly.
She thinks between 15 and 30 is just the
right number to serve as a learning flock
without going broke.
After 16 years. and the horse business
in a slump. they are building the sheep
herd up more. Bill says they use a Finnish
Landrace ram for the first cross. "We like
the Finn crosses. We suffer in carcass
quality in the first cross, but we get the
brood ewes we want."
The base breeds for the ewes arc Dorset
and Rambouillet. For easy identificiation
they tag all1breeds and all crosses with a
different color eartag.
Bill and Judy agree the first cross is a
thin type of Iamb, but when they are bred
to a Suffolk or Dorset ram. they get good
lambs and the Finn blood assures multiple
lambings and good productivity. They
don't breed any further with the Suffolk
cross. All offspring from them is sold.
The Geddes' maintain 700 ewes and 25
rams for their breeding flock. It is a year
round breeding business as all three
breeds come in season at any time of the
year. This, in turn, enables them to
market Iambs year round.
Some ewes lamb twice in the same year.
This means they have between one and
three lambings every day with few
interruptions in the schedule. Judy says
they have considered using hormones to
induce heat at the same time for a Targe
number of sheep, but the mind boggles at
the prospect of some 700 ewes all lambing
at about the same time.
Until last year, all sheep were kept in
confinement and fed hay.
Bill and Judy have one safety valve for a
poor haying year. If it is too wet to bring
the hay in. they can turn the sheep into
that field to do their own harvesting.
Last year they planted a small field with
sorghum grass and this year they will put
in a larger field for grazing. This grazing