The Rural Voice, 1998-06, Page 20I racy and Steve Ilallam of Kincardine are typical of a new breed of shepherds who are making sheep farming a full-time job.
Ontario's large immigrant population is creating a demand for lamb that
makes this the best market in North America and is bringing
New life for an old commodity
Story and photos by Keith Roulston
All across southwestern
Ontario there has been
graphic evidence of
expansion in livestock in areas such
pork and dairy as huge new barns go
up, but almost unnoticed, Ontario's
forgotten livestock sector has been
boasting even more impressive
numbers.
Spurred by the proximity to the
large ethnic markets in the Golden
Horseshoe, Ontario has leapfrogged
over Alberta in the past two years, to
become the province with the largest
sheep production in Canada. What's
more, says Kelley Maloney, general
manager of the Ontario Sheep
Marketing Agency (OSMA), Ontario
Iamb is pushing out some New
Zealand imports as people discover
the milder flavour of the younger
Canadian product.
Like the hog industry of old,
16 THE RURAL VOICE
sheep production has always seen a
lot of coming and going as small
producers jumped into the market
when prices were good, and jumped
out when prices crashed. The new
trend, however, says Maloney, is for
people to come into the industry from
other livestock sectors such as dairy
or beef and to come in at a much
higher flock size of 100, 200 or more
ewes. With their past experience in
nutrition and health learned with
other animals they're able to quickly
handle the larger number. They may
be part-time or full-time producers
but they're much bigger.
Steve and Tracy Hallam of
Kincardine are a perfect example of
the trend. Steve was raised on a
hobby farm but had been working on
a dairy farm for several years when
his boss took him to see a flock of
sheep one day. "I'd never sten a
sheep before in my life," Steve
recalls with a laugh. "A week later
we had 25, and the next year we
bought 40 more and then we bought
a flock of 100. By the time I stopped
milking, we had a flock of 300."
Today they have a flock of 400 ewes
and have made their living full-time
from the farm since the fall of 1994.
When he first dreamed of farming
he turned to cattle but as he found out
more about sheep they became an
attractive alternative.
"You don't need as much
equipment," Steve says. `Really the
only equipment we have is haying
equipment. We don't sow any crops
of any amount — just 15 or 20 acres
a year to keep the hayfields
renewed."
With the sheep on pasture in the
summer there's more freedom than in
the old days when he had to be in the