The Rural Voice, 1999-08, Page 30Vince and Heather Stutzki
are going against the trends.
They were both born in cities,
but became farmers. They have
worked their way up to being
full-time farmers from part-
timers. And they did it by
raising sheep in the middle of
Bruce County's cattle country.
Today the Stutzkis have a
large commercial flock of 350-
400 ewes on 200 acres plus
another rented farm but it all
began 10 years ago almost by
accident. Vince, from Montreal,
and Heather, from Mississauga,
had met at University of
Guelph. They both wanted to
farm so 11 years ago, after
working in agriculturally -related
jobs, they bought a farm near
Paisley.
The farm came with an
empty barn and though it was
set up for cattle, when the offer
came to buy 10 Oxford ewes
and a ram at a good price, they
took it. Since they wanted
Heather to be able to stay home
with their four children the idea
was that she could look after the
sheep. It was a good way to start
for inexperienced shepherds
with off -farm jobs because it
takes only about three minutes a
day to feed 10 sheep, Vince
says.
Though it began almost by
accident, their growth toward
full-time shepherds had several important milestones along
the way. The first came six or seven years ago when they
bought their first Rideau ram to breed their Oxford ewes.
"We really enjoyed the Oxfords but they didn't give
enough milk and they weren't prolific enough," Vince
recalls.
They were so impressed by the Rideau ram which
brought a tremendous increase in vigour to their cross-
breeding program that five years ago they started bringing
in Rideau ewe lambs.
"From what we could see the Rideaus had the most
punch for power," Vince says.
Over a three-year period they bought over 100 purebred,
unregistered ewes. Since they wanted the genetics but
weren't worried about selling breeding stock, they were
able to buy unregistered ewes at a cheaper price.
Rideau's greatest attraction is prolificacy, Vince says.
"The bottom line is the more lambs you get out the door
the more money there is in it."
Yet there's more to Rideaus than that because while
there are other breeds that are as prolific, but they don't
have the all-round package of the same rate of gain and
acceptable carcass.
GOING AGAINST
THE TREND
Starting with 10 sheep Vince and
Heather Stutzki have built a full-time
farming business
Story and photo by Keith Roulston
d Vince and
JCi realize their
oil time.
26 THE RURAL VOICE
The Rideaus are also good
milkers, Heather says. "It's
important if you've got the
number of Iambs that they
do that you can provide the
milk, because we don't like
bottle feeding."
The prolificacy of the
breed also allowed them to
expand faster because they
had more ewe lambs to add
to the flock, Heather says.
The other attraction with
Rideaus is that they're a
popular breed so that 10
years from now they will
easily be able to bring in
new genetics without
worrying about inbreeding
as might happen with some
more exotic breeds, Vince
says.
Rideaus-Arcotts are a
made -in -Canada breed
developed by Agriculture
Canada. (The Arcott, which
stood for Animal Research
Centre at Ottawa is usually
dropped from the original
name.) The first animals
were released into
commercial flocks only in
1988 but by 1998 the breed
trailed only Dorsets and
Suffolks in pure -breed
registrations. Total
registrations for Rideaus
now stand at 6849' (see
sidebar story).
The Rideau lambs also have a lot more vigour than
many sheep varieties, though with multiple births they are
susceptible in cold -weather lambings. The lambs are not
large and are born with little fleece so need to be assisted
with warm surroundings soon after birth.
The breed responds to refined management. Without
intensive management Rideaus will still produce but they
won't be an exceptional breed providing the performance
levels you read in the literature, Vince says.
"They have to be fed better," adds Heather. "It's really
important with the multiple births that they get fed really
well before they Iamb so that the Iambs are a good size."
The average lamb weight is seven or eight pounds but if
ewes weren't fed properly and gave birth to three pound
lambs they would have a hard time surviving, she says.
Management for the Stutzkis includes accelerated
lambing and synchronized lambing in groups. They breed'
the groups to create five lambing periods in January,
March, May, September and November, deliberately
designed to avoid the busy summer period on the farm. The
breeding program means they have lambs going to market
all year round.
With an accelerated breeding program ewes are bred