Sheep 1 Flashcards
Purpose of sheep
-meat- safe, easy to process,
-wool- primary fiber before cotton
-skins- leather
-milk- important in cheese
Why are sheep not eaten in North America?
-WWII- rationed meat. Fed mutton
-Thought sheep were bad for pasture
-Negatives from cattle farmers
Why use sheep?
- Size- need less land, reduce start up costs, ease of handling for slaughter, handling
- Culture/religion
-sheep meat acceptable for all religions
-traditional food of Europeans (Middle east, Far east) - Showing- easy to move them and transport
- Sheep dogs- led people to get sheep
- Get rich quick
Where are the sheep in Canada?
Total Pop: 1,000,000
mostly Quebec and Ontario, then AB, then SK
Sheep cost
Breeding ewe: $125-200
Ram $400
**relatively cheap compared to cattle
Feedlots
-don’t want non castrated males because all go to a single pen
-usually 80lb lambs, max fat lamb is 110lb (muscle with minimal fat)
-cull ewes- mostly used for dog food. Sell for cheap ecept some markets
**lambs grow about 1lb a day. So can get to 110lbs quite quickly and sell
Industry set up
-anything less than 500 head is small, need at least 150 to make a profit
>usually if they have less than 500, probably have other animals as well
-purebred vs. commercial
Purebred vs. commercial sheep
Purebred: produce replacement ewes and terminal sire rams
Commercial: Probably have some predigrees, but mainly use a mixed breed ewe and terminal sire to produce a meat lamb
Farm set ups
- Range farm
- Farm flocks- semi-confinement
- Feedlot
- Dairy
Range farm
-Keep sheep out on pasture all year round
-put out rams when needed
-supplement feed during the winter
-minimum costs
-need specific fencing as they will just go through barbed wire
-predation is of concern
-lack of shelter isn’t an issue (fleece keeps them dry; but snow will surround them forming a cave/hole)
-disease control to avoid parasites
Guardian dogs for sheep at pasture
-sit within the sheep or circle the perimeter
-costly (feed, vet bills, deworming, shorter life span)
Farm Flocks- Semi-confinement
-Summer at pasture, winter in corral/barn
-Pros: multiple births, low mortality, max growth, control breeding season
-Cons: increased costs, manpower, facilities, and disease
Feedlot management system
-buy in lambs when weaned 60-80lbs
-fatten to slaughter at 110lbs
-work because can get a lot of lambs together reaching same weight at same time
*Issues: disease, potential reduced weight gain
Dairy management systems
-Rare; used for cheese production
-200 day lactation
-600kg yield
-usually lambs with sheep in day, then taken away at night and sheep milked in morning. Therefore lambs never fully weaned
Biological pasture control
Sheep can be used to clear toxic plants out of pastures because they are very resistant to them (leafy spurge, tansy ragwort)
-then pastures are cleared for cattle
**also very few parasites cross the species barrier (rotational grazing) so cattle and sheep can be together
