Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives

Some of our herd on the farm. 

A look down our lane to the farm.

Producer Contact Information

Monica and John Griffiths
David(16) and Nicole(13)
 

Box 30
Poplar Point, MB   R0H 0Z0
Phone: 204 353 2385
Email:  jdgriff@mts.net
 

• #1 hwy West of Winnipeg
• 7mi West of Elie on #1
• turn North (right) at Fortier
• 7mi North until dead end; stop sign
• turn East (right) 1mile down

Farm is on the left side, big red barn, cream house, many bldgs, bus  shelter at road. We live in the mobile home on site. Please beware the dogs.
 

200 boerX does, 5 purebred Jfive bucks, 80 doelings, 50 - 500 feeders depending on time of year. Animals are Manitoba hardy and live outside year round. 12 generations of refinement. bred for gain, hardiness, motherability, thriftiness.
 

Showed for years till market and reputation established,  ran out of room for ribbons. Developed large commercial meat goat operation, shipping slaughter stock every week of the year for 8 years now, through federally inspected government slaughter plant, to a store in Winnipeg. Sires are from Jfive farms, renoun for winners. Worked for years through news media to advance the goat industry. Won a literary award from the Western Producer paper. Had a commercial nominated for the Signature award. 
 

We are third gerneration family farm.  We have 920 acres, mostly rented to cereals.  We have 1/2 mile of Assiniboine river frontage saved for heritage forest, untouched since the 1900's, and never developed before that. About 200 acres in pastures. We have 17 black angus cattle, 52 suffolk sheep, unnumbered free range bantam chickens and average 600 goats. We plan to increase the sheep and cattle as time passes. We grow pedigreed timothy seed, cereals and bale hay mostly for our own use.   

This year we are seeding several varieties of grazing corn and millet for pasture supplementation. We would like to see a vacation camp facility here one day for those who want to expierience the farm and camp next to, and explore the heritage forest and use the fishing and boating oportunities of the Assiniboine.  

We are a commercial operation and all facilities are done economically as is available. We have many experimental situations and share the best of our tests with others. There are small feedlots (60ftx90ft) with small pole type steel sheds for wind and rain shelter. And large paddocks (200ftx200ft) with canvass covered arch bldgs. Pastures are done in 5 wire electric. There are several to accomadate different herds and rotational grazing. We do not have much tree cover so goats have to be tough.  

We have all our own machinery and John is mechanic, plumber, welder, farmer et al. Monica manages the animals and their programs.
 

Management is intensive as we feedlot year round. We kid/lamb/calve in May. Shots, toes, records, worms are done on birthday. All males get castration rings.  Moms and kids are moved to clean paddock.  Pregos stay in their own paddock. All kidding/calving/lambin is over in four weeks. Minimal grain is fed, hay is continous free choice. Weeaning is in August at three months. Mpothers are moved to summer pastures. Kids stay in paddocks on limited grain and free chocie alfalfa. All bales are round bales. All feeding is outside. Waterers are automatic. In fall kids are moved to clean feedlots. Paddocks are cleaned out and moms brought home for winter. Every one is wormed and put on diatomaceous earth. Winter is hard with extra grain being crushed and pail fed. All feeding is outside. Bedding has to be kept up in shelters. Waterers have to be kept thawed and working. Bale feeders have to be watched for crowding and crushes. All animals have to be chased out and kept eating. Illness or unthriftiness is delt with severly and culls sent to wpg yards. The result is true Manitoba hardy goats.  

Castrates are fed out year round some on fast finish, some on slow. Goats are shipped to abatior weekly. Females are evaluated and either shipped or grown for breeders. Doelings are not bred till 1yr, 6mo as we kid in may and breed in dec they are too light for the first year. If they fail the first breeding they are added to the meat feedlot. Senior does stay on as condition warrents. Extra females are put up for sale or culled to feedlot or auction as age dictates. Except last year we bred everything to keep up with feedlot sales demand.

John runs the pastures, crops and hay. That is another big job.    
 

- Animals are bred to stay healthy under proper management.
- Does get injectable wormer, ade, sel, toe trim at birth time. Kids get covaxin, ade, sel, tags and castration rings on their birthday.
- Dehorning is at 4 weeks. Every one is done the same day. Diatomateous earth is crushed into grain ration for cocci.
- All feed is tested and balanced.
- Safegard crumbles are fed in grain ration every 2or 3 months in summer for tapeworm.
- Valbazan is given to kids after weaning at fall. Safegard is fed every 1 or 2 months in winter till kidding.

All animals health is checked twice a day for accidents or illness. Prevention is the best remedy. We are as chemical free as possible. Goats are highly parasite susceptibale. As time goes we hope to breed better immunity into the herd. Feedlotting makes it really hard. Goats on pasture would fare a lot better.
    

We ship to a government abattoir weekly who delivers our goats to a store in Winnipeg. We will farmagate on demand if folks pay enough. All goats produce go to the store. Breeding stock is sold when available. We may expand to take advantage of the new trucks shipping to the states and cheques paid upfront.