Livestock | Sheep | Page Title | Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives

Sheep Grazing Demonstration - Eastern Region

(Sponsored by Manitoba Agriculture and Food)
(Funded by Manitoba Rural Adaptation Council)

Introduction

Seine River Shepherds is a family run sheep farm, located near Ste. Anne, Manitoba. They run a closed flock of 125 commercial ewes bred to purebred and F1 rams. They have purebred Rideau Arcott, Rideau/East Friesen, Canadian Arcott/Charolais and East Friesen/Finn rams. Lambing occurs once a year, in May, with a 150% lamb crop from the ewe lambs and 240% lamb crop from the mature flock. Ewes move from the lambing barn to a ten-acre holding field until early June. The entire flock is then moved onto 35-acres of intensively managed pasture. The pasture was seeded to an alfalfa, timothy, meadow fescue, birdsfoot trefoil mixture.

Pasture system

The pasture has a seven-strand high-tensile electric perimeter fence and a four-strand dividing fence running up the center of the pasture. Portable electric netting is used to rotate the flock through the pasture. The flock is moved every five to seven days.

The midline fence facilitates easy movement of the flock and easier access for cutting any surplus growth as hay. In an average year, 15 acres of late June hay will be cut to keep up with the heavy growth. This hay is baled and fed back to the animals on pasture until late fall. This helps to keep the sheep on pasture longer.

The fence is charged with a high output 12-volt enerizer. It is powered by 2 115-amp hour batteries that are charged by a 25-watt solar panel.

Watering system

The pasture is watered from a deep well located at the south end of the pasture. There is a 500-gallon reservoir, which holds two days of full water requirements. Currently, there is an artesian well, so no pump is required. The water pipe runs along the middle fenceline with outlets every 300 feet to allow for rotational grazing.

Year 2001

On June 8th, 118 ewes and 188 lambs were turned out onto this pasture. The total lamb weight was 3700 lbs. On August 26, the ewes were taken off pasture. The lambs were weighed, with a total lamb weight of 11,691 lbs. This is a total gain of 7,991 lbs, which is a gain of 266 lbs per acre for the lambs and maintenance of the ewes (based on 30 acres because 5 of the acres were non-productive). This gain is only over an 86-day grazing period, as the lambs continue to graze and will remain on pasture until October.

For further information on this project:

Contact Fraser Stewart, Forage Specialist with Manitoba Agriculture and Food at (204) 268-6014 or Randy Eros (Seine River Shepherds) at (204) 422-8723.