New Zealand farming principles triumph for Canadian pair

Mark Ritchie moves his stock along the shores of Amherst Island.

01-03-2007 | Rachael Gordon

New Zealand farming principles are underpinning the success of a leading Canadian lamb producing operation.

Former New Zealander Mark Ritchie and wife Cherry Allen run ‘Footflats’, a 526 ha sheep farm on Amherst Island, Ontario, and for the past 15 years they’ve built an extremely successful operation now in the top 5% in Canada.

Mark and Cherry chose to use aspects of the more extensive, pasture-based NZ farming style that is not common in Canada.

Most other Canadian sheep farms are small, high input outfits. They involve accelerated lambing programmes, where ewes are made to lamb three times in two years.

“The main aspect we took from the NZ management style is the utilisation of grass. We’ve learnt to lamb on to spring flush, wean before the summer drought then utilise ewes on rental land for ‘hoof and tooth’ development.

“Another major aspect is flock management skills. We’re running an easy-care flock where its important to know how to cull sheep and breed the type of sheep you want for your operation.”

Born in New Zealand and raised in the U.K, Mark finished an agriculture degree before moving back to New Zealand in 1979. That’s where his education on NZ farming systems began. He spent the next decade working on Taihape sheep and beef farms and credits this with much of his farming knowledge

“I learnt far more [about farming] from 12 years in Taihape than from anything else.”

It was meeting Cherry, who has lived in Canada since she was 12, which prompted Marks move north. Once he’d made the big shift to Ontario, both saw huge potential for the New Zealand farming style to work there.

They soon gathered a flock and bought 89ha, later leasing another 437ha. For the first 10 years or so, they lived off Cherry’s earnings as a dairy inspector, putting everything from the farm back into it.

By adopting New Zealand’s low-input principles, the couple had an edge on their more intensive competitors in the BSE scare a few years ago.

After U.S closed its borders to Canada because of the disease, many farmers had to walk away as they could not cope with the high input costs while receiving little return.

Mark and Cherry managed to hang on during the low prices and enjoy an increased market share and high returns.

Cherry quit her job five years ago as the farm began making enough to support them both. Aside from a worker they get in for summer haymaking, husband and wife are the sole operators.

“It’s better now - for the last five years we’ve worked together on the farm.”

The climate on Amherst Island varies greatly between seasons. Mark says they experience a hot summer with six weeks of drought – they then have to plan for a barn-feeding system for five months in the winter, where temperatures get down to –20ºC at night and –10ºC during the day.

Moisture levels are adequate and are replenished with the spring snow melt. The island gets around 813 mm of rain a year.

Land consists of heavy clay soil over limestone bedrock, which varies in depth, and is flat with some low, poorly drained areas.

“A lot of land was previously used for cropping and dairy farming but is far more suited to pasture,” says Mark.

The property carries 1000 ewes, 300 hoggets and 40 rams. Over the years, Mark and Cherry have developed their unique composite of 50% Coopworth, 25% Poll Dorset and 25% Romanov (a Russian breed).

They selected Coopworth for its easy-care characteristics, its foraging ability and its heavy fleece, which provides good winter cover. Poll Dorset was chosen for its carcase quality and longer breeding season while Romanov was needed for its prolificacy and hardiness.

The breeds are all sourced from studs within Canada.

The couple also run a flock of pure-bred Border Cheviots, which they put across the hoggets and two-tooths. The resulting lambs are small and vigorous and easy for the young mothers to look after.

Rams are put out for two cycles on 16 December, shortly after all the hoggets have been put in the barn for Ontario’s long, harsh winter.

The L-shaped barn measures 42m by 30m and is large enough to house all the stock at once.

The mature ewes are wintered outside, while the hoggets are fed in the barn for five months using a belt-feeding system. Large round hay bales are cut up by a chopper and then fall on to a conveyor belt, which pushes them on to a feed trough.

“We also blend in barley or protein pellets if needed,” says Mark.

With adequate feed and good ventilation, the sheep do well in the barn and Mark and Cherry come across very few health problems.

Six weeks before lambing, the rest of the sheep are brought in for shearing.

This takes place in an old hayloft that Mark converted into a three-stand woolshed. Costs are about $3 a head and Mark and Cherry just manage to break even, with the wool being sold at around $1.23/kg.

Mark shears again in September so the lambs can be assessed better at auction. “I also still strongly believe that it gives lambs a lift and they forage better.”

All the sheep are turned out on 1 May so that lambing coincides with the spring flush.

Mark says the best feed, “by far”, is the Birdsfoot Trefoil legume

“It’s very drought resistant, it seeds itself well and is high in tannins, which are linked to worm control. ”

At docking time, lambing percentages are around 175% for the ewes and 100% for the hoggets.

The area is prone to a dry period from July to August. To cope with the drought, lambs are weaned beforehand and are given the best pasture, while their mothers go on to hoof-and-tooth development of another previously abandoned block.

Cherry describes a second full flush of growth in the autumn as a major advantage. “It is much like the spring flush and is quite amazing, really. ”

Most lambs are finished on this second flush while the rest are finished in the barn and are sold through autumn in January and February through auction.

During weaning, the older ewes are culled and the 7 year olds still in good condition are put to the ram in August. Then both mothers and their offspring are sold to match Easter demand.

Lamb prices are generally very good for Mark and Cherry. Last year, the autumn lambs fetched around NZ$142 a head with NZ$185 Christmas lambs. For the past two years, cull ewes have fetched from NZ$93 to NZ$185.

One of the main reasons for the good prices is the size of Canada’s sheep industry. “Compared to New Zealand, our industry is very, very small. We’re catering to niche markets of ethnic populations in Toronto. ”

Mark says the lighter (around 32kg) lambs go to the Greek, Italian and Portuguese markets while the heavier (40 – 50kg) ones are snapped up by restaurants and the Muslim community.

“There’s a market for everything. ”

Another plus is the price of land in Canada.

“It is certainly cheaper to buy in our area by New Zealand standards,” says Cherry.

The couple also have their fair share of challenges.

Top of the list is coyotes, which can cost them up to 5% of their flock in a year. To combat this problem, they keep 10 guard dogs with the sheep at all times and also have an area barricaded off with a predator-proof fence.

The long winters seriously add to the workload, making summertime haymaking a “big chore”. Around 162ha is cut over two months, producing 400kg for each ewe.

There are also limitations with animal health products. The selection of items like drench and vaccines is small and expensive, as Canadian drug companies can’t justify trials because of the sheep industry’s size.

To overcome this, the two have worked closely with their vet in developing their own five-mineral drench. This has proven very successful and by doing all their own faecal egg counts and only drenching when needed, they’ve saved on considerable health costs.

Also, their closed flock policy and distance from other sheep farms means that they have very few animal health problems to deal with in the first place. Ovine progressive pneumonia is endemic in Canada’s sheep population but doesn’t express itself much on their farm, so isn’t a major issue.

The gross income of the farm is NZ$250,000. Gross sales are about CA$170/ewe and costs/ewe are about half that. They make an additional $10,000 from two homestays on the farm and also profit from their Border Cheviot stud.

In the future, the pair would like to own more land so that they can invest more money in predator fencing and subdivision.

“It’s not worth doing it on rented land,” says Mark.

Overall, the husband and wife team say they see a lot of potential for the farm and enjoy working together to see that potential achieved. It requires a good level of organisation and communication, however, so they formally schedule ‘board meetings’ on a regular basis.

“The rewards of working together come from sharing common interests and goals and seeing plans work out the way you want them. ”

  Printable View