Our Canadian Arcott ewes on pasture during the summer.
One of our Great Pyrenees guardian dogs. He is very happy to see me!
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Our son, Willard, raises the Canadian Arcott sheep. He has found that the Canadian Arcott sheep are very hardy, have excellent mothering instincts and usually lamb on their own. The usually have twins, sometimes even triplets, and they usually nurse multiple lambs by themselves. No bottle feeding is a huge cost and time saver! He has the ewes lamb in two separate groups, one the end of January and the other one sometime in April or May. This way he is able to provide lamb meat for our customers at the Farmer's Market, but also throughout the winter months.
All of the sheep are fed probiotics and kelp, together with either grass or hay. The probiotics and kelp help to keep their immune system healthy, so we don't need to treat for disease as often. The lambs also receive a small amount of our own mixed grain ration in order for them to gain enough weight so that we are able to provide our customers with young lamb meat for their plate . We are constantly searching for ways we can raise our animals in a healthy way, without chemicals, etc. We only use antibiotics if we have no other alternative. If an animal has been treated we make sure that we do not sell it to our customers. We have been pasturing our ewes on pasture together with our cows. This has worked very well for us. Sheep eat different greens than cows, so they co-habit very well together. Another benefit is, that coyotes are a little more hesitant to attack sheep when there are cows around. We don't leave anything to chance though, because we also have guardian dogs with them all the time. The lambs are processed at Prairie Meats in Coaldale, a local, government inspected facility, when they are approximately 100 lbs, or more, live weight. They make sure all their animals are humanely treated from the time we drop them off and during the slaughtering process. Our lamb is sold whole, by the side, or by individual cuts. If you want to have a custom order you need to pre-order. Four years ago, 2011, we started selling wool comforters, sleeping bags, mattress pads and pillows made from the wool of our own sheep. To find out about the benefits of sleeping with wool see our Sheep Wool Products page.
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2019 UPDATE: We had an unfortunate experience this year. We found out that the ram we used, did not do his job! Therefore, we now have no lambs to sell. Very sad, but nothing we can do about it. We still have product though, that is vacuum packed, which keeps it in good condition. As the season continues, though, we might start running out of certain items. This is also why, we are not taking orders for half or whole lambs.