How We Started Our Sheep Farm FROM SCRATCH!! (& Tips For Beginners):Vlog 161

in this week's video I thought I would take you all the way back to the beginning and how we started this sheep farm from scratch it's not been easy [Music] I've had a ton of people asking me what are your biggest tips and tricks and I think before I get to that I think it's really important to know where I've come from not an expert all I can talk about is the challenges that we've encountered and how we've coped and how we've how we've gotten through some of this stuff so yeah stay tuned to the end and I'll discuss maybe just what I've learned and some tips for anybody getting into sheep farming the journey into sheep farming began in 2011 I wasn't always a sheep farmer before sheep I was working in Marx families Barilla breeder business so I worked in the chicken barns basically from 1998 after I graduate and after got married right up to 2011 where we did some family succession the the grain farm was getting big enough just for mark to do by himself so I came home and wanted to help him but I still missed the barn and being in the barn and we looked at quite a few different livestock options so we needed a business that would work well with the grain farm sheep was the one that we finally stumbled across after doing some research and seeing that really the demand for lamb was growing every year and the market when I got into it was really good that's basically how we decided to get into sheep so 2011 what we did was we've renovated this old pig barn it was a typical pig barn so concrete walls concrete floors concrete pens so we've gutted the whole thing RiRi poured a floor we raised the center alley for feed I didn't have a lot of designs to go off of when we design this we kept it fairly simple the Pens are 14 feet deep and I think it's a hundred and twelve long and then there's another I think the barn is 120 total in width and 40 across so we just did the center alley so I could put bales in the middle and just have a floor feed bunk the ceiling was a drop ceiling and so they were steel of course on the rafter there we took we took that all out took all the insulation down and left the steel on on the actual the original steel ceiling on what we did was we we took insulation panels and and basically insulated on the outside and then laid another layer of steel to that roof so we did that ourselves we got chimneys put in and we also took off the steel on the sides and put in curtains and they're all run manually just by cranks these gates here they are a 14-foot gate we bought those at TSC and I actually would not recommend those it definitely has corroded and rotted the bottoms rot so I wouldn't I would spend a little bit more money and get something that's not gonna rot when it's exposed to many where 2012 is when we when we got her first sheep and they went in here so I had I started with about 50 they came pregnant I bought them from a sheep buyer he buys she puts them together as groups and then sells them unfortunately they also came with some health issues so I had this brand new renovated barn and my first lambing group took place probably a few weeks after I got those views and the first 13 out of 50 of orded like they miscarried their babies I was a mess I didn't know anything about sheep about lambing I figured I knew enough about livestock it wouldn't be that hard kind of been more wrong to be honest that was a hard lesson not just jumping into something without doing a lot of research maybe working out a firearm we did all the lambing in here I soon came to realize that this barn was not really set up that well for lambing or weaning or handling use so I bought a handling system there was a livestock traceability funding that was available in Ontario I applied and got this Marv weld handling system the problem with this barn I didn't build it with a handling system in mind I built the barn first and then I thought about it and the problem with it is the only place I can set it up is on the end in the middle of the alley so I can't always leave it up because I'm always bringing in bales and stuff so definitely something to think about when you are looking at maybe building a barn er or a facility really build it around your handling system because this is what's going to make you a good sheep farmer is having a really good handling system [Music] 2012 was a hard year by the end of 2012 the market had crashed when we were looking at numbers of course we were crunching numbers based on you know potential growth and what the industry looked like and the fact that land prices were phenomenal what a false sense of security because we weren't in the industry we we didn't know enough that those numbers were not really a historical thing I don't find we did our business plan we did it based on kind of industry average but we were new we were nowhere near industry average I bought use really really expensive because the market was strong and I was selling lambs and not even very many lambs and the price was terrible yeah it was tough that first year and a half was really tough we really started digging deep in our numbers and we were trying to see what are the things that need to change to stay in this business our biggest thing that came blatantly obvious was that feed is a lot of money and we have land we could use her feed so we looked at what made the most sense to grow feed and that was expanding the flock [Music] a little spoiler alert Lambie has begun you need a Lam fix because I know a lot of you do check me over on Instagram go on stories and you'll get to see lots of babies and hear lots of birds every day so in 2013 we did expand our flock we went from 150 use to 500 years so we added 350 kind of mature use a cross-section of a ton of different breeds and commercial use and we built this bright span it's a tart burn this place 80 feet wide 252 feet long if I didn't learn the first time I definitely learned the second time that bringing new animals to any facility that already has animals in it or mixing them together is kind of like running a daycare they're just going to mix their bugs all together and you become a little bit of a cesspool until they all are immune to the same bugs so a few more issues after I brought in those use I tried to kind of reduce cost by purchasing a lot of used stuff inside there is still a lot of new stuff but I tried my best to get some use [Music] as for our feeding system I mean I talked a little bit about when we made the decision to jump in new numbers we also had to make the decision to start growing your own feed [Music] the first year we did try to bail everything and it was a nightmare the bailing part was awesome so getting them off the field was great you can do that quick our TMR mixer did not work well with bales that TMR machine is basically a glorified KitchenAid it will not it just ropes it does not stop the hay enough to then go in our feed cart so we did try bales the first year and then the second year we switched all to tops porridge 2014 that year started out with a bang literally I slipped and fell on some ice pulling this bail Kurt and I broke my ankle in three spots so my husband had to Lam I thought I was going to lose my mind we learned a lot in that timeframe because I was six weeks out of commission I had to sit back and learn a few things and Mark because he's not a livestock guy he thinks differently and he developed a few systems during lambing then I'm like how does a freaking brilliant ideas just little things that I learned from him 2014 was also a year that I invested in myself so I started a course called the master Shepherd course master Shepherds program it's put on through Ontario sheep that's our provincial Organization for sheep farmers that drastically changed my life I came I took a lot of the tools that I learned there and came back to the farm and started putting a lot of things into practice started building systems organization systems which is what I thrive on it is a big flock so what I decided to do is make make the whole farm into smaller flocks so they share a roof they share the Pens but they rotate through depending where they are in their life 2014 that was a real turning point in my career as a sheep farmer most of that was because I invested in myself and I invested in finally learning a little more about the sheep itself about the infrastructure and I started I stopped fighting what I built and started embracing how I can change my management systems to fit all the things that I thought was wrong with the burn which there is nothing wrong with this barn it was the things were wrong with me the one thing that I just was not seeming to be able to get ahead of was health issues from when I started basically right up to right up to 2014-2015 I was still buying in all my replacement you lambs and all my Rams of course I still buy all my Rams I was buying just here and there and everywhere what I was finding I was having a lot of health issues so my calling rate and my mortality rate was high a lot of that was trying to improve my flock when I got down to finally about almost half of what I originally purchased I then finally sought out a really good high health flock that I could buy replacement use from quite honestly that has changed the course of this farm I now have a breeding stock that was high health that most of all my replacement you lambs have come from I think over two purchases I bought another 180 use so in 2015 that 180 used that I bought have now become my foundation breed of my maternal line they have a Dorset Rideau base genetics and they brought in a few different breeds from New Zealand to top up that breed so it's a real composite breed so 2015 was all about trying to figure out how to close my flock [Music] 20:17 the year that I almost felt like I knew what I was doing and we made it all through the entire year of some better results and the system starting to work you know working closely with my vet and my feet guy and and just feeling like I caught my breath and that October I got a call from my vet we had had a few abortion issues that abortion storm was a bit different it was my September leader they were aborting early they were boarding a month earlier as well months of the day they were boo so we did send some lambs to the lab but it was the same old culprits chlamydia being one of them and whenever my that's always like whenever chlamydia is involved it's always a smoking gun so this was before we really had his vaccination program and definitely something that we have now a month later the the lab had called my vet they called with a bug that they hadn't seen in a while called Bruce Alice ovis and my vet called me immediately we are on high alert and I was devastated because I finally felt like I knew what I was doing and kind of had this thing figured out and I was like I am a failure it was awful and we tracked it back to a ram and I remember buying the RAM and I wasn't comfortable with it but I took it anyway because I didn't wanna put the guy out I had to completely depopulate the Rams that I had I just bought two brand new ile-de-france Rams I was so proud of and actually those two came back clean when we test them so I put them in isolation I took him to the other barn and tested them about a month and a half later and then they just fit positive so I ended up having to get rid of them all so I took the time and I bought some suffix some Rito's and some ILDA France so those are my three sire lines I've had them ever since pretty proud of getting through that it was definitely with the help of my bet he was therapy plus he made the protocol that I stuck to and we got through it [Music] I can't even put into words how different it is and lambing out replacement you Lancet that you have raised since they were babies there night and day from when I used to buy them we're starting to see some really positive effects of using vaccinations or chlamydia that's that was a huge one keeping up on might as facts vaccinations for clostridial diseases all these little things and really honing in on my management of you know hoof trimming and shearing and all these things and do them at set times that brings us to 2019 which is this year what I've never satisfied with is my lambing period I'm always trying to get better at lambing the one thing I can comment on is I feel much less stressed I know it doesn't appear like that on camera I've learned a lot with the whole lambing process but I'm still trying to hone in on some more skills I'm trying to you know keep more alive in those first 24 hours if that means like putting a bottle on a holster and just me bottle feeding anything that looks like it's going backwards that's what I do the importance of colostrum has has changed my life just the organization of it everything and then from then it's been you know I'm trying to do a lot more work on data collection and data management and data analytics I'm not interested in expanding but I want to expand through improvement and 2019 is all just been about going back to the things that work and try to improve on the stuff that still needs improved on [Music] so I think I've kind of captured the journey of how we got from basically 2011 when I started renovating an old pig barn to 2019 where we are now it's been quite a journey and I've learned probably the most I've ever learned in any of the other industries and I guess I want to share with you some tips if you're thinking about getting into the sheep industry I get asked this question a lot and I hate giving out expertise advice because I'm not an expert I'm still learning and and I am much more willing to be a guinea pig and to show you the stuff that works and doesn't work then for you guys to think that I'm telling you what to do that is not what I'm about so take this for what it's worth but from what I've learned in my very short tenure has a sheep farmer look for really good clean stock I've said this before in almost every video you're gonna pay more for it it's okay it's gonna cost you so much more if you bring in problems and issues if you're bringing in health issues either gonna die cuz they do be they're gonna infect some clean animals if you already have some if you are starting from scratch you may as well not bring stuff into a nice clean new barn or new pasture or anything and contaminate what isn't doesn't even have sheep on it yet the other thing is start start with where you are so what do you have available is it pasture do you have really good pasture or are they available or do you have something that you can rent my friend Chris and Lindsay I did a video on them they didn't have a lot of stuff available but what they did see was an opportunity with a solar farm and so they passed her they passed her that all summer plus if there's extra they cut the grass bail it and take that home for their winter feed when they have to bring those animals home so think a little bit outside the box what do you have available for you right now that would help you get into sheep I guess the next thing to look at is what do you need to make this work do you need an offering job to to finance this stuff how are you gonna finance it for us the business side of stuff we use the great operation to finance the Sheep barn we have spent a lot of money we spend a lot of money on the Sheep itself we've spent a lot of money on a brand new barn all the equipment that we needed so the grain operation has has helped definitely equity when you went to the bank to ask for a loan we had the grain operation so where are you financially and also where are you from a time perspective because when I'm lambing or doing some management jobs and all these other things I don't have a lot of help so when we're in the fields I have to really juggle where my time is going to be and if you have an offer I'm job to supplement a new farm or sheep or whatever because you very well a lot of my friends have to have an offer arm job to support their sheep farm because the sheep farm is is their dream and they need a job to basically finance their dream and that's no different than us I have to work with mark to make the grain operation that is my off farm job on the farm to help support the Sheep another thing to look at is the end game what's the end goal what do you what do you want your sheep for is it fiber is it for the wealth so if it's not wool is it milk so do you want to be a dairy sheep farmer and that's a whole another thing that I know nothing about and then the third thing is meat so majority of sheep farming I'm gonna say majority but the majority that I know are in it for the production of meat and we have a huge opportunity here in Ontario because Toronto and that surrounding area is a huge lamb eating population and when we were getting into the industry that was a big thing that we looked at definitely look at career customers are gonna be so what is your end goal what is your end game for your sheep the other tip I would say this kind of goes along with with buying healthy stuff but for me it was closing the flock so starting to grow my own replacement use it's been a huge change in my farm I find lambing is not near a stress it's always stressful but it's not near stressful with use that I've raised since they were babies it's the other thing that that is the whole health issue you they are getting a lot of their immunities brought in from their mums so if I'm buying stock I have no idea what their mums are vaccinated with and quite likely they're gonna bring in their own little daycare bugs and share it with all the that I have in the bar selection of Breed is another thing you have to really look at and that is going to really be dependent on again where are you starting are you are you gonna have them in a pasture here are they gonna be housed in a barn majority of the year or all of the year or part of the year do you want a really prolific flock so do you want lots of babies do you want an accelerated landing system do you want them lambing you know all year long so those are questions you have to ask yourself before you look at a breed I can't tell you what breed to choose because there's a ton of different breeds and there's some very passionate people in their own purebred areas of breeding stock some breeds are better on grass I know my friends Chris and Lindsey have learned a lot on their solar farm that some just are really good mothers outside but you have to really pick the animals that have been raised that way so they have gone out and searched people that do all their lambing outside on pastures how does that breed do in a situation that is gonna resemble what you're gonna have I hope this helps I think there's a lot of new producers that have just wanted some advice some people get like 10 or 15 sheep and they send me a picture and they say now what hope I haven't missed anything and I'm sure I have because it changes all the time guys next week will be lambing and if there's any other questions you want answered comment below just let me know what you want to see I've been doing a lot of vlogs all summer because we've been so busy so for me it was just easier to grab my camera I just wanted to bring you guys with me it was a lot easier than doing some of these more tutorial videos but there's been a quite a few new viewers and I just didn't want you to miss kind of what this channel is about and that's to help I want all of us to help each other because it can be a very frustrating and a very but a very rewarding business and I just want to take you guys through my journey and I want you to stay with it and not give up on your journey because it's hard so I hope this helps thanks take care [Music]

Channel: Sandi Brock

Views: 403,095

Rating: 4.9119906 out of 5

Keywords: how we started our sheep farm, how do I start a sheep farm, how to start a sheep farm from nothing, what is needed to run a sheep farm, how do you run a sheep farm, how do you manage sheep, how do you feed sheep, what do sheep eat, barn designs for sheep, lambing designs for sheep, lambing set up for sheep barns, lambing season, how do you make money in sheep, how to choose breeds of sheep, tips on how to get started in the sheep business, what health issues can sheep get

Id: Q_nO-kuImkc

Length: 22min 54sec (1374 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 06 2019