My Life As A Sheep Farmer: Breeding The Best Hair Sheep | On The Red Dot | Full Episode

foreign [Music] [Music] as I Wrangle lost sheep and prepare to be a midwife she's so close but not yet La all right ladies rest well I mean time and I'm a chef but in this series I won't be in the kitchen very much instead you ready yes I'll be spending all of my time on farms just collapse and pull I'm about to collapse these are farms run by singaporeans I'm screwing up so much I'll be slogging it out as a farm hand to find out what it takes to farm food today [Music] just travel 30 hours across the world to eaganville Canada hi Ming hey thank you so much thank you and this is 45 year old Wesley Gordon you ready yes he's living in a small village of a thousand two hundred people on unseated Algonquin Nation territory where Wesley breeds 300 of these [Music] there you go oh thank you very much you're welcome all right who wants some milk so this is our main Barn where we keep all our use use is a female sheep okay female sheep Rhymes are you know the male sheep the male sheep over there you can actually see some of them in the field what do you keep in separate so that they don't accidentally breathe when I don't want them to I see okay okay [Music] my first job at the farm is bottle feeding often Lambs whose mothers are either injured dead or have rejected them so do you know the difference between a lamb and a sheep um lamb is younger sheep how much younger I'm not very familiar a year and below is considered land okay so in the Palm here we sell both breeding stock and meat what is breeding stock so breeding stock is when we sell the Sheep to other Farmers for them to breed themselves ah okay for the purposes of feeding breeding okay [Music] look at the tails [Music] that's what happens when they drink so fast once milking Duties are over we let the rest of the sheep and Lambs out to graze on Fresh pastures [Applause] q1 gets to go out not the pregnant use they are on a special diet and here they can hear the sound of the Grain and US stirring Westie prepared his own grain mix blend that gives the ears the extra boost they need to fuel their baby's growth and produce milk hello guys these are 40 years later to give birth this month the best time to check for signs of labor is when they are distracted with food and won't run away so now we're checking the other so we keep going down and see how much they have developed Wesley learned how to care for pregnant news from online research and the shepherd who sold him his first flock this one is coming her other is really big and her vulva is also really big already compared to some of this is still really skinny that's like Imagining the birth canal the land can come out right yeah [Music] now Wes what kind of ship do you have in your farm and why do they look like you know they have like lots of wool coming out this breed was called Katahdin it's not really a wool sheet this is actually hair sheep there's many men for meat now why would you choose the katarin bread for meat we particularly like sheep or lamb that is a little bit milder hair sheet in particular lacked lanolin a wool sheep has a lot of lanolin and you know it's the oils in the lanolin that give you that strong flavor that strong yeah kind of flavor you know the farm also houses two other breeds Dorper known for the lean meat but usually gives birth to only one lamb at a time while the Romanov is a prolific wool sheep breed the largest litter for Romanov was I think nine nine Lambs to your mother and so with this breed we are hoping to make a cross street that is going to be more prolific Wesley started looking into cross breeding in 2020. he started with a Doper RAM and a katari new [Music] the resulting Katahdin door for you is then mated with a Romanov Ram the following year his goal is to create a low maintenance muscular and prolific try breed you that you can expand his flock with this is our pride and joy it took us three years to create this hello baby she's got a wonderful coloration right I'm trying to wrap my head around our single program with very little education in this sort of work would suddenly be into specific breeding or such a specific variety eating eating that's the main thing why we started the sheep farm because we love land I guess that is the culmination of a very Singaporean process right likes to eat wants to eat more can make my own food and having fun along the way uh what are some of the challenges you've had in the beginning the challenges was just learning about sheep learning about their mannerisms understanding how they eat or what they eat what we need to do to help them survive no one teaches you this you really have to try on your own [Music] with some use nearing labor we need to get the maternity Wards written there are 40 mothers and I was expecting to build 40 pins we're only going to build four for this time round yeah but you have a whole bunch of expected mothers right yeah they don't stay there for very long this pens for mothers who have just given birth we put them in here and so that they can actually bond with the babies it's within that whole first 24 hours you remember the voice and they remember just the smell after a day or two once they're born they go straight back out to the group my basic handyman skills serve me well here but just as I was building my second pen oh no the Sheep got out no no no no no no no [Applause] [Music] it seems uh it looks good oh no no no no no no no [Music] 40 pregnant you snuck out to the pasture while Wesley and I were building the pens [Music] okay they followed you in when you shoot the bucket yeah they really love grain they're just like a magical thing for them that's right where did you learn this trick from three days after we moved in our neighbors has cows and they broke through the fence and came all over to our farm my neighbor used a green bucket to lure them back [Music] after the brief Interruption it's back to work I quite like this sir okay that looks kind of steady and solid we can tie from the front and then we'll we'll work our way systematically okay perfect after building the pens it's time for lunch no prices for guessing what's being served well it smells good yeah lamb meatballs my favorite is so mild I mean there is that that lamb flavor but it's so mild and gentle and sweet so that's hair sheep for you so Wes why a sheep farm all the way out here in Canada well I used to work for non-profit organizations but after so many years even though I was helping people I didn't feel satisfied I've always loved being in nature I've always wanted you know to feel like I can see as far as I can see without any buildings thank you moving here out in such a remote area is one thing but setting up a sheep farm installing a singaporeans DNA right how did you get to that point well we were thinking of vegetables but to grow vegetables the equipment you need is is way too expensive for us to afford so we thought about livestock because they're the easiest sheep are inexpensive to care for compared to cows and horses because they are small and require less space with food when we started this Farm our whole intention was to make sure our animals were well taken care of the first season we bought 80 sheep and we we have grown it to 200 sheep that's our main count [Music] how did you get people to trust you as a Singaporean farmer here they do not care who you are because what they want is new blood into the farming community and I guess they evaluate you based on your skills of farmer yeah your skills as a farmer is how much you produce for us in a Humane sustainable way that's what I evaluate myself I don't wait for people to evaluate me sheep duties aside there are also Farm maintenance chores to be done like repairing damaged fences [Music] now I just need to push it back up so we have to go around the fields to look for more Big Field it is not just one field but a few but our fans fixing Duty was soon interrupted a sheep had escaped through a hole in the fence and was on the other side yeah yo once again Wesley uses his magic bucket to leave the Stray sheep back inside the fence but the force of the bucket was too strong [Applause] come over because Wesley is trying to attract one lost sheep oh boy let's go let's go [Applause] wrong way wrong way wrong way guys this way over there let's go that way here it's a good thing Wesley has not lost any sheep under his watch [Music] that's the sheep that was out there in the field yeah [Music] I heard reunited it's time to mend the hull take your side from one end and I'll take my side from that end and kind of pull it up you can secure into one of the homes yeah how common is this a horse it's not always that common but we never really checked our fence this year really they see it there's a lot of grass here compared to here almost like the grass is greener on the other side they want to try and get over that's good thank you Ming so Wesley this is as good a point as Eddie to ask is the grass greener on the other side I cannot imagine my life not being on a farm now it's definitely Greener here foreign just as we're done with our farm chores it's also time for the grazing sheep to head home [Music] you got a Pied Piper [Music] so it is now 11 15 at night and um we're tired it's been a long day but we had to go and check on some Lambs that are potentially lambing Wesley monitors the pride and use periodically at night because this is when they usually go into labor he's like the land midwife helping with delivery and getting mother and baby to bond she's so close but not yet no luck with any newborn Lambs tonight I'll have to come back again tomorrow night and the next night it's part of the weekend all right ladies rest well [Music] this morning the SE four old views are on the way to the Auction Barn [Music] es livestock Farmers mainly sell to dealers and Distributors at auctions Wesley foresees the four U's will be cult and made into pet food how much did the Sheep go for one was about 75 cents per pound the other three was about 60 cents per pound it's a little bit of the Lower Side I expected it more but you know what can I do Auction Sales make up 30 of his Farm's Revenue while direct sale of meat to Consumers makes up about 20 percent the bulk of this Revenue comes from selling his Lambs as breeding stock to other farmers but there's something unpleasant we must first do [Applause] [Music] [Applause] it's like a border separation [Music] [Applause] [Music] our first chore for the day load up on two weeks of hay for the new sheep after their lambs have been weed okay mean come I'll show you how to drive this skid steer so that we can unload the hay did it take you a while to learn how to do this it's actually pretty easy like it's two joysticks up and down go forward left right okay [Music] what you're gonna do is carry that bill over to the other side okay sure all right here goes that thing yeah gotta lift it up a little bit more and straighten it out a little bit higher oh dear lord down slowly I thought I was making good progress but it's not fast enough you have been doing really well but I think it's a little bit too long I'm gonna take over okay okay okay [Music] after unloading the hay it's time for a very unpleasant task weaning we are going to be sectioning the mothers and the babies over in one small corner and we're going to start grabbing the babies and putting them over the fence oh that sounds romantic it is a little bit dramatic but we need to do it because they are almost old enough to breathe if we leave the mothers and the babies together the babies reach the mothers [Music] ah [Music] [Applause] he's looking for our babies the babies are looking for their mothers it's like a border separation [Music] well they're gonna cry like this all night long how long do you think this will last it's going to be a good 24 hours hopefully within 36 I've heard it go on for 48. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] weeding the Lambs marks the start of sales season at fairside Farm okay 255 confirm Wesley has shortlisted these Ram lamps as breeding stock for his first customer of the Season we have to worm the Lambs to prevent parasites and trim their Hooves before the customer arrives [Music] [Applause] [Music] good to see you I see that you've picked all the brown ones which is good because I'm trying to make more more colors in my socks that's right yeah I think I like that one yeah 280. man how do you know about Wesley um so I've been looking into getting into Homestead farming for a few years and I researching different sheep breeds has actually found an ad that they had placed so I reached out in contact with them and just they answered all my questions even before I was ready to make a purchase and just everything felt really good still today like we have questions or the people we go to ask [Music] it's my final day on the farm and I am just in time for Canada Day Wesley is hosting a barbecue dinner in celebration it's a huge deal here in Canada it's because it's like our Singaporean national day it's impactful to me because they accept me it's like coming to a new country and and you feel like that that's that means a lot to me after a week of Firsts I'm finally in my comfort zone as I bring some Asian flavors to remind Wesley of home how many years has it been since you've been away from Singapore well since I was 16 I came back for NS after I finished high school here then came back to University do you think you've grown since oh definitely yeah it's a different way of life some family members think I should be doing other work instead of this but what a lot of people do not understand is money is not everything here I have something that I would never have back home the nature the peace and quiet all this I will never find and that money cannot buy but I have something for you from Singapore that you will definitely not find here my favorite oh my God we cannot get this here man thank you so much [Music] I've got a feast planned for the night Curry I see Lemak and random so this is Pauline Pauline used to live here we had basically the first owners um after her family my mother and father would be so delighted to know that you are doing such a grand job the land is being so well used to aren't guardians of this land and you're doing thank you hi thank you for your patience this looks amazing oh my God I have not had listened I'm like drooling dig in this is a little bit of love from us and Singapore to you guys [Music] foreign [Music] as for the pregnant mothers one gave birth the morning we left and the rest followed the least cup [Music]

Channel: CNA Insider

Views: 14,152

Keywords:

Id: W3X4T-H6ar0

Length: 22min 51sec (1371 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 10 2023