Plenty of opportunity in the sheep industry

For sheep producers, there are many more challenges than the Ontario Sheep Farmers’ decision last week to tack on a small increase to licensing fees, the first change in 13 years.

In fact, a pair of local farm operations agree with the $0.40 hike that brings the fee to $2.20 per head. The extra funds will be used to boost the value chain within the market served by the Ontario Sheep Farmers, a producer-run organization established in 1985 that represents the province’s 3,000 sheep farmers.

It’s an industry that contributes some $530 million to Ontario’s economy. The province is home to the country’s largest sheep flock, processing more than 50 per cent of the sheep and lambs born in Canada.

“Business costs have been rising for the last how many years, but the marketing fee check-off hasn’t increased. To deliver the programs that the Ontario shepherds need to help their flock grow, you can only do so much with so little when all your expenses are already increasing but you haven’t increased your revenues,” said Ryan Schill, who is a director on the board and runs Circle R. Livestock near Wallenstein with his wife Romy.

“I am in favour of it. There’s ways to save 40 cents per lamb,” said Ryan, noting the costs to grow the feed for ewes that are lambing three times in two years are far greater than the cost to sell a lamb.