In Praise of Mutton

I don’t know how many times I have told clients that not only do we sell lamb but we also sell hogget and mutton just to have them reject the mutton immediately even though the majority have never tasted it. Even fellow shepherds often do not consider mutton as a viable product line.  This article is my argument that older animals not only can provide high quality meat with a strong market but sale of mutton can bring in a good revenue stream and can contribute in a meaningful way to flock improvement.

To make sure all readers understand what I mean by these different meats from sheep, lamb is from an animal under one year of age, hogget is from an animal between a year and two years of age and mutton is from an animal over two years of age.

First I would like to discuss numbers.  A quick tally of all animals passing through Ontario sale barns shows that nearly 30% are mature sheep approximately 50,000 animals.  A recent article in the Toronto Star stated that Mr. Greek, a large Toronto butcher, processes close to 200 mutton animals a week.  If you extrapolate that to either the Canadian or American market you are talking a very large numbers. This is not a niche market but rather a mainstream market that seems to be forgotten. Consider if you could increase the revenue from one third of your flock. This is not potential income that should be dismissed.  

As populations within the world move and countries become  more diverse, we, as shepherds need to consider not only a diversified client base but also a client base that wants an expanded product line that includes mutton.  It is not only up to the individual shepherds but also up to marketing boards and industry organizations to proactively grasp the opportunity to develop and expand these markets for the benefit of producers. 

Industries often fail because they are very narrow in their focus.  For example, the movie industry suffered when television entered the market.  Their focus was narrowly aimed at the production of movies rather than a broader focus of entertainment.  Shepherds likewise can get stuck in the narrow focus of lamb production rather than looking at production of high quality food.  There are other product lines possible beyond that but that is for a different article.

In 2004, HRH the Prince of Wales launched Mutton Renaissance (http://www.muttonrenaissance.org.uk/) to re-establish the market for mutton on dinner tables in the United Kingdom.  The organization set production and processing standards to ensure the consumer had access to a quality product.  And I meant to say re-establish the market for mutton because this meat was a staple in households in the United Kingdom until quite recent times.  All you need to do is look at first class menus from passenger ocean liners from less than 100 years ago to see mutton commonly served.  This movement is a fine example of what we can do to improve both the reputation and subsequently the market and the revenue from mutton.

Our own operation is tiny by today’s flock size averages but we have always considered marketing mutton as part of our farm product line and revenue stream.  We have advertised, introduced the uninitiated and marketed our mutton with the same effort as we do our lamb.  As a result, we are able with very little effort sell all we produce.  We do ensure that the quality of our mutton is equivalent to the quality of our lamb. Mutton graces our own table more often than lamb and I can truthfully tell our clients that mutton will be a delicious addition to their menu. The revenue we get from mutton sales is much better than if we shipped these animals to the sale barn.

At the beginning of this article I mentioned that sale of mutton is integrated into our flock improvement plan.  If our market was exclusively for lamb, we would be doing the numbers game on maximizing the number of lambs we ship to market and would probably be keeping ewes for production that we currently are shipping for meat.  Because we have a good revenue stream for mutton, we have made our culling criteria more stringent allowing us to improve the quality of our breeding animals at a faster rate than if those ewes remained in our flock.  As time goes on our culling criteria has become more focussed.  Would some of our culls make good breeding stock in other flocks…. Probably but now we get more income from them as mutton.

So where do we go from here?  First shepherds need to look at production of mutton as a separate product line not as a discard.  The breed and marketing organizations need to expand their focus to include mutton, hogget and lamb and the industry needs to embrace entering the market in value added products with these meats.  If it has not already been defined, the production standards for the different consumer markets need to be identified and voluntary standards set to meet these markets. Shepherds need to be educated in ways to meet these standards. Processors need to be educated on the preferred methods of handling mutton. The consuming public needs to be re-educated about the quality and merits of mutton as a delicious alternative to their diet reversing the negative reputation of this meat.  At the same time the consuming public that already wants this meat should have improved access not only through private sales but also through mainstream markets.  When was the last time you saw mutton for sale in a mainstream grocery store?

My main goal for this article is to encourage shepherds to explore the opportunities with expanding into the mutton market and hopefully increase the revenue stream from a significant percentage of your flock. 

Laurie Maus

Hawk Hill Farm

Worm Wars

A number of years ago I was at a Crop Seminar on alternate methods for weed control.  I went there thinking that I would find some alternate pest management strategies such as rotation, permaculture, green manures etc.  Instead I listened to a lecture on tank mixes of various herbicides.  

Our use and in some cases overuse and abuse of chemical herbicides has resulted in a vast number of weed species that are resistant to these chemicals.  The response has been to bring out stronger and new chemicals and now tank mixes of a mixture of chemicals to combat weedy species.  

We have a number of invasive weeds here on the farm that are resitant to any number of chemical herbicides and we don't even try to go after them with these methods.  Now we are mowing before they go to seed, using competitive exclusion etc. Since we have seldom used herbicides on this farm it is unlikely that we created the resistance on site.  The resistant species have invaded on the wind or tagging along with wildlife or tires.

So what does this have to do with worms, that is internal parasites of our sheep and horses?  Like with weeds, over this summer we have found that the internal parasites in our sheep are resistant to two of the main products used to eliminate these parasites ie Valbazen and Ivomec.  The choices for alternate products here in Canada are very limited.  And are we alone?  No, a recent U. of Guelph study showed that about 80% of the farms they tested had some level of resistance to these products.

Are we at fault for the resistance problem on our farm?  Probably but no more so than any other shepherd trying to reduce the parasite burden within their flock.  Some resistance we probably imported from farms where we sourced animals and some was probably developed on this farm with our deworming practices.

With all our technology we just can't beat good old fashioned natural selection.  By using a drug that is lethal to the organism being controlled we have very strong selective pressure to organisms that are resistant to that drug.  With random mutations occuring in an organism all the time, some of these mutations will by chance confir resistance to the drug.  Put very strong selective pressure on that population of organisms and only the resistant  organisms survive.

The purists say that there are natural dewormers.  Maybe they work if the burden is low or work to prevent acquiring the organisms in the first place but as treatment for a serious burden in reality most do not work.  Been there, tried that, tested that.  Apple cider vinegar - doesn't work.  Diatomaceous earth - doesn't work.  Garlic- doesn't work.  Pumpkin seeds - doesn't work.  Willow leaves and black walnut leaves - might work to an extent.  Bird's foot trefoil in pasture - might work.  Elevated bypass protein- probably helps.  Rapid pasture rotation and long pasture rests between  grazing- probably works.  So the solution is not so much drugs but fencing and seeding.

Our ewe flock that is rotated through pastures with high concentrations of bird's foot trefoil, crown vetch and some willow are almost completely clear of parasites.

We have also been monitoring ewe and ram families and are selecting for resistant lines.  These unfortunately are not necessarily our most productive lines.  However heavy parasite burden reduces production so it is a trade off.

Are we out of the dark regarding parasite control?  No but we are working on strategies and testing those strategies. I do not think that it is a goal to be totally rid of parasites but to be able to co-exist with them without having an effect on production.

TTFN,
Laurie

Why we don't go against nature at Hawk Hill

I read with interest the article in the Ontario Sheep News on fish meal supplementation to supply omega 3 fatty acids in ewe ration and its impact on the subsequent lamb's ability to withstand a bacteria toxin challenge (endotoxin).  While it was scientifically interesting, this is not the direction that our farm wants to go.

The first reason is that sheep are herbivores, not omnivores, and feeding animal-based proteins to herbivores is what got the sheep industry into problems in the first place with conditions like scrapie.  No, I am not saying that fish meal can transmit scrapie, but I am questioning a nutritional supplement that is so totally foreign to the natural diet of sheep.

The second reason is the effect of the fish supplement on the quality of the meat.  As a teenager, we lived in Sweden.  At that time, the Swedish pork industry was using a fish based feed supplement.  It was, beyond the doubt, the worst pork I had ever eaten with a distinctly fishy flavour to the meat.  We do not want to use any feed supplement that can create off flavours in the meat and reduce the quality of our product.

Man's manipulation of domestic animals is but a moment of time in the evolutionary scale.  That is especially true with respect to recent manipulations for the more intensively raised livestock.

Sheep have evolved to breed at a time so that the lambs were born when vegetation is young, supporting the increased nutritional demands for a lactating ewe as well as for a rapidly growing lamb.  In our climate's case (and the British and European breeds that have evolved for our climate) that means a birth in April or May.   Not surprisingly, omega-3 fatty acids in forage peak at the same time as lambing.  Forage sugars and proteins also peak at that time.

All this begs the economic and in some cases physiological costs of trying to paddle against nature's current.  In my opinion the way to minimize health problems and economic costs in your flock is to quit trying to breed out of season. 


The demand for Easter lamb actually originated in the Mediteranean  where the climate naturally produces lamb in that season.  So is it reasonable to expect production systems in a northern climate using breeds developed in northern climates to try to mimic a Mediteranean production system using Mediteranean breeds?  My opinion is no.


 Does that mean only seasonal availability of lamb?  Sure, but it is a long season from spring lamb in May, June to heavy lambs from September to January or even later.  Off season, there is hogget and mutton, two very good meats that need to be promoted again. 


Each shepherd must make their own decision as to the production system they want but they must recognize going against our climatic realities comes at an economic and management cost. At Hawk Hill, we acknowledge the realities of our climate, our breeds and our forage production season and manage our breeding and marketing to reflect that reality. 


TTFN,
Laurie

A Shepherd in Winter

As I lay nestled under the duvet listening to the morning weather - “-23 with a wind chill of -30” – I chant my winter shepherd mantra – “What the hell were you thinking?”.  At -40 I add “I could have been in a villa in Tuscany right now”.  I drag myself out of bed in a house that was built in an era when upstairs heat and insulation were considered optional.  Fleece PJs and fluffy socks – a TSC vision of loveliness.

If I am lucky Bob has the stove going before I get downstairs. There is oatmeal for breakfast with a bit extra for the chickens.  I am training them to come when they are called with oatmeal bribes. (see the former post) If you think that you look like a fool herding sheep without dogs, try chickens.

Now the ordeal of getting dressed for chores: insulated coveralls, my dork hat with ear flaps, neoprene gloves, neoprene boots, ice cleats.  If I ever give up farming I could find employment as a dominatrix.

A stilt legged shuffle to the barn.  Oh, you say, the warmth of sheep wafting over me when I open the door.  No, the barn was built by the same folks that thought heat in the house was for wusses.  It is a drafty, old bank barn where we house very few sheep but keep the hay, the water and the feed.  The sheep are in paddocks with run-in sheds scattered around the barnyard.  Water sloshing over my coveralls freezes instantly.  I recite the mantra again.

I look over the breeding groups: a red butt here, a blue butt there.  It is starting to look a lot like Christmas and the tune comes to mind.  I am jostled by the sheep as I fill feeders; the guardian dogs are prancing in the snow.  I am starting to wake up, to warm up.

Like with childbirth, I know I will forget all of this when I see the lambs frolicking in the spring pastures.  A pushy ewe dumps the bucket down my boot; here comes the mantra again.

COPD in Sheep

While sheep have been used as a model for asthma and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) in humans there is very little written about the condition in sheep itself except for anecdotal evidence that sheep grazing on kelp on the Scottish Islands are less susceptible to respiratory coughing etc. Something to do with the iodine levels.

We have one lamb (possible two) and one ewe that have what I am starting to believe is COPD. When they are housed inside, especially if the ammonia levels increase or dust levels are higher than desirable, they have upper respiratory tract congestion, coarse breathing and coughing. These conditions do not really respond to antibiotic treatment but respond better to improvements in air quality.

I know that the one lamb had a very difficult time during birth, was a backwards presentation and had problems for the first few days. I am guessing that the lamb may have aspirated some fluid during birth and have some lung damage. I think that has left this animal more vulnerable to air quality issues. He spent the majority of the summer housed outside with access to airy shelters. His breathing difficulty only arrived once he was brought back into the barn.

This morning the lamb's breathing was very rough. I treated him with a wind aid treatment with potassium iodide, eucalyptus oild and pepperment oil. I then put down a heavy layer of fresh bedding. Within minutes his breathing was back to normal. He will be moved into a clean stall with better ventilation.

A second lamb that has mild respiratory problems also underwent a difficult birth.

I have a mature ewe with a similar condition: fine when housed outside but chronic breathing problems that does not respond to antibiotic treatment when housed inside. The condition improves with improved air quality. We bought the ewe as a mature animal so I am not sure if she was the result of a difficult birth but I would not be surprised.

More than even I am convinced that animals are healthier when housed outside. While our barn structure does not allow for huge improvements in air movement (low ceiling bank barn), we are going to do what we can to move more air through the builing and minimize the time the animals are inside.

I am also convinced that difficult deliveries, especially backwards presentations predispose the lambs to chronic respiratory vulnerabilities. Unless a lamb is extremely valuable those that underwent a difficult delivery will be slated as market lambs. Ewes that have chronic lambing problems will be culled.

I would love to hear from others that think they may have seen COPD in their sheep.

TTFN,
Laurie

Scent of a ....ram

Well the robins and red wing blackbirds are here, the geese are overhead and the sap is getting close to the end (8 litres of syrup and counting). It was time for the sheep to get naked. Our shearer was here on Monday and 2 huge bags later everyone is shorn. It is amazing what is hidden under those fleeces. Our mature ram was half the size I thought he was and our junior ram needs a few pounds.

The sheep will be heading back outside for another couple of weeks and then coming in for lambing. It is hard to imagine how quickly the time has passed. We bred 15 ewes last fall so I am hoping all of them caught. Most are very obviously pregnant but some of them that were bred at the end of the season are not so obviously pregnant.

A couple of days after shearing our mature ram came up lame in his back right foot. This is one case where I really had to dig deep for information. We do not and never have had foot rot on the farm... thank goodness. His hooves looked good, maybe a touch long so I trimmed him but it looked like the scent gland in between the cloves of his hoof was plugged. I scrubbed out his feet, trimmed them and cleaned out what appeared to be a blockage in the scent gland and 24 hours later he seems to be fine. NONE of the sheep vet manuals mention the scent gland. It was just a fluke that I found out that they exist and if they plug you will end up with and " unexplained" lameness. Fortunately I knew about the scent gland a couple of years ago and knew what to do.

We have a few lambing jugs to build. And so it begins.

TTFN

Laurie

Lambing is finished - can sleep be far off

Like two synchronized swimmers going through their routine, the last of our two ewes lambed simultaneously two days ago. We had what I considered a very successful second lambing season. 10 of the 11 mature ewes lambed out. We do not know whether the 11th ewe caught and lost her lamb or did not catch. With the 10 ewes that lambed we had 18 lambs. One was stillborn but test results showed no obvious cause so it was not a management problem on our part.

Now we can finally sleep through the night. But I am not through fussing about them. Until they are about one week old I always fuss about whether they are nursing enough etc. I worry about infections in the ewe, mastitis etc. OK I just fuss. Thank goodness I didn't have children of my own because I would have driven them and me crazy.

We record tons of information during births so that we can start to recognize norms and when to intervene. I needed to intervene with two births. One where the lamb was backwards with one hoof caught behind the pelvic bone and the second presenting forwards with one leg back. I am pleased to say that both lambs are fine as are the moms.

We also collect other information that is interesting but I don't know how relevant it is. We have had 14 sets of twins. We have only had ewe/ewe twins or ewe/ram twins. In all the mixed sex twins but one, the ram twin was born first. Go figure!

The sheep will all be out on pasture in the next week. And things quiet down to leave us time to hay.

TTFN,
Laurie

Impossible to Change/Change to Impossible

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power. -Alan Cohen

This quote was posted on a favorite Facebook page Solve Horseback Riding Fears by Jane Savoie and it really captures what I have tried to do most of my life. Over 5 years ago I gave up a secure but stressful job with the government to work full time on the farm. While it is much less secure and definitely has its moments that are as stressful, it is a whole lot more satisfying.
At that time we were breeding horses, and while the quality of horse we were producing was extremely good, the market was continuing to dry up so another change was required. It broke our hearts but we sold most of our horses and started to breed sheep and raise stockers. There are some that would say I was crazy at my age to take on a new, physically strenuous enterprise but I guess that is changing to the impossible.
With these changes I have to make sure that I celebrate the small victories to keep motivated. Yesterday for example we got the lab reports from flock fecal samples. All three sub-flocks of sheep are free of internal parasites. The bonus is we do not have to treat our sheep and can move towards our goal of prevention rather than treatment.
Yesterday also I tested whether I still was capable of selecting the best quality of dairy cattle (an earlier part of my life). I had reviewed the All Canadian Nominations for 16 classes of Ayrshire Cattle and noted my placement. Yesterday the official placements were released and my placements corresponded with those of the judging panel 26 of the 32 times and were off my a single placement for the balance.
Small victories, big motivation. I have a sister that kids me about "living large" but these small victories are important to me.
The sheep are shorn and lambing begins next month. The seasons evolve as they should.
Next week for the first time in my life I am starting regularly scheduled riding classes. I want to be ready when Lucan comes home. Change to the impossible.

TTFN,
Laurie

Don't clash with Titan

This is Titan, our Maremma livestock guardian dog. He is gentle and loving with us but I sure would not want to be a coyote that tangles with his sheep. The coyote problem in Ontario is increasing every year with more loses for sheep producers. This problem has a huge impact on your bottom line as a pack of coyotes can wipe out your yearly profits in one night of mayhem.
Enter Titan. He is a 2 year old purebred Maremma livestock guardian dog that we purchased as a pup with our first flock of NC Cheviots. While some suggest that the dog should not be socialized to humans, we have too many people visiting the farm to take the chance. Plus we needed him to come easily to our few basic commands. However Titan is not a pet. He is a working dog on duty 24 hours a day. He lives with his sheep and has developed an amazing communication with them. If he senses a threat, he lets the girls know and they all head back to the protection of their paddock and shelter at a dead run.

One night last month the gate to their shelter broke open. Titan rounded up the sheep, put them back into their shelter and guarded the door until we returned home. He certainly earned his chew bone treat that night.

While we have no experience with any of the other guardian animals we certainly can recommend a Maremma. And since we like him so much we will be adding another Maremma in a year or two to our staff.

TTFN,
Laurie

Fall is here with a vengence...winter is coming

The one advantage to the arrival of winter is that you can no longer kid yourself into believing that you can: paint the garage and the barn, build a new shed, build a new garden, plant some fall vegetables etc etc. With the cold weather is the realization that winter is here and you can no longer prepare.

Our lambs are now weaned and slowly are heading out to either new homes (or new freezers). We sold one purebred Tunis as a breeding ram and while are still open to sell the other Tunis ewe lambs we have no problem keeping them ourselves.

We just purchased a new Terminal ram - Winston is a purebred Hampshire ram that is long as a freight train and promises to add a lot of meat on our market lambs.

Our horses are content being pasture potatoes and we have not had time to do much other than that. Two are heading out for retraining this winter.

We have been trying to declutter and every trip to the dump, scrap metal, recycling plant makes me happy.

Cheers
Laurie

Fall is coming fast

Time is flying fast...just like the geese that are showing up in our pastures and the swallows that are starting to flock to migrate for the winter. The overnight temperature was in the single digits and it was definitely sweatshirt weather this morning. I better get my tomatoes harvested soon and hope there is time for my melons to ripen.

The lambs are growing well and field by field we are switching our pastures from "horse-safe" fencing to "sheep-safe" fencing and are establishing a system that will allow us to rotate pastures on a weekly basis. That and spot tile drainage and reseeding our pastures will really set us up well for next summer. We will be able to rely more on pasture for nutrition and less on hay and grains. We also will be able to improve our parasite control. As planned the sheep might be as long as two to three months before they return to the first pasture. Our cattle will rotate behind the sheep cleaning up the pasture before the sheep return.

We finally have harvested our first cut hay and have it under cover. The second cut will come in next month and like squirrels preparing for the winter, I will give a big sigh of relief.

Our two steers are doing well on pasture and have just been rotated into another field. Our horses will be moving onto their winter pasture soon and the summer pasture they are currently on will be reseeded.....it never ends.

Until later in the fall,

Laurie from Hawk Hill

Welcome to Hawk Hill's Blog

Well I guess Hawk Hill Farm is being pulled into the 21st century. We have had a web site for the last 6 years (check us out at www.hawkhillfarm.ca) and have had videos on Youtube for the last year so what is next.... A BLOG.

As you can see by our description we are a small farm that is more than hobby but less than allowing us to pay all the bills. We started 8 years ago breeding and raising Canadian Horses (we have some lovely mares and geldings for sale by the way) and the last 2 years we have been raising sheep (North Country Cheviots and Tunis) and this year we have started into beef.BTW that handsome boy to the left is Hawk Hill Bandit Lucan, the first Canadian born on our farm.

We are lambing late this year so lambing will be beginning in about a month. We are so excited. We are expecting both purebred Tunis and Tunis/ Cheviot cross.

Our cattle will be delivered at about the same time we are lambing and they are due in June and July. Keep posted because we are planning to breed for Canadian Kobe.

I will try to pop in on a regular basis to keep you up to date on Hawk Hill Farm Happenings.

Toodles,
Laurie