With lamb prices hitting record highs and hog prices still floundering, dozens of farms across the province are building new flocks, including some who have converted empty hog barns into lambing sheds, said instructor Laurie Read.
The market for lamb is good right now, with 55 kilogram animals fetching an average of $120, Read said while supervising the novice shearers on Rod and Jacquie Turuk’s farm near Leslieville.
He said meat processors cannot get enough lambs, but producers who are entering the business or expanding have a tough time finding breeding ewes.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
“Right now, we could probably sell 10,000 ewes in Alberta overnight,” he said over the buzz of heavy-duty clippers and the roar of a propane heater.
“(It is) very lucky to find anything to buy.”
People have paid as much as $400 per head for ewes, although the average is closer to $200 or slightly higher.
Jacquie Turuk expects her first lambs to start arriving at the end of March.
The ewes are sheared just before lambing, mainly so they will be better able to keep their lambs close and warm.
Alberta Lamb Producers sponsored last year’s shearing school, which was also held at Turuk’s farm, but this year she and Read organized it themselves.
“We started doing it because we couldn’t find a shearer. We found last year, we enjoyed it.
“It does save money on shearing, but we lose our wool value, you know, because it’s their first time.”
One of the participants was Rueben Tschetter, a teenager who works with a flock of 700 on a Hutterite colony north of Grande Prairie, Alta.
Tschetter has been practicing on 100 of the animals in his colony’s herd but attended the school to improve his skills.
“I wanted to pick up some tips,” he said.
He took some ribbing from fellow students for nicking an ear.
Even experienced shearers draw a little blood from time to time, said Turuk.
