Productivity is high this spring on Ewesask Farm near Rosetown, Sask.
The flock of 36 Rideau Arcott sheep, owned by Sherry and Tyler Fensom, has averaged 3.8 lambs per two-year-old ewe, much beyond the normal commercial average of 1.5 to 1.8 lambs per ewe and the 2.5 average for the Rideau Arcott breed.
On April 2, one of them gave birth to six lambs.
“Lamb is $1.90 a pound right now, so she just had $1,200 worth of lambs,” said Sherry Fensom.
Only one of the six was smaller than normal and all continue to thrive. Supplemental bottle feeding is helping the ewe keep up to demand from six hungry mouths.
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
The ewe was assisted with the birth, with Fensom putting the lambs under heat lamps until all six were born. She and her husband used to operate a commercial flock, but with only 30 acres of pasture, they decided to start a registered breeding stock operation instead.
Results like this give them confidence that it was a good decision, Fensom said.
One of their ewes also had quintuplets this year, but two of them died, likely because of weather conditions.
