LIPTON, Sask. – Martin and Louise Catto have only one regret about leaving Scotland to farm in Saskatchewan – that they didn’t do it sooner.
The couple and their two sons, Christopher, now 13, and Michael, 11, purchased a farm north of Lipton in 1999.
Martin and his father and brother were partners in the family’s dairy operation near Aberdeen, Scotland. He could see the need to expand but it was too expensive to buy land or quota.
Attractive land costs in Canada led the family to check out Manitoba first.
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“We didn’t know Saskatchewan existed,” said Martin.
But they knew their first night in Fort Qu’Appelle that they would relocate to Saskatchewan.
They found they would spend as much to buy an acre in Saskatchewan as they would to rent an acre of pasture in Scotland for six months.
Just days after seeing the farm where they now live, a rolling landscape dotted with bush that reminds them of Scotland, they made an offer with one condition. They asked the owner to stay on for the first year to help them adjust to their new climate and country.
“Nine years later, he’s still helping,” Martin said.
The farm was then strictly a grain operation. After the first harvest that fall, the Cattos were wondering what to do with their time.
Martin had raised sheep in Scotland and was certain he didn’t want to do that again.
But one rainy day the family decided to pass the time at an auction sale in Moose Jaw and purchased 80 ewes.
“And there’s not a fence on the farm,” Martin recalled, laughing.
They raced home ahead of the semi and relied on a Border collie to herd the flock for a couple of days until they could build some fences.
That flock has grown into one of the province’s largest sheep operations. The Cattos continued to buy whole flocks until they had between 700 and 800 ewes and then began keeping their own replacements.
They have about 2,500 head on the farm now and another 500 head in the community pasture at Elbow for the summer.
The commercial flock is predominantly Texel-North Country Cheviot crosses but the Cattos also have purebred Texels. Both boys have their own sheep and Christopher is raising purebred Cheviots.
Because they use several lambing periods, the Cattos need only 40 to 50 rams.
Lambing begins in the barn at the end of January with about 500 ewes. Another 500 lamb in March and the rest lamb on pasture at the end of May and early June. Shearing takes place for a week in early April.
“This spreads out our costs,” said Louise. “We can get some money to put in our crop.”
The grain operation includes almost 4,000 acres seeded this year to canola, peas, barley and oats. The farm also includes pasture and hay land. In addition to the nearly 26 quarters they bought, the Cattos rent 800 acres of cultivated land.
Most of the market lambs are finished on the farm to a live weight of 110 to 120 pounds. They are sold to the buyer paying the best price at the time, Martin said.
“The price needs to be close to 50 percent more to make it worthwhile shipping to Ontario,” he noted.
Still, the Cattos say Saskatchewan is one of the best places in the world to raise sheep. The winter keeps bugs and disease at bay. Readily available, free chaff from their grain farm makes up about half the winter feed needs.
The only downfall, they say, is coyote predation.
Martin estimated coyotes that have figured out how to get through the electric fence cost the farm $20,000 in the worst year.
They use seven Great Pyrenees and one Anatolian shepherd as guard dogs. Three Border collies work the sheep when they need to be moved or handled.
But the dogs can’t stop all the coyotes. The Cattos are in the process of changing their electric fence to one that has page wire on the bottom and electric strands on the top.
“We would like to have more sheep but only if we can control the coyotes,” Martin said. “If there was a solution we’d be willing to spend the money.”
Still, sheep are profitable and paying the bills. The number of sheep they run is the equivalent of a cow-calf producer with between 400 and 500 head.
They would like to see more producers get serious about sheep by purchasing good breeding stock, and rams in particular, and by increasing their flock sizes.
BSE in 2003 closed borders but helped the Catto operation in the long run because they kept back everything that looked good and built a strong breeding stock business that continues today.
Louise said they have done well showing their stock at shows in Yorkton and
Canadian Western Agribition in Regina.
Christopher and Michael each have a 4-H heifer and show sheep as well.
Louise said she doesn’t worry about the boys working with sheep as much as she would if it was cattle. When they first came to Canada they did consider a cattle operation.
“Sheep penciled out so much better,” she said.
And while they have established themselves in operation size, they say it’s much more important to offer quality meat and breeding stock.
“Being the largest is not the goal. It’s being the best,” said Martin.
