Farming Frontiers Studio

This particular topic is still my most read page. It's just not talked about enough.

CALA Loans A program worth knowing about

Happy customer! We sent 5 ewes and 1 ram to Nova Scotia this week. They arrived in top condition! Many thanks Missing Barn Farm!

There was a new post on Substack this week, I couldn't get the link to show up.

It's been a while but this is what's been going on in the barn. I think we're finally settling on a composite that's working and moving away from a breed that isn't.

Making Progress with Change Switching up our flock's genetics

Its that time of year to start planning ahead for the 2026 markets. I ended up drafting a calendar template. If this is something you'd like a copy of, message me! It's a PDF so you can print and flip through several months at a time.

And yes, that is not a typo, this is planning for 2026 because 2025 marketing planning is essentially over. The calendar runs from July 2024 to January 2026.

These are possible policy changes I found in my research for the last 2 articles. Various aspects already exist, these are just my ideas on how we could improve the situation.

Keeping Farms Going A wishlist of policy changes to keep farmland productive and not just an investment, limit debt and give better odds to new entrants

This is a continuation of the last post on how many new farms we see. Originally it was all one article but that got to be too long. I would recommend you read the other one "Disappearing Farmers" first.

Link -- see comments, FB is being annoying with the button, sorry!

1000% Increase In Farmland Prices in 27 Years Are high farmland prices really hindering the next generation from getting involved?

The sheep are absolutely thrilled with the first hay from 2024. They felt this was like candy. No test results but the sheep approved.

We lose way more farms than is ever talked about. I found a detailed Canadian study and dove in.

Disappearing Farmers One third of all Canadian farms every census are new operations but only half will make it to the next census

Feed pens that look like this make it all worthwhile. I'm still here, just got trapped in a cycle of medical appointments and farm things. I do have a mostly complete draft post on some interesting data behind farm entrants and exits. I'm hoping to hit publish next week.

This is one of the most interesting tables I've come across in a while. Not sure when I'll have time to write about it but having all of these years at once is fascinating.

I've also got a study in my desk on entry and exits in Canadian farming. Despite the high barriers of entry, there's actually a lot of new farms each census. If you survive more than 3 censuses, that puts your operation in a small group of long time operators.

If you are a producer in Ontario, you might want to check out the Biosecurity Enhancement Initiative. It will provide funding to improve biosecurity and traceability on your farm.

Biosecurity Enhancement Initiative Guidelines Learn more about funding opportunities to enhance biosecurity at your business.

Thanks for all the comments on the last post. I finished Barons and I really think it's worth a read by everyone.

Monopolies in Agriculture 2 Books, 12 years apart and why you should read them today

These books are published 12 years apart. It's still the same problem, just worse if anything. Would you read a book review? I've held off on those but I have a big collection.

Fun fact, my very first blog was on YA novels and I actually got a few ARCs.

I'm working with a new tool this week. This chart is interactive and shows the lamb prices along with the related holidays. If you like this chart, please let me know, I'm hoping to incorporate them on Substack in the future.

2023 Ontario Weighted Average Lamb Price | Created with Datawrapper Prices for each week with key holidays

This should be among the most important data you track for your flock or herd. I included a spreadsheet you can use.

Days to Market Knowing when your animals are ready is the key to plan your breeding & marketing schedules

Happy Canada's Agriculture Day to all the farmers and everyone that supports this wonderful industry!

Let's talk about doing the thing nobody really wants to when it comes to sheep which is dealing with MV because it's really hard and expensive. And devastating, you can't look at the ewes as they leave because your personal favourites will be among them. The other side is better, so far.

A Tale about Maedi Visna A cautionary look at how this virus nearly destroyed our flock.

Another year, more numbers. I did end up changing it from cost per lamb to cost per productive ewe. The lamb number didn't make much sense. If this change bothers you, I hope you have your year-end bookkeeping done and did your own calculations.

I will expand on what we ended up changing for the flock and how that is going in a future blog.

2023 Cost of Lamb Production A look at the numbers for the year and some thoughts on our expenses

Tessa and I are hard at work outlining new blog posts, presentations and articles.

On the drafts list there's a blog post on 2023 costs. I did put something together as I needed the information for my budget anyway. There's a presentation on financial records and bookkeeping for OSF district 10 coming up January 31. Please contact District 10 for information on that.

Merry Christmas from our barn to yours! See you all in the new year! Thanks for all the support, and I hope you stick around for 2024.

It's lambing time here and we're trying something different. I saw this done by someone else for their horses, a vet supplies box. Now, we're on a budget so I wasn't going to get those lovely red toolboxes but this one was on sale. Everything fits and is easily accessible. We don't have a barn office or heated space so previously most of our lambing supplies were scattered around the house.

The top box has extra syringes, needles, and some medication that doesn't require refrigeration. The 2nd box has lambing needs like prolapse spoons, extra bottles and tube feeding kits. The final box holds larger items like powdered colostrum, marker paint and a bigger bottle of medication (we refill a smaller bottle for the barn). All of the lids have shocks so there's no risk of a lid falling closed on fingers.

We'll see how this works, there will probably be some rearranging as the season goes on but it's nice to have everything in one place and within reach from the door.

I finally got a new post together. Culling sheep has basically been the theme around here for this year. This is the criteria we use.

Culling for the Future of the Flock A whirlwind of a year with more changes coming