Sheep shearing day marks busy season at Circle R Ranch

By Joan Janzen

Sheep shearing season is underway at Circle R Ranch, located between Beadle and Netherhill, as the Rast family prepares for the upcoming lambing season.

On March 3, Michele Rast reported the family sheared approximately 100 ewes during their annual shearing day.

“Lorrie Reed has been shearing our sheep for over 25 years,” she said. “He’s in his 70s and still shearing.”

Photos submitted by Michele Rast show longtime shearer Lorrie Reed at work, along with Vanessa Friessen, who was also helping out during shearing day.

The annual shearing typically takes place a few weeks before lambing begins, a timing that helps protect both ewes and newborn lambs.

“The reason for this is two-fold,” Rast explained. “A shorn ewe will keep her lamb inside where it is warm as opposed to outside in her full wool coat where the lamb could succumb to the cold. We also put a ewe and lambs in a small pen to bond, and a shorn ewe doesn’t lay on her lamb quite so easily.”

Shearing also helps prevent animals from overheating and removes the heavy fleece that can weigh them down.

While wool was once an important source of income for sheep producers, Rast said the market has changed significantly in recent years.

“We used to sell the wool, but there is a surplus world-wide,” she said.

Producers are required to shear sheep annually, contributing to the oversupply. At the same time, demand has declined as synthetic fibres have become cheaper and several wool processing mills in eastern Canada have closed, making it harder for farmers to find buyers.

Online market reports indicate that while demand remains for fine wool, coarser wools are particularly affected by the surplus.

Rather than discarding the fleece, the Rast family has found an alternative use for it on their farm.

“So we have been incorporating the wool into the garden and our new tree starts. It works awesome,” Rast said.

Rast noted that sheep production can still be an accessible entry point into agriculture.

“You can be a producer with a smaller overhead with some innovation,” she said.