Category Archives: Ranch Activities

December 2022 to April 2023 Updates

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It’s been quite awhile since I have posted on our website.  I tend to post on Facebook more and forget to update the website.  Here are a few photos and happenings that have gone on over the winter.

In December, we were surprised, humbled and happy to be among the finalists in the All Canada GenOvis Recognition Awards 2022 – maternal breed category!
We placed 3rd!

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We added a new pup to our pack in January.  His name is Kozan and he was 4 months old when we brought him home from Manitoba.  He is settling in nicely.

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We had a very mild January this year, which was so nice for lambing about 50 ewes.
We had turned the rams out for 1 week last August and just lambed for 11 days.

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Our next group of ewes lambed from March 14 to April 1.  We were very happy with a drop of 200%.***************************************************************************************************
The January lambs are coming along nicely.  We will be taking their 100 day weights on April 20.  There are some like this one that stand out.

LAIing Ewes

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On Friday, we had OC Flock Management from Alberta, Laproscopically AI twenty four of our yearling Dorset ewes.
We used semen from two outstanding Australian rams: Gooramma ‘Guru’ 308-2016 and Gooramma 723-2015.
We are looking forward to March 18 when the lambs start to arrive!
Hopefully we have a good success rate.  Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

 

 

 

 

Winter Lambing 2020

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Our December/January lambing group is done!
It has been a busy 25 days with 170 ewes giving birth to 326 lambs for an average drop of 192%. This is our best drop ever with these Dorset ewes in 14 years, so we are really happy about that.

Trying to get comfortable by sitting like a dog!

One of our two sets of quads this year, weighing 9, 9, 10, and 12 pounds. The ewe, McDermit 272Z, is eight years old.

The bucket fed lambs, full and content.

The matriarch of the flock, 11 year old “943″ gave us a beautiful set of twin ram lambs.

The -30C weather didn’t bother the 2 week old lambs. They were quite comfortable, burrowed into the fluffy straw in the lean-to.

May Happenings

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We had a very busy and productive day on Saturday.
We weaned, weighed, vaccinated, dewormed and Vetoliced the 200+ March born lambs. Then sorted them into ram lamb and ewe lamb pens.
We also mouthed, bagged and Vetoliced the ewes and dewormed them as needed.

Tonight, I finally got our entries done for the All Canada Classic Show & Sale in Humboldt in July. I am bad for leaving things like that to the last minute because I have hard time deciding what to take.
Here is the ad I made for the catalogue. The rams in the photo are some of our stud rams.

Ram Lamb "McDermit 90G"

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Today we took the 100 day weights for our January born Dorset lambs.
We really like how this twin born ram lamb is turning out. At 101 days old, he weighs 114 lbs. He gained 42 lbs since he was weaned 28 days ago. That’s an average daily gain of 1.5 lbs!
He is sired by McDermit 77E (see pedigree) and will be staying on the ranch to go on some ewes here.
If you are needing a quality Dorset ram, contact us. We have a pen of thick, wide, deep, long and correct ram lambs.
The pen of 48 ram lambs averaged 1.12 ADG in the 28 days since weaning, including the triplets and milk replacer fed ram lambs.

Watch a short video of McDermit 90G here.  The link will take you to our Facebook page, so hit the back button on your browser to come back to this post:
https://www.facebook.com/mcdermitranch/videos/325736638090559/

 

March Lambing 2019

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After a record cold February, we are glad to have the weather turn warmer for our March lambing group.  We started on the 1st and are in full swing, with over 125 lambs on the ground so far.  They are strong, healthy lambs.

Pregnant ewes enjoying the warm, sunny day.

The first lamb, that 6 year old grandson, Hunter has seen born. (That he remembers, anyway).

503 and her triplets. This lamb always gets on her back whenever she lies down.
Photo credits: Laurie Genik

 

Spring Lambing In The New Barn

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Our spring lambing is in full swing, with 250 Dorset, Scotch Mule and Blackface ewes lambing. I am so grateful for my Dad and Mom (Dave and Norma King), who drove 8 hours from Alberta to come help me get our new jug room set up. Dad, who is 78, built 43 jugs and a watering system for them. Mom, 77, kept us fed with delicious meals, while I was doing sheep stuff and helping Dad. Here are some photos to show how we have set things up. We plan to finish the barn this summer.

Shearing 2018

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Yesterday was our annual shearing day and the first time in our new, not quite finished barn.
Big thanks to our shearers: Lorrie Reed, Logan McDermit, Donald Struck, Bonnie McNary and Reba McNeil.
Also, very glad to have help from our son, Carson; grandkids, Taylen and Hunter McDermit; and friends, Heather and Julian Ireland.
The snow storm arrived at 2:30 and we were all done by 7:30. What a good feeling to have all the sheep in the barn, as snug as bugs in a rug with the nasty weather going on outside.  (Click on the photos to enlarge them).

Feeding Ewes and Dogs

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Feeding the guardian dogs and ewes. Our yard is half a mile south of our son’s place, so the dogs go back and forth across the field. I have anywhere from no dogs, to six dogs to feed in the morning.
We shred the hay for the ewes on fresh ground each day until the paddock has been covered. Then we move and feed in a different paddock. The nutrients from the sheep manure and leftover hay help the growth of the plants the next season. It also cuts down on cleaning corrals and we feel the sheep are healthier when not closely confined.

Feeding the 6 Guardian Dogs

Our flock of 300 Dorset, Blackface and Scotch Mule ewes, lined up to eat their freshly shredded hay.

This photo shows the even distribution of manure and leftover hay on the paddock after we have shredded on it for the ewes.

Shearing Day 2017

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We had all of our sheep sheared on Friday and Saturday by Lorrie Reed’s shearing crew. Thanks to everyone for all your hard work:
- Lorrie Reed and his crew, Logan McDermit, Laverne Struck and Wayne Loewen;
- brothers Guido and Edmund Cousins from New Zealand who stopped in to help;
- Ken and Grace Small who came to give us a hand on Friday;
- Reba McNeill who drove 3 hours to do some shearing on Saturday;
- Heather Ireland and her son, Julien who came from Regina for Saturday;
- our daughter-in-law, Charlotte who looked after the meals, feeding everyone as well as keeping the shearing chute full.
Thanks so much, everyone!  ”Many hands make light work”!
767 sheep were sheared in about 10 hours! 

Autumn is here!

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Where has the summer gone?  It’s hard to believe it is the first day of Autumn!

Lambs off to market on the semi.

The market lambs are all gone, except for a few for farm-gate customers.
The ewes are fattening up on alfalfa regrowth, the ewe lambs are in their own pasture, growing out….. and the rams are itching to get out with the ewes!

We will be winter lambing a group of purebred ewes in January and some commercial ewes in February.  Hope the weather is kind!

We drilled a well in the new yard so we have lots of work to do before freeze up – trenching waterlines to waterbowls, building corrals and getting the pole barn ready for winter lambing.

Getting the well drilled.

 

Shipping Lambs

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At last, the rest of our market lambs were sold and loaded on Saturday. We don’t normally have them this long, but there is a glut in the lamb market and the packing plants and feedlots are full to capacity. We haven’t been able to get a buyer to take them until now.

2015 Shearing Day

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Yesterday we sheared the flock. Of course, it had to snow the day before….but thankfully they dried off by shearing time.  It went very well.

We had 6 shearers: Lorrie Reed, Laverne Struck, Charles Struck, Russell Eddy, Ampie Esterhuyse, Logan McDermit;
3 wool handlers: Carter Nameth, Jordan Sveinbjornson, Jelaine;
1 wool packer operator: Daylon Schmidt;
1 sheep pusher: Randy.

525 ewes/ewe lambs and 19 rams were shorn in 8 hours!
Thanks to everyone for their help and hard work!

Bringing in the flock for shearing.

525 ewes and ewe lambs waiting to be sheared.

The six shearers keeping busy.

Logan and Laverne shearing two of the Scottish Blackface rams.

Randy, going to get the next bunch of sheep.  He kept the shearing chute full all day.

 

January Born Dorset Lambs

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Here are a few of our January born purebred Dorset lambs. We weaned, weighed and 8-wayed them this weekend. Some of them could hardly get into the creep area anymore.
We will be consigning some lambs to the All Canada Sheep Classic Show & Sale in Winnipeg this June, as well as to the SSBA Annual  Summer Show & Sale in Prince  Albert, SK in July.
Check back to our website for more pictures and information on the lambs, as it becomes available.
Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Getting Closer!!

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We are really looking forward to our first ever Scotch Mule lambs!  Start date for lambing is March 15, but they could come up to 5 days early.
These are some of our Scottish Blackface ewes, heavy in lamb to our Bluefaced Leicester ram.  We bred the darkest faced SBF ewes to the BFL ram, and the ewes with more white on their faces were bred to our blackest faced SBF ram to lamb in June. So we’ll see what happens! Anxiously waiting…..!!
(Hoping for lots of twin ewe lambs).

SSBA Show & Sale at Prince Albert

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The SSBA has announced that their Annual Summer Show & Sale will be held in conjunction with the Prince Albert, SK Exhibition.  The sheep show dates are July 30 – August 1, 2015.  P.A. is only a 1 1/2 hour drive from Saskatoon.

We will be going with some of our Dorsets.  It is a possibility that we will take some Scottish Blackface and Scotch Mules as well.

Hope to see you there!

Feeding Time

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We are sure glad for this mild weather and lack of snowfall! We are still able to feed the sheep out in the 160 acre field. We shred the hay on the hilltops to add mulch and fertilizer for the next growing season. It will make the hilltops more productive.
Another bonus with the light snow cover is that the ewes can still do some grazing.

Feeding Time!