Milking profit from extra lambs

Nov 30, 2022

For Martin Catto of Lipton, Sask., the choice of when to put lambs on his automatic milk feeder is an easy one.

If he gets triplets, one of the set goes on the feeder. If human-fed lambs start eating up more time than daily mechanical maintenance and cleaning, it’s time for an automated option.

“What’ll happen is that, if you leave the three lambs on that ewe, you’re going to get three small lambs instead of two good ones or two good ones and one dead one,” Catto said.

“When we start having enough lambs on the bottle that it takes more than 15 minutes, that’s when we fire up the machine.”

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Video: Why Invest in Canada’s Seed Future? | On The Brink: Episode 3

Darcy Unger just invested millions to build a brand-new seed plant on his farm in Stonewall, Manitoba so when it’s time for his sons to take over, they have the tools they need to succeed.

Right now, 95% of the genetics they’ll be growing come from Canadian plant breeders.

That number matters.

When fusarium hit Western Canada in the late 90s, it was Canadian breeders who responded, because they understood Canadian conditions. That ability to react quickly to what’s happening on Canadian farms is exactly what’s at risk when breeding programs lose funding.

For farmers like Darcy, who have made generational investments based on the assumption that better genetics will keep coming, the stakes are direct and personal.

We’re on the brink of decisions that will shape our agricultural future for not only our generation, but also the ones to come.

What direction will we choose?

On The Brink is a year-long video series traveling across Canada to meet the researchers, breeders, farmers, seed companies, and policymakers shaping the future of Canadian plant breeding. Each week, a new story. Each story, a piece of the bigger picture.

Episode 3 is above. Follow Seed World Canada to catch every episode, and tell us: Do you think the next generation will have the tools they need to success when they takeover? How is the future going to look?