A father and his two sons have been working together with their families on a 700 acre mixed farm near Dugald, Manitoba.

Herman Bouw with his sons Stefan and Jonathan run Bouw Farms and specialize in grass fed sheep and cattle, and grow their own certified organic grain. But for next year, they have decided to sell off their flock of sheep and expand their cattle by nearly double.

Bouw says the reason is two-fold. “Both Jonathan and Stefan have young families, and we have a significant sheep flock which produces a lot of lambs in a month. We have 300 ewes that have close to 600 lambs and lot's of multiple births and it's quite stressful. We have a lot of purebred [Angus] embryos in our tank and they don't do any good sitting frozen in a tank, but if they are on the ground producing more offspring, that's where you have an opportunity to make money. ”

Bouw says he has really enjoyed sheep farming for the last six years and feels the sheep industry is about to make some significant gains. But as he has been 'voted' out by his sons it's time to take a break from the sheep industry. He notes, his sons have recently purchased some commercial Heifers for breeding and are looking forward to seeing the herd increase in number.

Bouw is also the Chair of the Manitoba Sheep Association, he says sheep are the only livestock industry in Canada that only produces about 45% of the product consumed, so we need to import the remaining 55%.

“As a population, Canadians are very aware that they like to buy products that are made in Canada so there is a really neat opportunity here for the expansion in the sheep industry.” Bouw adds, they will be keeping their sheep farming equipment because it's an industry you can step in and out of without a big financial expense, and you never know if you will have a family member interested in getting into it.