Practical sheep talk from Ontario farms.
Flock Talk follows the day-to-day questions facing Ontario sheep producers, from lambing systems and flock health to land access and industry planning. Its interviews stay close to farm reality, with guests explaining what works, what costs time, and where judgment matters.
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Flock Talk is a practical, interview-driven look at Ontario sheep farming. It comes from Ontario Sheep Farmers and stays close to the questions producers are likely to bring back to the barn, the pasture, or the next district meeting. The show is built around working conversations rather than polished feature storytelling. That is part of its value. Guests are given space to explain the details: how a bedding system saves labour, why a pasture lambing note from last year matters, what an animal welfare order actually is, or how parasite research changes the way producers think about lamb exposure. The range is broader than animal care alone. Recent episodes cover confinement-based lambing, synchronization, dairy sheep co-op updates, ewe health, land access for new farmers, and the goal to fulfill 50% of market demand by 2040. Health topics are handled with a calm, useful tone. Animal welfare topics are clarified without drama. Producer episodes are especially grounded, because they turn farm setup, family labour, equipment choices, stocking density, and small daily habits into concrete lessons. The show also pays attention to the industry around the farm, including marketing, co-operation, research, education, and landowner-tenant relationships. Its best moments come when a guest's experience turns into a practical takeaway. A comment about clean lambs becomes a discussion of daily bedding. A question about too many ewes in a paddock becomes a lesson in mismothering, lamb growth, and spring grass recovery. Flock Talk suits listeners who already care about sheep production and want context they can actually use. It is especially strong for Ontario producers, new farmers, dairy sheep operators, and anyone trying to understand how small-ruminant management works in practice. The show does not rush. It listens, restates, and asks the next plain question.
Made for: Flock Talk is for sheep producers, new farmers, industry workers, veterinary-minded listeners, and people following Ontario's lamb and dairy sheep sectors. It works best for listeners who want field-level detail and practical tradeoffs.
What sets it apart: The show stands out by keeping industry planning, animal care, research, and producer experience in the same conversation. It turns technical or animal welfare subjects into plain farm decisions without sanding off the complexity.
A weekly podcast bringing you ideas & insights from fellow producers and industry experts covering research, marketing, education, news updates & more! Visit our website: www.ontariosheep.org
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Flock Talk makes the operating economics and regulatory realities of Ontario sheep farming concrete through detailed conversations with producers and specialists.
Flock Talk turns sheep farming into a series of concrete operating decisions. Erin Morgan and Walker Ball lead practical conversations with producers and specialists, asking how choices work on the ground and where complications arise.
That paddock gate can wait once lambing starts; your questions about mismothering shouldn't.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A plainspoken look at how animal welfare enforcement works on farms.
Animal welfare enforcement is framed as a practical process, not a dry list of rules: who inspects, why visits happen, what inspectors can require, and what follows when a producer disagrees.
A practical look at how daily routines, clean bedding, and barn flow shape lambing.
Phil Botten's confinement-based lambing system offers a practical view of how daily routines shape a sheep farm. The focus stays on the work itself: barn layout, ventilation, daily bedding, and the steady effort needed to keep a one-person operation moving with the right…
A practical look at how parasite research informs sheep management and breeding decisions.
Parasite control on sheep farms is treated as a practical management problem, with Dr. Emma Burkowski and the hosts tracing how age, exposure timing, and immune response shape which lambs handle parasites better.
A plainspoken pasture and lambing interview that shows the grazing decisions behind the farm.
The piece stays on Foot Flats Farm and keeps its attention on the farm's grass based sheep system on Amherst Island. It does the best work when it gets concrete: pasture growth, stocking levels, paddock notes, and lambing decisions all sit in the same frame, so the management…
Practical land-access guidance for farmers and landowners, with the deal details spelled out clearly.
This episode treats land access as a practical matter of agreements, with Heather Toma of Farms at Work in East Central Ontario laying out how the group helps farmers and landowners find each other and handle land responsibly.
Farm business talk with coffee-shop honesty.
Brent Herrington of Harrington's Quality Butchers in Port Perry says consumers mainly want "easiness," such as boneless stuffed roasts and ready-to-cook cuts.
A Decox shortage opens the farm-level setup.
Ontario Sheep Farmers starts by talking about its 50% by 2040 goal and the district meetings connected to it.
This episode features an interview with Mark Martin about updates on the Dairy Sheep Cooperative, including farm insights and industry developments.
This episode of Flock Talk features an interview with sheep farmers Jen and Chris Brevoort discussing their farm operations and the synchronization of their flock for lambing.
This episode features an interview with veterinarian Emily Zur Linden, discussing her background and expertise in managing health issues for pregnant and lambing ewes.
Erin Morgan and Walker Ball welcome Dr.
The conversation opens with Mark Ritchie introducing Foot Flats Farm on Amherst Island and explaining why he went with pasture lambing.
Walker Ball welcomes Heather Toma of Farms at Work to talk about land access and rental arrangements for farmers and landowners.
This episode features an interview with Derryn Shrosbree, founder of 33.7, discussing farm succession, wealth transfer, and continuity planning for Canadian agricultural families.
This episode discusses the International Market Research Project initiated by Ontario Sheep Farmers in 2024, featuring guests Michael Keegan and Shakiba Shayani who share insights on consumer behavior and market trends in the lamb industry.
This episode features an interview with Tyler McCann from the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute, discussing his career in agriculture policy and the mission of CAPI as a national think tank.
This episode features an interview with Sarah Brien, General Manager of the Canadian Sheep Breeders Association, discussing her lifelong involvement in sheep farming, career path in agriculture, and the organization's role in maintaining purebred sheep flocks in Canada.
Mark Ferguson discusses his background in sheep farming and the importance of understanding genetic variation within breeds for Ontario sheep farmers looking to improve their flocks.