Member Profiles
Bronco Dorpers
BRONCO DORPERS is located just North of Moose Mountain Provincial Park near Kennedy - Saskatchewan, It is home to 250 Registered Canadian Dorper Sheep and 240 Purebred Dorper and Dorper X Ewes.
The O'Callaghan family started their operation with 150 ewes bought from Ram H breeders of Cochrane, Alberta in 2011, giving them a good foundation to start from.
Bronco Dorpers is owned by Willem O'Callaghan (Gys) who has a passion for the Dorper breed and been farming Dorper sheep in Namibia as well as South Africa for 24 years.
The O'Callaghan family has moved from South Africa (formerly from Namibia), and now call Saskatchewan home from 2011.
The O'Callaghan Family
Willem is a member of the Canadian Dorper Sheep Association and Willem as well as his daughter Elmie have Junior Certificates as well as Senior Certificates in Dorper Sheep Assessment issued by the Dorper Sheep Breeders Society of South Africa and Willem completed his 2nd Senior Certificate course with Raymond Reed in 2013 in Alberta.
Wall 2 Wall Border Collies
Pete and Lorna Wall began with a 27 acre farm for their alpacas and needed some sheep to help keep up to the grass. Having originally wanted shedding sheep they jumped at the chance to buy a small flock of Katahdin & Barbados Blackbelly ewes which were then bred to a Dorper ram. Finding that they really did enjoy having sheep they moved two provinces and bought registered Dorpers to facilitate having quality breeding rams for their 200 Katahdin/Dorper ewes. Later they specialized in full blood White Dorpers. Their farm in Manitoba had 160 acres for their flock to utilize.
Pete & Lorna are mentors to several new shepherds in Manitoba and will try to assist with questions anyone has over the phone or by email. They also have a website with information on handling, health, marketing and general information about raising Dorpers in Canada. There is a demand for the milder flavor of the Dorper, with even the older animals easily matching the taste and tenderness of lambs of other breeds.
To assist with the handling of large numbers of sheep, Pete also is raising registered Border Collie stock dogs. They have held a stock dog fun-day and welcome visitors to learn more about sheep, stock dogs and livestock guardian dogs. You can visit their website at www.wall2wallbordercollies.com. Wall 2 Wall Border Collies & Sheep Ranch has worked hard to put quality rams in commercial flocks with the belief that if the shedding sheep have quality and size at market, then we all will have an increase in demand and profitability from our sheep of the future: DORPERS.
After a forced retirement, Pete & Lorna have moved Wall 2 Wall Border Collies to Cartwright, MB where they still raise working stockdog pups. Although no longer raising sheep we will happily share our experience and consult on stock purchases with in a limited area (due to our physical limitations) & we have an excellent Sheep library of past publications of many Canadian Sheep Magazines. Our pups are bred with working homes as the first consideration. Let us help you with your sheep consulting needs and your next herding pup.
Ferme Bernier Campbell
Started in 2010, our farm is located in Roxton Pond, Quebec. We are Maryse Bernier and Charles Campbell, specializing in the Dorper breed of sheep (140 ewes) which have the features needed by the industry of low-fat and high meat yield. Our farming experience and passion provides the capacity to meet consumer needs.
Because Quebec has a low percentage of farmers in sheep production, our plan for the next year is to provide consumers and prospective farmers the opportunity to discover our unique products and animals. Our values can be summarized by sustainable agriculture, environmentally friendly farming and animal welfare: mainly organic fertilization, soybean straw habitat, & outdoor pasture.
Our Dorper sheep are selected for their ability to transmit and obtaining higher indices of growth. We select our breeding stock for its terminal and maternal qualities but also for their high efficiency given their high genetic potential to offer a unique product on the market. All our breeding stock is carefully chosen to allow us to offer breeding stock of high quality to match your ambitions. We have specially selected our herd to offer you the ultimate on the market today. Like all good farmers, we want to see an improvement with each successive generation.
Simply put, we want our Dorper sheep to respond to a market breeder of thoroughbreds, for commercial breeding and the sale of meat and processed lamb.
Our breeding stock:
Nearly 70% of our lambs are sold or kept for the farm to renew the flock. The remaining 30% is sold live at the farm for meat. We do not advertise meat; word of mouth is our best promotional vehicle. Although the commodity tends to be better known and appreciated by consumer, it is still different ethnic communities that love it. Established less than 45 minutes from Montreal, our firm has the advantage of being close to our market.
Raymond Deshaies, who is certified by the CEPOQ (Genovis) and SEMRPQ (Quebec Sheep Association) has typed the sheep of Ferme Bernier Campbell under their system for sheep typing in Quebec. Please talk to Maryse for more information on this system and the admirable qualification level her sheep attained.
This is Whestone Prairie 12-024 (USA). He has given us the double musculature that is sought after, in the Dorper breed and he has a fabulous rate of gain. He is our favorite ram.
Ferme Bernier Campbell are at a level E under the Scrapie Canada voluntary program and hold a Gold standing for the Meadi Visna program.
