Counting sheep on Drover’s Way Farm
Haven’t we all entertained romantic fantasies about living on a sheep farm? I’ve often pictured myself in a pasture in rubber boots with a Thermos of hot coffee, admiring the antics of the bleating sheep. I’d make lanolin-based lotions and wool mittens and also try my hand as a cheesemonger. I’d make a perfect roquefort and some fluffier-than-a-cloud ricotta. In my downtime, I’d create lavender sheep’s milk ice cream and post pictures of it all on Instagram. That is, until I spoke with an actual sheep farmer, Sarah Loten, and learned that downtime isn’t really a thing on Drover’s Way Farm in Perth County, Ontario.
Harrowsmith: What time is your first cup of coffee on Drover’s Way Farm?
My first cup of coffee comes after morning chores, and true to the Canadian rural obsession, it happens at the local Tim Hortons drive-thru, on the way to my daily dressage training at another barn. Morning chores are completed with the help of my border collie. We move the sheep out of their overnight yards, where they are “yarded” every night with the livestock guardian dogs for protection from coyotes. They get moved onto pasture for seven months of the year to graze. I also feed grain and hay to market lambs
