2004
CAR TOUR
On Saturday, July 10, District 7 is sponsoring a car tour of four sheep farms in the western end of the district. There’s no charge and anyone is welcome to participate. . We’ve set an approximate time for the tour to reach each of the locations, so that anyone who can’t make it to every place can join up along the way.
9:30 a.m.--The jumping-off spot is the farm of Donna and Rick Aziz, 11835 Lakeridge Road (formerly Durham Road 23) in Brock Township. Donna and Rick have a flock of about 40 Katahdins, which they manage on an easy-care system with spring lambing, using electric fencing and llamas for security. To get there, take Lakeridge Road north from Uxbridge (Lakeridge is the first light east of town) or south from Highway 48 at Port Bolster.
11 a.m.—Next stop is the farm of Jacquie Weir, 2379 Concession 3 in Uxbridge Township. Jacquie, with her son John Erskine as shepherd, keeps about 30 wool sheep with a range of crosses, some purebred Romneys and some coloured sheep. From the Aziz farm, take Lakeridge Road south to Durham Highway 47, then follow 47 through Uxbridge and Goodwood to Concession 3 and go south to No. 2379.
1 p.m.—After a lunch break (bring your own or find a spot en route to the next stop), the tour moves to the farm of Phil and Liz Smith, 203 Mount Pleasant Trail, near Sutton. Phil and Liz have a flock of about 250 Rideau Arcotts, which they manage on an accelerated-lambing system. From Goodwood, take Highway 47 (which becomes Bloomington Road) west to Highway 48, go north to Ravenshoe Road at Brown Hill, then west to Kennedy Road and north to Mount Pleasant, which angles northeast from Kennedy at Glenwoods Avenue.
3 p.m.—Final stop is the farm of Bob and Judy Pergau-Comfort, 14199 Regional Road 39, Zephyr. Bob and Judy have a flock of about 100 purebred Dorsets and contributed genetics to the development of the OLIBS commercial sheep. Judy also is very knowledgeable about wool and wool crafts and was part of a team that recently topped all Canadian competitors in the International Back-to-Back Wool Challenge. From Kennedy and Ravenshoe, go east through Brown Hill to Regional Road 39, then south to No. 14199.