These parasite-resistant sheep are coming from overseas to help P.E.I. fight climate change

Local sheep breeders hope to make Prince Edward Island herds more resilient to parasites by introducing new breeds from New Zealand.

Sheep are prone to parasitic infections caused by gastrointestinal nematodes, or roundworms. Almost all pastured sheep have them in their stomach. 

"There's one parasite called haemonchus that's a blood feeder that can cause significant sickness and death in sheep," explained Andrew Peregrine, an expert in clinical parasitology with the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph. "We see that from the West Coast to the East Coast in Canada, particularly when you have hot, humid summers."

He said Ontario saw its first death linked to haemonchus last week, and experts believe this year will be "a lot worse" than usual there and in P.E.I. given how hot and humid summer has been.

The P.E.I. government's Climate Challenge Fund is giving the P.E.I. Sheep Breeders' Association $99,990 to bring in 525 semen samples from sheep in New Zealand.

The plan was chosen as a climate change mitigation project because grazing sheep flocks reduces greenhouse gas emissions and supports carbon sequestering.

Reduces use of fossil fuels, drugs

Darryl Stoltz, president of the P.E.I. Sheep Breeders' Association, says parasite-resistant genetics allow breeders like himself to keep the sheep outdoors, which in turn reduces use of fossil fuels and drugs.

"Out here in the grass, we don't have to cut the hay, rake the hay, haul the hay, wrap the hay. We just let the sheep eat it," he said.

"We need these resistant genetics because the parasites themselves are resistant to the de-wormers that are being used. And also, we're a regenerative farm, so we prefer to use less drugs on our sheep because it affects soil health, et cetera."

Because the artificial insemination needs to be done through a laproscopic surgery, it will initially happen on a small number of farms. Their offspring will be available to other Island farms.

The funding covers the semen samples and the cost of artificial insemination. Some of the semen samples will be inseminated this fall. The rest will be used in 2024. 

Excitement among farmers

Margaret McCallum and Rusty Bittermann co-own and operate Rustaret Farm, a 120-hectare property in Shamrock where they raise sheep and cattle.

Their livestock are heritage breeds which are rare on P.E.I. Among them are Wiltshire horn sheep, a type of hair sheep. McCallum got the Wiltshires because they don't need to be shorn. 

McCallum said she's excited to see the project start this fall and plans to contact the P.E.I. Sheep Breeders' Association to take part when offspring are made available to breeders.

"Because we're raising our sheep on pasture, they're more vulnerable to parasites than they would be if they were in the barn," said McCallum. "Because we're trying to do regenerative agriculture, because we're trying to use organic practices, we don't want to use drugs to control the worms if we don't have to."

"In the last decade people have realized what a crisis it is," said McCallum. "We've got a problem that's really difficult to solve without looking at some of the more traditional methods of using resistant sheep and forages and feed."

No gene tweaking

Wiltshires aren't among the breeds being brought to P.E.I. The P.E.I. Sheep Breeders' Association says the samples will come from six to nine bloodlines and include Dorper, Charollais and composite Coopworth and Romney. None of the breeds being brought to P.E.I. have been genetically modified.

Peregrine said there are examples of sheep that are more resistant to these parasites all over the world — and they exist without human intervention.

"In Kenya, there's a breed called the red Maasai. In the Caribbean, there's a Barbados black belly. Now that's essentially nature's answer because everybody who wasn't resistant died," he said.

"We're not making any genetic modifications here. You're just finding out what are the genetic changes that nature came up with."