29 The Business of Ontario Agriculture Better Farming | February 2024 GuardianNetwork.ca Join the Guardian Network today! The Guardian Network is a volunteer, peer-driven community of mental health advocates that supports Ontario’s farming community. Learn more, join a monthly training session, or book a private training session for your group today: Funded in part by the Governments of Canada and Ontario under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP), a five-year, federal-provincial-territorial initiative. to mitigate cropping challenges associated with plant matter left on the field. “The main reason to get sheep was to mitigate crop residue challenges. We don’t take any straw off the field, and we grow cover-crop in three of our four rotations. We have a lot of excess biomass that we aren’t harvesting,” explains Norm, who says that ground cover is very beneficial but can be costly to mitigate. “The thought with sheep was that we could rotationally graze throughout the year to mitigate residue and cover crops. “All of our properties have 10 to 25 per cent marginal areas and it seemed a waste to be dealing with residue through tillage, or by baling it and composting it and returning it to the field later. Sheep can do it all. We rotate them every four days.” Norm stays busy off the farm as well. He supports his three children by staying involved in community organizations, including coaching one son’s UP CLOSE Norm, Noémie, and family farm on 500 acres near Cavan. Norm Lamothe photo
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