Gun Barrel Canyon Farm in the Nanaimo area was started in 1984 when Mark and Deb moved onto a bare piece of clear-cut land. They started with horses, slowly adding alpacas and finally sheep (and several “livestock guardian” dachshunds!) The underlying philosophy of their farm is that the health and welfare of their animals is their greatest concern.
In Deb’s family, there is a history of sheep farming on Vancouver Island. Her grandfather focused on meat sheep and had the third largest sheep farm on the island. Her mother was a spinner and was a distributor of Buffalo wool and Phentex yarn. While Deb drew from their inspiration, she wanted to focus on fibre animals that would do well in the terrain and climate of mid-Vancouver Island. Sheep needed to be resistant to hoof rot and rain scald, get along well in a flock, but could also be fed in a dry lot if pasture was unavailable. They wanted to work towards fleeces that could withstand the seasonal rains and could be ultimately processed into yarn suitable for clothing – knitted and/or woven.
Deb and Mark started with a foundation flock of registered Romney and then added Scottish Blackface and Valais Blacknose. Frozen semen from Valais flocks in New Zealand were imported as that country has the closest climate to that found on Vancouver Island. Studying bloodlines and fibre quality, a breeding programme was established for crossing
the two breeds, breeding out and breeding back. The goal is to bring the micron count of their new crossbred sheep down to 25-28 microns. To that end, Deb and Mark have imported Merino lambs and will be adding their genetics to the flock!
The farm has initiated an “Adopt a Lamb” program and sells fleeces and yarn, with the latter being wool and/or alpaca. They also sell lambs for starting new flocks in Canada. You can contact the farm at pawlymn@shaw.ca.
