History of the Rideau Breed

The Rideau Sheep are a Canadian agricultural success story. The breed was developed by Agriculture Canada at the Animal Research Centre (ARC) in Ottawa. Originally designated Rideau Arcott, the breed is now more commonly referred to as the Rideau breed.

The Rideau Breed evolved from a research program starting in 1959, which worked to develop artificial insemination, embryo transfer technology, and increased feed efficiency of sheep. Using advanced production recording that emphasized the maternal traits and using no fewer than 6 different sheep breeds contributing to this research, a new strain of sheep was produced which gives a high economic return, under intensive and sustained lamb production, through increased litter size, and decreased lambing intervals. Work was also concentrated on the removal of seasonal constraints to breeding, and to optimize the efficiency of growth of the market lamb.

The Rideau is a distinct genetic strain of sheep, bred pure and registered by the Canadian Livestock Records Corp. since 1989. The breed was created to greatly enhance the maternal characteristics of a flock.