Welcome to Century Lane Farm

The Farm

With the registration of it’s first purebred sheep, Century Lane Farm history began in 1967 – the year of Canada’s 100 birthday celebrations. A lot has happened and changed since then.

The Farm History

A teenage Shirley Hunter, under the tutelage of her older brother Gerald (who had a purebred flock of his own), began a storied career raising purebred sheep over the next 55+ years.

After a few years of helping Gerald and his wife Joanne show their Suffolk and Leicester sheep at the local fairs, Shirley began to show her own Polled Dorset’s, which later expanded to include her own Leicesters.

The Eastern Ontario & Western Quebec Agricultural Fair show circuit included most weekends from May to November culminating at the National show at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto, Ontario.

In 1979 Shirley met Rob Graves, a willing, able & farming-trainable city boy and … the Graves Family story began!

In 1981 Rob & Shirley bought a fixer-upper 130-acre farm on the outskirts of Ottawa, Canada’s Capital. The journey began to turn this property into something they could be proud of. After renovating the 1960’s dairy barn for their sheep & install fencing, they needed to renovate the 1870 farmhouse to include indoor plumbing!

Both Rob and Shirley had successful professional careers off the farm and used the farm as a stress reliever in the evenings and weekends. In the mid ‘80s Suffolk sheep were added to the farm mix. But the most valuable/treasured mid-80’s addition was the arrival of their 2 sons Hunter & Marshall. When the boys were 8 & 9 years old, they ventured into their own flock of sheep… Oxford Down.

Over time, the space management & workload became too much to handle the four breeds, so the Suffolk’s and Leicester’s were sold to Gerald and Joanne Hunter. The Graves family continued to concentrate on the Polled Dorset and Oxford Down bloodlines.

2008 was a big year of change

Rob retired from his 35-year daytime career and both boys graduated University & moved on with their careers away from home. Shirley & Rob had four aging parents in 4 different locations, so the decision was made to downsize their flock to just 30 Polled Dorset brood ewes. Shirley therefore had more time to spend with parents & new people entering the sheep industry… an aspect of shepherding she really enjoys.

2012 - Another Challenge

Another life challenge in 2012 saw their beautiful home, which they had built together over many years, burn to the ground. Rob was quite ill at the time of the fire with PMR, but their family and friends gave them tremendous strength through this ordeal.

Building New

During a 5½ year successful court challenge against the insurance company they were able to restart life in Ashton Ontario, next door to their eldest son & daughter-in-law.

It started with moving the existing Ashton farmhouse across the road, adding a new sheep facility to the barn and finally building their new home.

One wonders why certain events happen in life… Rob & Shirley take solstice in the complete loss of their home on their Stittsville farm because it has given them the opportunity to live 16Km west in Ashton, next door to 2 of their grandchildren.

They treasure the opportunity to teach them about caring for animals. They come by to do chores 2-3 days per week during the school year and 7 days a week in the summer. Their other 3 grandchildren who live out of the province, assist with chores when they’re all together during family visits a few times a year. Time will tell whether any of them will catch the sheep farming bug.

The future is looking good!