By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

ONTARIO, Canada — It’s rugged – rocks, hills, trees and just a few pockets of farmland – yet in 1952, Robert and Margarit Egli emigrated from Switzerland to an old homestead in northwestern Ontario, to start a sheep farm.

They are retired now, yet still help on the farm which is run by their son, Peter Egli. The Eglis began with a few sheep and then grew the flock. They had to market the product locally because the closest market was over 1,000 miles away in Toronto.

“Winnipeg was not a great market for lamb meat,” Peter Egli said. “So, we ended up cutting and wrapping our own meat and selling it from the store here.”

At one time they had 300-400 sheep. At first the family tanned their own sheepskins and sold them out of their basement because they didn’t know what else to do with them, Egli said. They sold all they had.

But, the business took a twist when they evolved more into the wool and sheepskin side of it. As production sales increased, wool and sheepskin were brought in to meet the growing demand.

The Eglis opened a small on-site manufacturing center that employs five people and produces the shop’s popular and wonderfully soft mittens, hats and slippers. These are sold at the retail store, also on-site.

Over time, the Eglis brought in sheepskin and sheepskin products from other manufacturers. Gradually, the flock of sheep was reduced in number.
“The sheep were taking a lot of our time and the shop was growing and doing well,” Egli said. “We had a lot of people visiting the farm and wanting to see the sheep, so we kept a small flock to show people.”

The retail, manufacturing and mail-order business has continued to prosper and grow. In fact, the retail shop has become one of Canada’s largest wool and sheepskin specialty outlets.

“We purchase in sheepskins from Australia,” Egli said. “We go through thousands of skins now. We buy them as skins but we make them into mitts and hats and slippers. We sell some skins as decorative rugs or some for medical purposes, or for infant care.
“About 50 percent of the products we sell in the store, dollar-wise, are made here. We bring other things in that complement the shop or other sheepskin products that we don’t make here. The sheepskin slippers are one of our major sellers.

“We also sell car accessories, car seat covers, steering wheel covers and men’s hats.

“Primarily it is a combination of the manufacturing and retailing shop, and we also have an extensive mail order business,” he added.

From September until January is mail order season. In summer tourists visit. Gradually, the Eglis have expanded into an animal park – besides the small flock of sheep they have elk, alpacas, chickens, a potbellied pig, donkeys and more.

“We do a lot of education in the springtime,” Egli said. “We have 15 to 20 schools that come out every year. We show them the animals and we try to educate them a little bit.

“A lot of these kids have no idea about farming, so they have an opportunity to see the animals and what we do. That’s an important part of it.”

For more information, visit www.eglifarm.com