OT - Anyone raise sheep?

Anyone raise sheep and what are the important points to raising sheep? Pros/cons?

Dont get caught in the barn with one Ha ha.

Fawteen, on Tales, raises sheep in New England, and Redfan also on Tales, raises lots of sheep over in Oz.

Just for starters...

Sheep are incredibly stupid; only a little smarter than turkeys. They get worms, scabies, mites, blowflies, and lots of other parasites.

Coyotes, wolves, and the neighbors' dogs will hunt, run, and kill your sheep. A goat, a burro, or a llama are good to help reduce predation losses.

First-time lambing ewes don't always know what to do with the baby lamb they just dropped.

There are books and videos about this kind of thing at the public library, and there is a University Extension Service somewhere close to you.

Dad, those sheep lie!

Important points? Have good fence and shelter, water available first before getting any. If you can"t watch close- get something like Shetlands as Fawteen has or something close to "primitive" breed. For a starter trial- suggest a couple weaned wethers for summer lawnmowing duty, then butcher in late fall. If you want to try keeping over winter after this you can get a pair of ewes. Single sheep gets lonely and can cause trouble, a pair of sheep will have a buddy, stay a bit calmer. If you"re not planning for wool clip- Katahdin, Dorpers will self shed by scraping winter coats on trees and side of buildings- tin sided sheds need reinforcing, go direct to 2x4s bolted together, skip the 2x2 and small boards nailed building repairs. Air rifles handy for neighboring dogs- sting"em a bit. next step is 20 bore shotgun with BB shot or buckshot. Beware of Merino rams. RN

Neibor raises them, sells what the coyotes dont eat.

You said it Mr. N....... they are not for entertainment purposes...well maybe they are for some...

Sheep is a young man game,sheer alot of sheep you will be looking for goats to buy.WORM,WORM,WORM and trimming feet has alot to do with raising sheep. Done it 10 years on the show circuit for the kids,was glad when they aged out.

My wife has about 20 breeding ewes that she keeps and enjoys so much that she want’s me to put down more pasture so she can expand! Produced about 30 lambs last year. If you’re thinking about meat production, demand for lamb is fairly good so prices are reasonably stable. You can earn more by timing them right to hit the ethnic market and farm gate sales. Make sure you have a market close by, or are producing enough for the buyer to collect before you get in too deep.

Coyotes can be a problem around here, so we have one field with 7 x strands of hi tensile… alternate hot wires. Lowest wire is 6 inch from the ground, and a good fencer unit. They go into this field at night and we have no losses so far. Some people keep guardian dogs, lama’s etc, but you can’t beat a good fence (and a gun). Strictly limit new grazing, by strip grazing with temporary electric fence. They will over eat, bloat and die, especially on lush green alfalfa. In the fall we run them on stubble with temporary electric, and get the lambs up to about 100lbs. You’ll need hay for the winter, (I think they say 4lb/head/day) and we sometimes feed a few oats or barley if it is really cold, especially to the ram if he is working hard.

Drench with Ivomec for worms and rotate grazing land to keep worm levels low. Cold winters here seem to keep the parasites levels down. You need to be able to catch them for shearing and foot trimming so some type of handling facility is useful because they can be a PITA to catch. We have Clun Forest x Columbia which are big, and some Charollais. Our’s lamb outside with very little assistance in May / June. We castrate and dock tails as soon as possible. They can be a useful sideline, and are great for keeping the grass and weeds down, but don’t expect to earn much unless you get in, in a big way.

Chris

Lanse does.

Vito

In my younger days we had Lincolns for fleece and show. I can remember the hot July and August days when we had to oil them down to groom and get ready for the county fairs. The rams were aggressive and you had to be careful not to get yourself between them and a barn beam cause they would put the hurt on you. I thought I could never miss though days but I have to say there are days that I do.