mini sheep on 5acres

[secuono]

If I have 1 ram & 2 ewes[olde english babydolls] on 4.8 acres, is that enough space?
I was thinking of splitting it in half, one field growing, while other is being eaten.
I wanted to breed them, keep some, sell most. What would be a good cap to their #s?

Thanks.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Where are you located? On good pasture areas, it's typical to have a stocking rate of around 3-5 sheep (standard sized) per acre. Of course you can stock more animals depending on your management. If you're going to intensely manage, you should be able to get probably 4-6 babydolls per acre, easily. For details in your area, you can contact your local extension office or soil conservation district. They can help you plan and manage your pastures for good production!

 

[secuono]

Where are you located? On good pasture areas, it's typical to have a stocking rate of around 3-5 sheep (standard sized) per acre. Of course you can stock more animals depending on your management. If you're going to intensely manage, you should be able to get probably 4-6 babydolls per acre, easily. For details in your area, you can contact your local extension office or soil conservation district. They can help you plan and manage your pastures for good production!

In Boston, Virginia.

 

[goodhors]

But if you want some quantity of animals, you will need to divide the acreage into several
fields, maybe 4 bigger fields and a barnyard area. Ram needs to be kept alone to prevent
lambs coming unexpectedly. You will need to mow the areas after sheep are moved to
the next field. Mowing takes off weeds and tall grass to prevent seed making, makes grass
develop much better root systems for drought times, growing more leaves to eat. If grass sets
seed, it quits growing for the season, goes dormant. Sheep want to eat new growth leaves,
not dried out stems/leaves of grass with seeds. You don't want seed set to happen.

Perimeter fence needs to be the MOST solid, secure, to keep out predators. You can divide
the inside in various ways to contain sheep and work with the lay of the land. A common
layout will have all the fields opening off the barnyard. You only need to open one gate so
sheep can use the field scheduled to graze now. They can come and go for water in the barnyard,
go back out to graze. When their time is up on that field, you close the gate, open the next field
for them. You want things as easy as possible to work the sheep, saves you time and effort.
Sheep can be contained in the barnyard if you need to work with sheep or keep them close
at night. Ram could be put in a field alone if fence will hold him, with just a water bucket
being enough for the day. Single sheep is not going to make much dent in grazing on an acre,
so he could be moved ahead of the ewes, into fields to be grazed.

If you want to get into quantity of sheep, even little sheep, you have to mow regularly, move them before
they graze the field too short. Mowing is the most work, and you mow grass tall, not shorter than 5 inches
to prevent plant shock, not letting the sun burn short leaves, roots and dry up the soil. You will
need to get soil tests done and fertilize to get grass producing well for heavy grazing. Just paying
attention to details, keep working to keep grass coming on.

 

[SheepGirl]

According to your location, you should be able to have 4.8 animal units on 4.8 acres. One animal unit = 1,000 lbs. I would say the average Babydoll ewe weighs 100-130 lbs. So you could very well be able to have seven to ten sheep per acre, allowing up to 48 sheep to call your farm home.

 

[bigshawn]

According to your location, you should be able to have 4.8 animal units on 4.8 acres. One animal unit = 1,000 lbs. I would say the average Babydoll ewe weighs 100-130 lbs. So you could very well be able to have seven to ten sheep per acre, allowing up to 48 sheep to call your farm home.

How did you come up with that info? What about Ohio??

 

[SheepGirl]

I read a University of Maryland publication saying that in the mid atlantic region, one animal unit per acre can be done. But secuono is about 2 hrs away from me and I've been in that area before and there really is no difference in pasture quality as far as I can tell.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Yeah, one animal unit per acre is more like it, but 1 au/1.2-2 ac is more ideal, since this area can be hit with pretty bad droughts. Babydoll southdowns are smaller, but I still would think 5-6/ac would be comfortable. Any more and you'd be pushing it and would have to have some pretty intensive management/pasture rotation/sacrifice area etc. Of course, this is all assuming you want the acreage to provide forage sufficient for feeding the sheep. If you just want some sort of cover, or don't care if the property gets turned into a dirt lot, you can have way more sheep per acre.

 

[bigshawn]

I read a University of Maryland publication saying that in the mid atlantic region, one animal unit per acre can be done. But secuono is about 2 hrs away from me and I've been in that area before and there really is no difference in pasture quality as far as I can tell.

Oh, ok good info and thank you.....

 

[tlc]

"they" say 3 to 4 sheep per acre at the most. Depending on pasture and conditions and so on.......