# First Post: Getting into raising sheep



## joshmod (Aug 12, 2013)

Hi All,

This is my first post and have really enjoyed reading through other posts in the past.  My wife and I live in an area where there seems to be a good market for fiber and maybe meat and I am just curious if:
1. I am crazy for thinking about raising sheep?
2. If not (and even if I am) what are some good things to read, do, learn, engage, etc. in trying to learn what one needs to, to dive into raising sheep?

I have been thinking about border leicesters as a beginning point.  Not sure if anyone has better ideas on that one.  We are just excited and extremely fearful at the same time.  This would be something that we would do (at least at first) on the side.  We have been keeping our eyes out for a 10+ acre potential farm in our area that we can afford (which is easily the most difficult part) but right now we are just trying to get an idea of different things we can be doing in the mean time (especially before we make a leap into "buying the farm").  

Thanks for your help and looking forward to being a part of the community,
-Josh


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## purplequeenvt (Aug 12, 2013)

Good choice on the sheep breed!  We have been raising BLs for 13 years and we love them. Our BLs have been very easy sheep to keep. 

Where are you located? Do you have specific breeder that you are looking at to get your sheep from?

A good starting book would be Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep. Lots of good information there. See if you can find a local shepherd or two that you can visit to see how they do things, keep in mind that everyone does things a little differently. When we started we had a good friend who raised sheep nearby that helped us, but we figured a lot of stuff out on our own. I would encourage you to learn how to do things like shearing, trimming feet, and giving shots for yourself. Hiring a professional shearing is great, but depending on your area, you might not be able to get one to come shear for you if you only have a few sheep. When we first started with sheep, my younger sister and I sheared our sheep with kitchen scissors.


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## EllieMay (Aug 12, 2013)

I agree with Purple!

I am new to raising sheep as well (going on 3 years), and I remember having all of the same questions.
I got a lot of info from forums as well as reading every book I could get my hands on.
I've read Storey's book and I also enjoyed "Living With Sheep" and "Sheep" among others.
Hopefully the person you buy your sheep from will be able to also mentor you thru the process.
We are very fortunate to have awesome mentors.

It took us a while to find an affordable farm to buy.
We were also looking for something 10+ acres.
We did find a farm with 15 acres that was a cattle farm (with barbed wire).
So we had to put in fencing and get rid of the barbed wire.
We still have a lot of fencing to do, but right now we've got 5 pastures that we rotate the sheep in to.
I keep my sheep 10 days in each pasture.

Good luck with your sheep and, again, x2 what _Purplequeenvt _said!


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## Ruus (Aug 13, 2013)

EllieMay said:
			
		

> I got a lot of info from forums as well as reading every book I could get my hands on.
> I've read Storey's book and I also enjoyed "Living With Sheep" and "Sheep" among others.


Those were the exact two books I was going to recommend! I found them much easier to read, and more applicable for small family farms than Storey's Guide. Also check out "The Backyard Sheep" by Sue Weaver. It's a new book, but very good at explaining the basics in an easy to understand way. If I remember right, I think Weaver even raises BLs!


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## Four Winds Ranch (Aug 13, 2013)

Just jump in and get your sheep!!!!   You will love them!!! They each have their own temperment and personality. 
Get a book or two to give you the basics on feed and mantanence, the experience you will gain from hands on and having them there everyday is invaluable!!!  Good luck and have fun!!!!


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## joshmod (Aug 13, 2013)

Hi All,

Thank you so much for the replies.  I have picked up copies now of Storey's and Living with Sheep and am thoroughly enjoying reading both.  We are in the Asheville, NC area which makes finding land very expensive unfortunately.  My full-time job is just outside of Asheville and we would love to find a place near by.  Also, I think it would be wise to stay as close to a potential market as possible (being Asheville).  I am just curious, along with any other information you would be willing to volunteer, could I ask what are your typical daily and weekly time commitments to your sheep?  I think we have the goal of maybe working towards a slow goal of 30ish sheep and are trying to figure out what we are getting into.

Once again, thank you so much for your help.  We are truly in the "eyes wide open and totally lost" stage but we are eager (and perhaps a bit naive) to keep exploring being small-time shepherds.


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## bubba1358 (Aug 13, 2013)

I have three. I love having sheep. I spend about 3 minutes refilling their water each day, and about 4 hours every two weeks moving their electric netting. Beyond that, practically nothing. You'll find they love certain weeds, so if I find them, I'll pull them and toss them into the netting. They go nuts, and it's hilarious to watch.


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## BrownSheep (Aug 13, 2013)

Depends on the day. Moving into this fall I'll have about 35 ewes. Feeding and watering in the winter takes about an hour. Manualy hauling water at times and moving hay. Lambing, adds a bit more time. We only do the late night checks if we *know* that one will lamb. You also need to be prepared for the off chance you have a bottle lamb. It take us an extra 30 minutes per feeding to take care of them (90 min/ day).

BUT in the 6-8 months they are pasture it takes 1-3 min to check every one out and declare them healthy.

Keep in mind there *will* be "all day" days. Shearing, worming, sorting, and other such things tend to morph into all day adventures. 

You need to have an idea as to where to for  sick ones ( vets/ mentors). What will be your plan if your ram is a stinker. Where yo will dispose of dead ones.

I love keeping sheep and suggest it to many people, but it isn't for every one. It is near impossible for us to travel during late fall - early spring.  They are a challenge but they are also very rewarding.


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## SheepGirl (Aug 14, 2013)

joshmod said:
			
		

> Hi All,
> 
> This is my first post and have really enjoyed reading through other posts in the past.  My wife and I live in an area where there seems to be a good market for fiber and maybe meat and I am just curious if:
> 1. I am crazy for thinking about raising sheep?
> ...


No you're not crazy  Books I like (but are more technical/science-y/production-based) include "SID: Sheep Production Handbook," (big green book) "Management Guidelines for Efficient Sheep Production," (online book) "Problems With Your Ewe," (blue book) and "Lamb Problems" (red book).

Plus I also had TONS of hands-on experience/learning with my neighbor's flock. He had been raising sheep for almost 80 years by the time he sold his farm and moved to Texas last year.



			
				joshmod said:
			
		

> Hi All,
> 
> Thank you so much for the replies.  I have picked up copies now of Storey's and Living with Sheep and am thoroughly enjoying reading both.  We are in the Asheville, NC area which makes finding land very expensive unfortunately.  My full-time job is just outside of Asheville and we would love to find a place near by.  Also, I think it would be wise to stay as close to a potential market as possible (being Asheville).  I am just curious, along with any other information you would be willing to volunteer, could I ask what are your typical daily and weekly time commitments to your sheep?  I think we have the goal of maybe working towards a slow goal of 30ish sheep and are trying to figure out what we are getting into.
> 
> Once again, thank you so much for your help.  We are truly in the "eyes wide open and totally lost" stage but we are eager (and perhaps a bit naive) to keep exploring being small-time shepherds.


Time commitments...I'm sure mine is a little skewed because I do spend time picking hay out of a round bale instead of feeding square bales. But right now I have two ram lambs and a mature ram in a pen and they are on hay. So it takes me 20-30 minutes to feed them. I also spend about an additional 20-30 minutes once a week scrubbing out water buckets/troughs and refilling the water. Throughout the week, their water just gets topped off but once a week I scrub it out. Normally I do this on my days off or when I close (I work at McDonald's and when I close I don't go in until 5 or 6 pm).

Shearing takes a morning or an afternoon. For me, I combine shearing/hoof trimming/checking for worms. Lambing season I spend about an hour with my sheep because I just love playing with the babies  Also I feed each ewe her own individual ration, but I think this year since I have a larger feed trough (my new neighbor gave me the old sheep feeder we used at the farm before he moved in...said he had no use for it since he has cattle so he brought it up to me to have lol) I will just feed them all at the same time. This feeder is big enough to feed probably 20-30 ewes at once. But my max ewe flock size will probably be about 10 or so ewes (I only have two acres of pasture). I have six ewes now (2 mature ewes, 2 yearling ewes, and 2 ewe lambs). Plus I have three rams (1 mature, 2 ram lambs) penned up. So since I have this feeder I won't be so controlling and standing out with the ewes while they eat guarding the feed pans and making sure the ewes eat only what's theirs. So I think feeding this winter and lambing season will be faster. I will still have to pick hay off the round bale, but my new neighbor said he was going to square bale his next cutting of hay and then sell me some at a good price and I can use his Quonset hut to store my hay in. So maybe feeding will be a lot faster if I can feed square bales. I will probably go through 1/2 to 3/4 ton of hay this winter (about mid January to late March) feeding my ewes.


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## purplequeenvt (Aug 14, 2013)

In the winter daily care takes longer than in the summer. It takes two of us about an hour to feed 30 +/- sheep, a few steers, 3 mini horses, all the poultry, and the llamas (were 4 last winter, now only 2). If only one of us fed it was about an hour and a half. It is a bit hard to estimate how long daily basic care takes because unless the weather is really bad, we usually are out for longer then it takes to feed and water everyone. We spend a lot of time petting and observing everyone. 

Like someone else mentioned, you will have longer days/nights while lambing - we check early in the morning, multiple times throughout the day, and then right before bed (10-11). If some is looking "suspicious" then I will check in the middle of the night. You'll also have to take more time for shearing and the like. We went through the entire flock a couple months ago to trim feet, de-lice, and check body condition. It took close to 5 hours to do everyone (it was 70 something sheep including all the lambs).

Summer care is a bit easier usually. We only have to water everyone and grain the lamb groups. Right now we have 4 groups of animals - ewe lambs and yearlings/show flock, rams (all of the lambs and mature), mature ewes/llamas, steers/horses. The big ewe group has to be walked out to their pasture every day and back in at night so that adds some time to the routine. All our animals are grazed in movable fencing so once a week, depending on the group, we have to move the fences. That takes a significant portion of the day.


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## joshmod (Aug 26, 2013)

Hi All,

I just wanted to pop in again to say thanks for all of your replies.  Though I think it may take us a while to find the kind of property that we need to see this dream come true, your feedback just keeps confirming that we are perhaps not crazy.  Thanks for the help and please feel free to contribute more if you feel led; EVERYTHING is helpful.


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## bonbean01 (Aug 26, 2013)

You are totally NOT crazy!!!  We started with sheep 6 years ago...no shearing here as they are hair/meat sheep and there is no market in our area for wool.  We started out cautiously...bought a lamb ram and a lamb ewe and read everything we could on sheep!  I'll tell you, we totally fell in love with these two and when our very first lamb was born, we were hooked big time!!!  We don't have many acres and our limit for our grass means we can't get more than 10 here, but that's enough for us old timers.  

We spend alot of time with our sheep and lambs because we enjoy them.  Can't imagine life without them now...just love these animals!  Before getting a ram...read everything you can on that...we blew it with our first ram and did everything wrong and he became dangerous.  That was something I wish we'd known right from the start!

Dream and make your dream come true...you will enjoy it so much!!!!


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