# new sheep - breed? and other questions



## dwbonfire (Apr 26, 2011)

my uncle gave me some sheep, he is from up north and he didnt know what breed they are or really much about them, and neither do i. they also still have thier tails and i know this isnt a very good thing sanitary-wise. im not even quite sure when they were born but it was thier year so they arent very old. they are wool sheep, and i was told sheers for them are quite expensive. i ended up with two rams and a ewe. i have a few pictures i will post and then a few questions:






















-what breed do you think they are?
-being wool sheep, are they worth anything to sell for?
-can i use horse body clippers to sheer them?
-how old until they start breeding? (so i know when to seperate)
-is it bad to breed these because of relation? i know with other animals people dont have a problem with it, i dont want issues or want to let them if they should not..
-is it too late to do thier tails, and how would i do this if i still can?

thanks!


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## goodhors (Apr 26, 2011)

They look young.  Do you have an actual age on them?  If you want the tails done, it should be soon, along with castrating the males.  Flies and warm weather bring infection to any cuts or open holes.

I would not breed a ewe lamb to her brother, even a half brother.  More likely to have problems, though it won't always happen.  Castrating the males ASAP will remove the breeding problem, allow you to keep them all together.  Ram sheep also get pushy, will ram into things as part of their growth into adult males.  You don't really want that.

I would wait to shear off the wool, when weather is more consistantly warm.  Male lambs will grow better after being castrated, wearing short hair in the hot months.  Probably will outgrow the ewe lamb because all their food goes into growth instead of hormones like hers do.

We shear our lambs after giving them a bath with soap, then blowing off excess water with the shop vac.  We want wool damp for cutting with the horse clipper blades.  I am using big Osters with the 83-84 blade set.  I want clean sheep to let the blades stay sharp.  For some reason we can't get the wool to cut at all on a dry sheep with those clippers.  We cut  wool very short for Market Lamb classes, and sheep seem to stay cooler in hot summer weather, grow better size-wise.

Calling the Vet could help answer your questions, any local special issues sheep have in your area.

If you have horses, don't let the lambs lick the horse mineral blocks.  Sheep can't tolerate copper, which horses have in feed and mineral blocks.  White salt is fine.


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## dwbonfire (Apr 26, 2011)

thank you very much for your answers!

i believe they were born in February, does that look about right?

i'd like to maybe sell the rams or trade with someone for an unrelated male. if i were to sell, how much would a wool sheep go for? i only ever see the hair sheep online in my area.

also, any idea on the breed? i know if i advertise them for sale people will want to know..


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## aggieterpkatie (Apr 27, 2011)

The breed is hard to tell. Possibly some Tunis or Shetland (black one)?


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## patandchickens (Apr 27, 2011)

You will probably never really know for sure about the breed and they perfectly well could be crossbreds in which case you will *really really* never know.

For tails, they may be big enough to oughta be done by someone with a crush-and-cut type tool (at least in Ontario it would actually be illegal to band their tails at such a late date). Talk with your vet, also about vaccinations and castrating.

Good luck, have fun, cute sheep ,

Pat


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## carolinagirl (Apr 27, 2011)

could they possibly be a hair sheep variety?  That would explain why their tails were not docked.


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## boykin2010 (Apr 27, 2011)

there are shedding wool sheep. They have wool but it falls out in chunks. I have some of them. They come in all colors and i have one lamb that looks pretty close to your brown lamb.


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## aggieterpkatie (Apr 27, 2011)

I don't really think they look like hair sheep or hair mixes to me.  The wool looks pretty typical of a crossbred wooled sheep.


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## dwbonfire (Apr 28, 2011)

they definetly dont shed. they need to be sheered every year, my uncle has it done.

are these sheep marketable at all? ill need to sell one of the males, what would he be worth?


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## Ariel301 (Apr 28, 2011)

They should be marketable, if nothing else, as meat on the hoof. 

As for value, it's hard to say...it will depend on where you are. A lot of people here charge $50 each for 2 month old or so lambs/goat kids for meat.


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## theawesomefowl (Apr 29, 2011)

They are cute! But IDK what breed they are.  I'd buy one!


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## Ashmeade (May 3, 2011)

They look very similar to my katahdin lambs...  If so, they are hair sheep and do not need to be sheared...


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## dwbonfire (May 3, 2011)

cute babies.

these are definetly wool sheep i do know that. my uncle has had these for a while and he doesnt know the breed. but every year they do get sheered, they do not shed.

how old will they be before i have to worry about the female getting pregnant? i sure dont want that since they are related.


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## BrownSheep (May 23, 2011)

maybe tunis for the red-ish colored one. The white one is possibly a ramboulliet, they have great quality wool. 

The horse clippers should work. You may want to buy different blades though.  

Males can breed as young as four months. Ewes will breed when they are around 5 to 6 months. Although it can depend on their breed. Some sheep only breed in the fall.

I wouldn't breed siblings. Although father back to daughter is considered ok. You don't want any more in-breeding though.

You might still be able to band the. Because you are unfamiliar to it you might want to get a vet or a local producer to come out and do it.


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## TheSheepGirl (May 26, 2011)

Those tails are about the same length as my shetland tails. That would explain the reason for not docking the tails. They just don't seem long enough for a long tailed breed. If you do choose to dock the tails cutting them may be best, but my my 8 month old ewe lambs came with castrating bands on their tails. Docking a short tailed breed isn't really necessary since the tails cause no problems.

As for castrating them you can castrate with a band at an older age without many problems. I have done it before with my lambs.


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## pairadice (May 26, 2011)

They look like hair sheep to me.  If they are woolies, they wouldn't be fine wool lambs as they would have tight tiny curls.


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## Beekissed (May 27, 2011)

I'm sorry but they DO look like Katahdin lambs, wool and all.  Maybe just wait and see how their wool progresses and you should be able to see if they are true wool breeds or have lots of hair fibers mixed in the wool on their underbellies, under their necks and on their legs.  

Hair breeds have wool and it can be sheared but if you wait long enough in the summer it will start to shed....maybe your uncle just never waited to see?  I can't imagine a true sheep man not knowing what breed he's growing, so it could be he's mistaken?


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## aggieterpkatie (May 27, 2011)

I've never seen katahdins with closed faces like that, and they don't have that wavy hair look like most do. Plus they don't have that hair sheep build.   I'd be pretty surprised if they were katahdins.


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## dwbonfire (May 27, 2011)

i've never seen his sheep shed, or mine back when i had them. but as you say, i never probably waited long enough to see if they would. im really thinking they wont tho, but who am i to say! im clueless other than this is definetly wool.
i lost my female a few weeks ago  so now i have my two males. i love them both they are so friendly. i do have some more questions tho if you could all bare with me!

-i'd like to get a couple females for them, and i'd like to keep them both intact to breed. being syblings and growing up together, will they get along? i had two intact sybling rams before that got along but i had no females on the property.

-both are very friendly and follow me around, but one will continue to walk into my legs with his head down, not hard at all but basically like the beginning of what could be a bad behavior. how do i correct him, flick on the nose? not sure how to disipline sheep.

-this is thier first summer, im in NC so its been hot. do they need to be sheered this year? they seem to be hot in the middle of the day and stay laying in the shade breathing kind of heavy (as all the animals are)

im sure ill think of other questions!  thanks


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## carolinagirl (May 27, 2011)

do NOT make friends with ram sheep.  Never ever ever.  When they are grown and the hormones kick in, they will not be your friend anymore.  They also won't be friends with each other anymore, no matter if they were raised together.   What if you wether one of them and leave the other intact?  The wether can be the companion of the intact one.  Do not let them become pets to you.  You want them to have a healthy respect for you.  If they lose all fear of humans, they can be dangerous.  Never flick or hit them anywhere on the face or head as that encourages butting.  A squirt in the face with a water bottle is much safer.  That one that is already butting into your legs.....that's bad news.   Carry a water bottle to squirt him with whenever you are with them and do not let him push your legs.


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## dwbonfire (May 27, 2011)

carolinagirl said:
			
		

> do NOT make friends with ram sheep.  Never ever ever.  When they are grown and the hormones kick in, they will not be your friend anymore.  They also won't be friends with each other anymore, no matter if they were raised together.   What if you wether one of them and leave the other intact?  The wether can be the companion of the intact one.  Do not let them become pets to you.  You want them to have a healthy respect for you.  If they lose all fear of humans, they can be dangerous.  Never flick or hit them anywhere on the face or head as that encourages butting.  A squirt in the face with a water bottle is much safer.  That one that is already butting into your legs.....that's bad news.   Carry a water bottle to squirt him with whenever you are with them and do not let him push your legs.


ok i will start to carry a water bottle. to be honest a gave him a little tap on the nose and he didnt like that, and he really hasnt done it since. again, i had two rams that were intact as pets before. one was bottle fed, he was like a dog he never was aggressive. the other was not bottle fed, and you had to watch him for sure. he was never as friendly as the other, or as these two i have now. they got along even as they were older, but do you think it was because i didnt have any females? so basically if i add a couple females these two will start to fight? would they just establish a pecking order or would this be constant bad fighting? does anyone ever keep a herd of sheep with more than one ram in it?
hmmm i'll have to decide which one to wether.. maybe the one thats already a little more pushy.


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## Beekissed (May 28, 2011)

Most rams will fight, especially with ewes present.  Most people keep more than one ram but they generally can't keep them together without some amount of fighting.


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## rockdoveranch (May 28, 2011)

Ashmeade said:
			
		

> They look very similar to my katahdin lambs...  If so, they are hair sheep and do not need to be sheared...
> 
> http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/uploads/1598_lambs.jpg
> 
> http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/uploads/1598_lambs_running.jpg


Love the pictures!


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## rockdoveranch (May 28, 2011)

I agree with everything carolinagirl said.

As far as breed or breed mix, I haven't a clue.

Hair versus wool?  Hard to say until you have gone through an entire winter.  Some of our hair sheep have pretty heavy wool coats in the winter and still look like wool sheep well into the summer, and we are along the Texas Gulf coast where it is hot and humid.  Some never do shed out their winter wool entirely.

As for shearing, they certainly do not look like they need shearing now.  In the afternoon when they are laying down they are probably enjoying their morning grass.


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## SheepGirl (Jul 15, 2011)

The red lamb in the second picture looks like a Tunis cross--not pure Tunis because of the white spot, but I definitely see a Tunis face on it.


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