# THROW SOME KNOWLEDGE AT ME!



## Ducklover2 (May 17, 2018)

I want to learn everything about raising hair sheep for meat. SO THROW SOME KNOWLEDGE AT ME!


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## Mike CHS (May 17, 2018)

There are a bunch of hair sheep owners on here but it would be helpful to have an idea of what you don't know.


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## Latestarter (May 17, 2018)

And you can learn an awful lot just by reading many of the threads to see the questions and answers already posted. Many times you don't know what you don't know until you actually have the animals and it becomes apparent that you need to know. I understand as a newbie, maybe you ask for everything because you don't know where to start or what to ask... That's why reading will really give you a great head start.


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## Ducklover2 (May 17, 2018)

I want to know how much 5 sheep can eat in a day?


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## Baymule (May 18, 2018)

Ducklover2 said:


> I want to know how much 5 sheep can eat in a day?


Eat what? Grass? Hay? Feed? Do you have good pasture? As for feed, I give mine maybe a half cup of feed a day. It is more for making sure they come a' running when I call them. My pastures are in the "growing" stage, which means I need GRASS! We keep a round bale out for them, 9 sheep eat one 1200 pound bale a month. 

On pasture, you have to get them off to let the grass grow back. Sheep will eat grass right down to the roots and kill the grass if it doesn't have a chance to rest.


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## mystang89 (May 19, 2018)

I can tell you that 3 Awassi will eat a 30x30ft area down to the nubs in 2 days. I'm sure that someone who is good with math can actually figure out more than that.


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## Sheepshape (May 20, 2018)

Size matters! Big sheep, like Blue Faced Leicesters (AVOID keeping these) have rams weighing 240lbs or more and eat an enormous amount of grass/forage etc. Smaller sheep eat much less.

My sheep are all woollies and our climate is unpleasant, cool, often wet, and changeable. Climate also affects how much they eat.....thinner fleece, bigger animals, colder weather = much more food.

We usually get good grass growth across the summer over here and our sheep have no supplements at this time (unless we're trying to get lambs fattened quickly). In late autumn/winter/spring when the grass has stopped growing, they have silage and hay, plus pellet supplements, called 'nuts' over here, which we feed to them in the latter part of pregnancy and during the first 6 weeks or so of lactation. The worse the weather and the more lambs they are expecting, the more 'nuts' they get.

Sheep don't just eat grass, they will take large amounts of leaves, flowers etc....and any vegetable beds need to be securely fenced off. Poisonous plants also need to be dealt with as sheep may still eat them and make themselves very ill. Our vet describes sheep as "nervous creatures with an intense death wish"......kinda says it all.


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## Mini Horses (May 20, 2018)

Sheepshape said:


> Our vet describes sheep as "nervous creatures with an intense death wish"......kinda says it all.



My vet always said similar --- SSSS   Sick Sheep Seldom Survive

Yes to all said above.    Tell us what you have available, where you are located & what you "hope" to own for sheep & purpose you hope to achieve.   Then some more specific help will be offered --- maybe more than you want  

But, you will find knowledge here from people who know.  Some are big farmers, others are the hobby/backyard, some retired from it all.   Plus newbie and elders experiences.  I don't have sheep --  but have goats, horses, chickens, often hogs.  My farm days now are downsized compared to herds of years past.  So far I still remember most of it  .


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## Ducklover2 (May 20, 2018)

We have 5 three month old katahdin/dorper. We are raising the sheep for meat.  Middle TN.


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## Beekissed (May 20, 2018)

Ducklover2 said:


> We have 5 three month old katahdin/dorper. We are raising the sheep for meat.  Middle TN.



Can you give us pics of your pasture, close up to the grass and far away?  Do you know how much land you have available for grazing?  Do you intend to feed all on grass and hay or do you want to feed grains also?  Do you know what kind of grasses you have on your pasture?


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## Baymule (May 23, 2018)

We have Dorper/Katahdin cross sheep. We have 7 ewes and I kept 2 ewe lambs from this year's lambing. I kept a ram lamb and will probably use him for 2 lambings, then send him to freezer camp. I love my sheep!

Are your 5 sheep ewes or 4 ewes and 1 ram lamb? If you have a ram lamb, be sure to keep him separate because they will breed at a VERY young age. I will put my 2 keeper ewe lambs in with the flock in July as they will be 7 months old then.


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## Ducklover2 (Jun 8, 2018)

Baymule said:


> We have Dorper/Katahdin cross sheep. We have 7 ewes and I kept 2 ewe lambs from this year's lambing. I kept a ram lamb and will probably use him for 2 lambings, then send him to freezer camp. I love my sheep!
> 
> Are your 5 sheep ewes or 4 ewes and 1 ram lamb? If you have a ram lamb, be sure to keep him separate because they will breed at a VERY young age. I will put my 2 keeper ewe lambs in with the flock in July as they will be 7 months old then.


We have either 3 or 2 castrated rams and 2 or 3 ewes. I cant remember.


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## Donna R. Raybon (Jun 8, 2018)

Find someone that you can go visit and see how they do things.  That would also be a good way to find healthy stock to purchase.  Sheep have diseases that may infect your property for years.  Educate yourself and don't get burned with sick stock.  Johnes, OPP, Contagious abscess, foot rot, soremouth.....  read up and keep them off your place.
Are you planning on keeping a ram?  More dangerous than a bull, by far.  Keeping a ram from hurting you is what a good BC is about.  The old hands drilled it into my head to never set foot in a field with a ram unless BC was at heel.  Ewes and wethers are safe enough,  but never a ram.


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## Latestarter (Jun 8, 2018)

Ducklover2 said:


> We have either 3 or 2 castrated rams and 2 or 3 ewes. I cant remember.



Really? You can't remember what you have for livestock with either 5 or 6 animals?   Maybe you ought to go out and have a peek to be sure?


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## Ducklover2 (Jun 14, 2018)

Latestarter said:


> Really? You can't remember what you have for livestock with either 5 or 6 animals?   Maybe you ought to go out and have a peek to be sure?


I know we have 5 but the sheep are very skiddish so i dont know to take a peek to tell gender.


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## Donna R. Raybon (Jun 14, 2018)

You may need to fix a place to be able to catch and closely examine your stock.  Stuff happens and prevention is much the better part of keeping everybody safe, healthy.  Foot trimming, deworming, etc... need a way to catch them.


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## Ducklover2 (Jun 16, 2018)

Donna R. Raybon said:


> You may need to fix a place to be able to catch and closely examine your stock.  Stuff happens and prevention is much the better part of keeping everybody safe, healthy.  Foot trimming, deworming, etc... need a way to catch them.


What could i build to do that?


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## Donna R. Raybon (Jun 16, 2018)

First, I hope you do not have an intact ram in your herd. You are  way too new to this and a ram is more dangerous than a bull.  Ewes and wethers (castrated ram) are safe enough.  Although you might not think so once you get trampled by one in a panic.  
     Second, find someone close who has sheep and see how they deal with penning, foot trimming, deworming, etc...  
Because if you keep your sheep alive for very long, you are going to have to deworm on an effective schedule.  Parasites kill.  And, you will have to shear in spring,  unless these are all hair sheep and shed out complete.  Your county ag extension agent is also a good resource to consult on fencing.  Ask about electric fencing for your pastures, as it may be too dry where you are for it to be effective.  
     Finally, right now, how are you protecting your sheep at night if you don't pen them???  from coyotes, neighbors dogs, and other predators????


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## mystang89 (Jun 16, 2018)

If you have an intact ram just don't treat him like a pet. He's not. Treat him like he might always head butt you and you should be good. If you haven't established your dominant, done turn your back. If you've established your dominant, keep an eye always on him.

When we first got into this, we read all sorts of things about not getting the ram. I listened, some in my family didn't. We've been trying to rectify that since.


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## Baymule (Jun 16, 2018)

Ducklover2 said:


> What could i build to do that?


You could use some cow panels and T-posts to make a chute to run them through. We build loading chutes with cow panels to load sheep in the trailer.


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## Baymule (Jun 16, 2018)

How to tell sex of a sheep without lifting the tail. Ewes squat to pee, rams and wethers pee from under their belly. Rams have obvious balls that hang down between their hind legs.


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## Mini Horses (Jun 16, 2018)

true but, I can only think how long it will take to watch them all pee, then remember which one was which.   Y might want to spray paint #s on them first.


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## Sheepshape (Jun 17, 2018)

This appearance = ram


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## Latestarter (Jun 17, 2018)

Awww Sheepshape... you're makin' this way too easy now...


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## Mike CHS (Jun 17, 2018)

We have a chute system but for every day handling we just keep them coming to a shelter when called that we can close off to keep them in.  Our ram is too big for our handling facilities so the shelter works fine for him.  He is big but not fast so I just get him in a corner and keep his head up to do whatever needs to be done.  It obviously takes both of us, one holding and the other working on him.


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## Mini Horses (Jun 17, 2018)

Yep -- is you have those on any, you will have breeding.  Yu know how boys are


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## Latestarter (Jun 17, 2018)

Gosh Mini... I'm not sure I DO know...   Could you sexplain it for us?


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## Ducklover2 (Jun 17, 2018)

Ok for all of you that don't know the rams are castrated. We have a pen but we dont lock them up in in at night because if a predator somehow got through our fort (aka a fence with barbed wire top and bottom exept above the gates) the pen (that we can lock them in) fencing could allow a horse under it. 

My avatar is one of our sheep. My personal favorite. I dont know why hes orange. I can provide pics if needed.


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## Latestarter (Jun 17, 2018)

Of course! Pictures are ALWAYS needed! We all love ooing and ahhhing over everyone else's animals and "stuff".


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## Beekissed (Jun 22, 2018)

Before I got my sheep, I built tiny head gates/stanchions so that I could entice them into those with feed and then hold them.  Made examining or dosing a lot easier and only takes one person to work them that way.


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## Donna R. Raybon (Jun 22, 2018)

Do you have a LGD?  Coyotes and neighbors dogs love killing sheep.  If you plan on keeping a ram understand he is more dangerous than a bull.  When I raised sheep and trialed BC all the old timers constantly drilled in that your dog be at heel if ram in the field.    

Katahdin are good sheep for making it on pasture.  They are calmer than most and hardy.  My ewes lambed in January out of doors with it in 20s F at night.  They had a good shed but rarely used it preferring out of doors.  Horns are a pain, so avoid and use polled ram.   Catching a horn in the eye or chin is no fun.  Cull for hair coat that sheds out, too.  They can have wool as long as they shed out in spring.  Katahdin seem to tolerate copper better than woolies, but I still used a loose mineral mix for sheep.

Parasites are also a problem because we don't have enough sub zero weather to kill them.  Flukes are about due to people bringing them in with new purchases.  Start out with clean, healthy feet, quarantine new additions and do not let people track it in.  Katahdin do seem to have healthier feet, but keeping it off property saves time and your back.

Read up on OPP, scrapie, Johnes, CL, soremouth, TB, brucillosis. ...  The entire state of TN is clear of TB and brucillosis.  But other diseases are here.

Do not buy any sheep with tails docked too short.  They need enough tail to cover their butt....think of a goat's tail.  I dispise how short 4H dock market lambs.  Too short and they are prone to prolapse when they cough or if a ewe, go into labor.


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## Baymule (Jun 25, 2018)

Ducklover2 said:


> Ok for all of you that don't know the rams are castrated.



If rams are castrated, then they are no longer rams. They are wethers. I currently have a wether, his name is Dinner and shortly, he will be just that.


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