# Getting Started - Searching for Land advice



## YarnFarming (May 3, 2015)

My husband and I have a long term plan to raise sheep for both wool and meat. We're still a long way away from actually having sheep but have started to look for a home with land. 

Currently we're looking at a house with 8 acres of trees. We don't mind having to take the trees down and to care for the field for years before it's pasture (we're in no rush) but are concerned about the pasture size. Is 8 acres enough land to house sheep? The rule of thumb seems to be no more than 5 sheep per acre but that doesn't seem to account for rotating the pastures. 

We've looked at Corriedale and Rambouillet since they're both known as dual purpose sheep but understand that the breed we select will be determined by the land. 

We're located in central North Carolina. 

Advice? Should we keep looking out for pasture and/or more land?


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## OneFineAcre (May 3, 2015)

Welcome from Zebulon NC


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## frustratedearthmother (May 3, 2015)

I know nothing about sheep - but welcome, from Texas!


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## BrownSheep (May 3, 2015)

While my sheep love eating brush you might be asking for a headache when it comes to fleece quaility. Brush can really rip op a fleece or fill it with lots of VM. I would say with 8 acres you could do 25-30 o.k. but a lot of that depends on the pasture and plants. 

I wouldn't worry a whole lot about actual structure for sheep. If they have a wind block and a place to get out of the rain they should be fine. Lambs generally just need a draft free place for the first litte bit.  Mine really just look for shade. They'll stand in 40 mph winds, rain, snow, and below freezing temps just fine. 

I raise Rambouillets and crosses an they are great sheep. One thing to keep in mind is you can alway cross a meat ram over your ewes for faster growing market lambs and then use a pure bred wool ram when you are looking for replacement ewes.


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## norseofcourse (May 3, 2015)

Welcome from Ohio!

How many sheep are you figuring to raise?  I agree with BrownSheep about brush and wool quality.

And I really like your user ID


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## BlessedWithGoats (May 4, 2015)

Welcome from Michigan!!


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## mikiz (May 4, 2015)

Something that didn't occur to me until just now, it might be worth finding out what type of soil and ph the 8 acres is, it might cost you more than you expect to upkeep the soil if you have to lime or seed or anything to keep enough growing to feed your livestock. If you know beforehand, you're less likely to mess around trying different things before realising your soil can't support the type or species of food your animals need. Or you could start out by finding the sorts of plants that will grow in the soil you have.
Also rainfall might be a concern if you have soil that doesn't hold water very well. 
I'm not sure how important any of this might be, but I know if I hadn't checked I would have expected anything to grow where I planted it and not known why it failed over and over.


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## Bossroo (May 4, 2015)

I too recommend all of the above.  Best source is to consult a sheep and soils / pasture / range professor at your nearest Ag. University. and your County Ag. extention agent to figure out your particular land's carrying capacity and ways to improve the land economically.    Years ago I raised Ramboulett and Corriedale ewes , bred them to Suffolk rams for the meat market.  Then the price of wool dropped like a rock, so no more wool sheep. In today's marketplace it will cost you more to just sheer the sheep ( cost of labor, workman's comp. , insurance, ) than what the wool is worth.  ( Competition from Australian wool imports ) .   I LOST money !!! I would suggest that you seriously consider the Dorper sheep as they shed their wool and produce a great meat lamb as their foraging ability in wooded land is superior to other breeds.  Good luck !


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## mikiz (May 4, 2015)

+1 for dorpers, one for the breeds I'm now considering since they do so well on pretty much anything


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## BrownSheep (May 4, 2015)

I believe ( going off their user name and prior statement) they want to be able to have usable wool. 
There are some people who prefer wool breeds regaurdless. In my area hair sheep actually go for about  40 % less than a wool lamb.


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## SheepGirl (May 5, 2015)

I paid $120 for shearing 40 lbs of wool off of the sheep. That's $3/lb. I sold it for $1/lb so I lost $2/lb, $80, which is $8 per sheep sheared. With 80 lb lambs selling for $2.50/lb ($200/head -- or more should I sell the ewe lambs for breeding) and my ewes having a 129% weaned lamb crop (includes two ewe lambs), that is only $6.20 off of each lamb. If I were to process the fleece I could potentially sell it at a profit. But wool is not something I'm interested in at the moment (I've been thinking about starting a finewool flock and breeding based on micron counts or even a Border Leicester flock for show) so selling it at a wool pool is no biggie. The cost of my shearing is not going to run deep into my profit. However, checking the New Holland auction report, it looks like hair lambs are selling for $6-13/cwt less than wooled lambs. Seems to be about even (a loss of $4.80 to $10.40 just for selling hair lambs).

That said, it's great you're getting into sheep! 8 acres is more than enough (I have 19 sheep and 1 goat kid on 1.5 acres, 9 of them are lambs), and it will probably be easier just to start with pasture unless you are willing to have your woods logged. You may also deal with more predators being in the woods than an established field. However I live near the woods (less than 200 ft away) and the only predator we have so far is a fox (knock on wood) but I have yet to have any predator losses (knock on wood again). There have been bear sightings 3-4 miles away but I think it was a black bear... I'm not sure if they eat large prey?? And there are coyotes according to a boy scout troop from North Carolina that camped in our yard (Uncle's troop that visited D.C.) that heard them howling. I don't know what one sounds like but I don't usually hear anything outside at night except for bugs and the occasional baa. So I'm not sure. My dad is interested in getting one of the exotic large livestock guardian dog breeds (Caucasian shepherd is one I hear him talk about) but I'm not sure on that...

As far as breed selection, check out my sheep breed selector (link in signature). Rambouillets are a fine wool maternal breed and corriedales are a medium wool breed. What is the wool to be used for? That will determine what wool grade you need (fine vs long vs medium vs hair vs carpet) and as a result, what breed of sheep you can raise to meet your need. My flock is white faced medium wools, whose fiber has more worth than a black face medium wool but is cheaper than a finewool. Finewool is the premium fiber--it is used for next-to-skin garments, and is expen$ive (heard of merino?). Check out the publication "Wool Grades and the Sheep That Grow the Wool" by the American Sheep Industry Association, Inc.

Have fun!


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## purplequeenvt (May 5, 2015)

8 acres can feed a decent number of sheep, but it depends on the forage quality and how many trees there are. 

I just want to put a plug in for the Border Leicester breed. We've been raising them for 15 years now and we still love them. They are a long wool breed, but the wool is usually well liked by hand spinners and fiber artists. 

The breed in general is calm and good natured. The rams are very gentlemanly (raised correctly of course) - we have a 9 or 10 year old ram who is like a big puppy and a 3 year old bottle raised that you would never think was.


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## The Old Ram-Australia (May 8, 2015)

G'day,The following is a few thoughts you may like to consider.
If wool is your thing ,be prepared to "learn" how to shear and get all the necessary gear to do it.
What are the successful breeds being grown in the area.
I suspect it would have to be "very" good country to carry 8/acre year round.
Do you have an extended period of snow?
What is the state of your local lamb meat trade?....T.O.R.


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