# Help with Sheep Questions



## ShadowsFIAL (Mar 29, 2016)

I am a year out from buying any sheep but I would love to learn as much as I can. If I get the land I am looking at, the sheep will have an entire acre pasture to themselves. My plan is to have one ram, and four ewes. The offspring will be sent to freezer camp, or sold, we do not plan to keep them.

We are going to have a barn that is 14'x19' for them to get in out of the weather. Inside the barn is where their food trough will be as well as they hay bin. We plan to give them their feed in the evening to coax them into the barn for lockup at night. Will this be plenty of room for the sheep?

I plan to get three painted desert sheep, one ram, and two ewes, this will be the easy sheep for me to find, my big question is, where can I find any Border Leciester breeders in the US, or Welsh Mule sheep. I am extremely interested in the Welsh Mule, I find them to be a very attractive hybrid, or would I have better luck trying to import one? I want to have one or two if either of these breeds, or possibly one shetland.

As for shearing, will regular dog grooming andis clippers work to shear them? I am a dog groomer, so I have clippers on hand, otherwise I will probably purchase the andis sheep shears. How well do these sheep do for milking? I am interested in milking my sheep as well as use their meat and wool. 

As far a bottle feeding goes, I would like to bottle feed all of them to get a stronger bond with them, will this cause a problem with the ram? Also I would like to ID them with regular dog collars, would this work fine? I plan to put little bells on them as well.

We will be using a 6-8 wire electric fence. Not sure how many we will do yet, we plan to do at least the first three strands 6" apart.

I am planning to use the regular horse quality square bales to feed them, as well as the dumor sheep feed, and a sheep mineral block free choice.

If I decide to milk my sheep, how often should I milk them, can I milk them and keep their lambs on them? Thanks much in advance!


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## purplequeenvt (Mar 29, 2016)

"We are going to have a barn that is 14'x19' for them to get in out of the weather. Inside the barn is where their food trough will be as well as they hay bin. We plan to give them their feed in the evening to coax them into the barn for lockup at night. Will this be plenty of room for the sheep?"

*For a few sheep, yes. That should be plenty of space for overnight.*

"I plan to get three painted desert sheep, one ram, and two ewes, this will be the easy sheep for me to find, my big question is, where can I find any Border Leciester breeders in the US, or Welsh Mule sheep. I am extremely interested in the Welsh Mule, I find them to be a very attractive hybrid, or would I have better luck trying to import one? I want to have one or two if either of these breeds, or possibly one shetland."

*Painted Desert aren't the best choice for meat sheep. I've also heard that they tend to be pretty flighty/feral. I absolutely love Border Leicesters. We've raised them for 16 years. 

Take a look at the American Border Leicester Association website: http://www.ablasheep.org/ for more information about the breed and to find breeders. My farm is listed as "Smith Family Farm" (in VT), although we are now Vinegar Ridge Farm. 

I also have Shetlands. Fun little sheep.
*
As for shearing, will regular dog grooming andis clippers work to shear them? I am a dog groomer, so I have clippers on hand, otherwise I will probably purchase the andis sheep shears. How well do these sheep do for milking? I am interested in milking my sheep as well as use their meat and wool. 

*I don't think the dog clippers will work on sheep very well. Get actual shears or hand shears. My sister shears with electrics, but I use hand shears. 

I doubt the PD will stand for milking.  The Border Leicesters are considered a dual-purpose breed (meat and wool) and while they aren't considered a dairy breed, fed and milked properly, there is no reason why they wouldn't make a decent milker. 
*
"As far a bottle feeding goes, I would like to bottle feed all of them to get a stronger bond with them, will this cause a problem with the ram? Also I would like to ID them with regular dog collars, would this work fine? I plan to put little bells on them as well."

*Yes and no. I would never recommend a bottle fed breeding ram to a newbie, BUT we have a had a couple bottle baby breeding rams over the years and never had an issue. The key to a safe ram is in the handling. Don't ever let them get away with any pushy, dominate behavior. 

Collars aren't the safest choice. Sheep can get themselves stuck and strangle themselves with collars. Ear tags are much better.*

"We will be using a 6-8 wire electric fence. Not sure how many we will do yet, we plan to do at least the first three strands 6" apart."

*Is this a permanent fence or will you be rotating them?
*
"I am planning to use the regular horse quality square bales to feed them, as well as the dumor sheep feed, and a sheep mineral block free choice."

*I'm not sure what "horse quality" hay means. A good quality 2nd cut (during pregnancy and lactation) is good. Feed free choice loose sheep minerals instead of a block. They can't get enough necessary minerals through licking the block and they can ruin their teeth. *

"If I decide to milk my sheep, how often should I milk them, can I milk them and keep their lambs on them? Thanks much in advance!"

*If you are trying to get a decent amount of milk, then you will need to milk twice a day and take the lambs away. If you are satisfied with less milk, then milk once a day and leave the lambs on. When the lambs are a couple weeks old, start separating them at night and milk the ewe out in the morning. Put everyone back together again after milking.*


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## ShadowsFIAL (Mar 29, 2016)

*Painted Desert aren't the best choice for meat sheep. I've also heard that they tend to be pretty flighty/feral. I absolutely love Border Leicesters. We've raised them for 16 years. 

Take a look at the American Border Leicester Association website: http://www.ablasheep.org/ for more information about the breed and to find breeders. My farm is listed as "Smith Family Farm" (in VT), although we are now Vinegar Ridge Farm. 

I also have Shetlands. Fun little sheep.*
I simply like the painted desert's for their color honestly,and for the gorgeous rams. To me the meat is just a bonus to raising them, much like our flemish giant/newzeland rabbits. I don't know many other hair sheep breeds with that much color on them and such stunning rams. The sheep are all basically going to be pets. I didn't want too many wool sheep since I have never shorn before and didn't know how tough it would be. However Border Leicesters are on the top of my list! I might have to take a road rip and get a lamb from you haha! Possibly a Shetland as well. We shall see. 

*I don't think the dog clippers will work on sheep very well. Get actual shears or hand shears. My sister shears with electrics, but I use hand shears. *
Thanks for the info! Do you know which cuts smoother? I would like to be able to give my wool sheep fun cuts sometimes and not just shear the entire thing. They are going to be pets too after all. 

*Yes and no. I would never recommend a bottle fed breeding ram to a newbie, BUT we have a had a couple bottle baby breeding rams over the years and never had an issue. The key to a safe ram is in the handling. Don't ever let them get away with any pushy, dominate behavior. *
So basically you have to train them like you would a stubborn german shepherd haha. I guess I will have to give it a shot, or get a newly weaned ram. I just want them to still be personable and somewhat easy to handle when I need to trim hooves and check them over. I would be happy if they would come up for petting and a feed bucket.  *

Collars aren't the safest choice. Sheep can get themselves stuck and strangle themselves with collars. Ear tags are much better.*
Okay, I wondered about that. Do they also do ear tattooing like rabbits instead? I always worry about the tag getting ripped out. 

*Is this a permanent fence or will you be rotating them?*
It will be a permanent fence. It will be hot wire, pretty much always on, I am looking at at least 1 Joule.

*I'm not sure what "horse quality" hay means. A good quality 2nd cut (during pregnancy and lactation) is good. Feed free choice loose sheep minerals instead of a block. They can't get enough necessary minerals through licking the block and they can ruin their teeth. *
Thanks for the advice! I didn't know that about the block. @_@

*If you are trying to get a decent amount of milk, then you will need to milk twice a day and take the lambs away. If you are satisfied with less milk, then milk once a day and leave the lambs on. When the lambs are a couple weeks old, start separating them at night and milk the ewe out in the morning. Put everyone back together again after milking.
I am happy with less milk. I would be happier, and the lambs would be happier, being able to *drink from mom. I am just wanting to experiment with cheese, butter, and soaps.


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## Bossroo (Mar 29, 2016)

Why would one milk a non dairy breed of  ewe and then bottle feed the ewe's  lamb / lambs ?  When one bottle feeds the lamb, more often then not, it will  be of a inferior quality as a ewe raised lamb and will cost more to raise in terms of money and labor.  Besides, most ewe breeds only produce milk for about 5 months after lambing.   As for bottle feeding a ram lamb, one is asking for trouble and / or injury to you or yours when it's hormones  kick in, often starting after 5 -7 months of age .   I would castrate the ram lamb asap .


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## Roving Jacobs (Mar 29, 2016)

I shear 70-100 animals (sheep, angora goats, angora rabbits) a year with andis super 2 speed dog clippers. Use a ceramic #10 blade and keep it clean and sharp and it works just fine. I like the close smooth shear it gets with no risk of cutting the sheep.

I can't imagine trying to milk wild little painted desert sheep but @norseofcourse  milks her icelandics and might have some advice for that.


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## ShadowsFIAL (Mar 29, 2016)

Roving Jacobs said:


> I shear 70-100 animals (sheep, angora goats, angora rabbits) a year with andis super 2 speed dog clippers. Use a ceramic #10 blade and keep it clean and sharp and it works just fine. I like the close smooth shear it gets with no risk of cutting the sheep.
> 
> I can't imagine trying to milk wild little painted desert sheep but @norseofcourse  milks her icelandics and might have some advice for that.



Lol I guess painted deserts are pretty bad personality wise? I have three andis 2 speed clippers, so I think i will save one for my sheep and try it out. I also have #15 blades that I might try.  

If the painted deserts are so wild, I might try out a ram and ewe, then get a border leicester, a welsh mule, and then a second border leicester, welsh mule, blue faced leicester or a shetland. They are all going to be pets, and half the sheep on craigslist are mix breeds anyway, but I really want a gorgeous ram with horns. I also really like color, so the welsh mule is really interesting to me, but I think I would have a hard time finding them here, all the websites I find about them are in the UK.


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## ShadowsFIAL (Mar 29, 2016)

Well it looks like what I might do is get three sheep. One ram and two ewes. I think my top choice is the Welsh Mule, they are supposedly a good all around breed and I really like their looks, then it would be the Border leicester, then the Painted Desert, then the Shetland. If anyone can suggest a breed that is similar to the Welsh Mule, I am all ears. The Welsh Mule is a cross between the bluefaced leicester and a Beulah Speckled Face Sheep. All I can seem to pull up online is in the UK and it is actually not finding them on the site aside from welsh pony crosses haha


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## Baymule (Mar 29, 2016)

If you like colorful sheep with horns, then you need to look into Jacob Sheep! @Roving Jacobs has fabulous sheep and the 4 horns are fantastic!

http://www.backyardherds.com/threads/rovings-2016-lambs.32710/


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## ShadowsFIAL (Mar 29, 2016)

Baymule said:


> If you like colorful sheep with horns, then you need to look into Jacob Sheep! @Roving Jacobs has fabulous sheep and the 4 horns are fantastic!
> 
> http://www.backyardherds.com/threads/rovings-2016-lambs.32710/



I thought about jacobs, but I can't stand the uneven horns. My OCD killed them for me haha


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## Baymule (Mar 29, 2016)

Where in Texas are you? I am north of Tyler.


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## ShadowsFIAL (Mar 29, 2016)

I am going to be moving to Rhome. Right now I am in fort worth.


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## Baymule (Mar 29, 2016)

Nothing like getting out of town and moving to the country!


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## norseofcourse (Mar 29, 2016)

ShadowsFIAL said:


> I am a year out from buying any sheep but I would love to learn as much as I can. If I get the land I am looking at, the sheep will have an entire acre pasture to themselves. My plan is to have one ram, and four ewes. The offspring will be sent to freezer camp, or sold, we do not plan to keep them.
> 
> We are going to have a barn that is 14'x19' for them to get in out of the weather. Inside the barn is where their food trough will be as well as they hay bin. We plan to give them their feed in the evening to coax them into the barn for lockup at night. Will this be plenty of room for the sheep?


That's close to the size of my sheep's run-in area.  It gets a little snug when the lambs get older, especially when part of that area is sectioned off as the 'lamb pen', where the lambs stay overnight, separated from their moms, during milking season.

If you are wanting sheep for wool, you'll want a hay feeder design that minimizes hay getting in their wool.  Check out the hay feeder on Premier1's website, the plans are free online and it's not hard to build.

Even with just an acre, you can do a sort of pasture rotation.  Keep 1/2 acre 'home' pasture, and fence off two 1/4 acre areas.  Switch between the two quarter acre areas, letting one grow back while you use the other, or closing both off if they both need to rest and grow.  If you have a ram, this will also give you an area to put him when you want him separated from the ewes.



> I plan to get three painted desert sheep, one ram, and two ewes, this will be the easy sheep for me to find, my big question is, where can I find any Border Leciester breeders in the US, or Welsh Mule sheep. I am extremely interested in the Welsh Mule, I find them to be a very attractive hybrid, or would I have better luck trying to import one? I want to have one or two if either of these breeds, or possibly one shetland.


Shetlands are cute, but they are really small sheep - I don't know if it would be advisable to breed a Shetland ewe to a larger sized sheep like a Painted Desert - maybe someone more experienced could weigh in on this.

Also, if you are wanting both hair and wool sheep - keep in mind that the hair from those hair sheep will get into the wool of your wool sheep, especially during shedding season.  Not good for the wool, whether you want to use it yourself or sell it.

For hair sheep, have you checked into Katahdins?  They come in other colors than white.  Shetlands and Icelandics are wool sheep that come in a wide range of colors/patterns.  Icelandics come either horned or polled.



> As far a bottle feeding goes, I would like to bottle feed all of them to get a stronger bond with them, will this cause a problem with the ram? Also I would like to ID them with regular dog collars, would this work fine? I plan to put little bells on them as well.


As others have said, NEVER turn your back on a ram!  My ram is friendly (to me), loves scratches and petting (not the top of his head, which might encourage butting).  But, especially during breeding season, he gets stupid.  His hormones take over.  If I'm not a ewe to breed, I must be a rival, and he thinks he has to challenge me.  Like purplequeenvt said, don't let them get away with that!  Sometimes I leash him and keep him close to me when I'm in their pasture.  Sometimes I've had to get him onto the ground and hold him till he gives in.  Some days he is fine, some days he is more stupid.

Last year, in February, the ewes were more than halfway through their pregnancies. Elding had been behaving fine.  One morning I went into their run-in and found a dead lamb - Brosa had aborted.  I cleaned up everything as well as I could, got their feed ready, and let the sheep in to eat.  I tried using scissors to trim some of Brosa's wool off her hind end, as it had frozen birth fluids on it.  I wasn't watching Elding, who was probably on edge from the smell of what had happened, and I was near one of 'his' girls.  He backed up... I looked up just in time to see him coming at me - wham!  He backed up again before I could prepare, and got me again (luckily the run-in didn't give him a lot of room to get a running start, but it still hurt).  I managed to get a leash on him and get him out of there.

Now, even when he is behaving, I always keep one eye on him when I'm in the same pasture with him.  He is a sweet boy most of the time, but the risk is there.



> We will be using a 6-8 wire electric fence. Not sure how many we will do yet, we plan to do at least the first three strands 6" apart.


I have electric rope, 6 strands seems to be working - the lower one closer together than the higher ones.  My biggest problem with fewer strands was lambs going through - and once they learn they can go through, they are much harder to keep in.  Your pasture vs. the outside also matters - if you have good pastures, they won't be as tempted to break out.  If your pasture is eaten down and the outside looks green and growing - they may be more likely to risk an escape.


> I am planning to use the regular horse quality square bales to feed them, as well as the dumor sheep feed, and a sheep mineral block free choice.


I wasn't impressed with the Dumor sheep feed, I thought the ingredients sounded lower quality.  I use Buckeye non-medicated, but it may not be available down there.  Some shepherds simply use whole corn, or you could mix whole corn with alfalfa pellets.  With a good second-cut hay you may not even need grain, except for during late pregnancy and lactation/milking.  Someone else already mentioned loose minerals being better than blocks.



> If I decide to milk my sheep, how often should I milk them, can I milk them and keep their lambs on them? Thanks much in advance!


I milk my sheep once a day.  I pen the lambs up overnight (with hay and water), milk the ewes in the morning, then they're all together all day.  If there's a morning I can't milk, or I need a break, I don't separate them that night.

You'll get enough milk to play with - some cheese recipes take as little as a half gallon, and you don't need much for soap, either.  You may have trouble with butter - without a cream separator you might not get much cream rising to the top.  Your results may very, but I was getting 2 to 3 cups a day from 3 ewes (one was a first freshener).  It wasn't worth it to me to let that milk sit a few days, just to skim off the little bit of cream I got.  I may invest in a cream separator this year, not sure.  I like the whole milk in recipes and soap.

Lots of good questions!


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## ShadowsFIAL (Mar 29, 2016)

Baymule said:


> Nothing like getting out of town and moving to the country!


Can't agree more!



norseofcourse said:


> That's close to the size of my sheep's run-in area.  It gets a little snug when the lambs get older, especially when part of that area is sectioned off as the 'lamb pen', where the lambs stay overnight, separated from their moms, during milking season.
> 
> If you are wanting sheep for wool, you'll want a hay feeder design that minimizes hay getting in their wool.  Check out the hay feeder on Premier1's website, the plans are free online and it's not hard to build.
> 
> ...



Thank you for all the input! You helped me with a lot of my questions. I think i am going to stray away from the painted desert sheep. If I get more land, maybe one day I will get them, but I think I will enjoy the wool sheep more. I think I am going to try and get some Welsh Mules if by some miracle I can find them in the USA or I will go with the Border Leicesters. Push comes to shove if I want a more color in my field I can bring some pet safe dye from home and give my girls some funky colors for a year.  

If I am sectioning out pasture space, will just a few electric wires work, or do I really need to do the six wire strand like the rest? Honestly we are trying to do cheap as possible, but I understand the rotation, and that they will eat everything down eventually if I don't. I might even be able to get away with giving them 1.5 acres if my husband will be willing to let the horses roam around all over the property haha. If he even get horses that is.


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## ShadowsFIAL (Mar 29, 2016)

I think I want to make a feeder like this, so I can feed everyone from the outside of their barn pens.


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## Baymule (Mar 29, 2016)

We fenced our place with 2"x4"x48" non climb horse wire. Yes it was more expensive, but we have already made fence mistakes on other land and I wanted a good fence. It keeps mine in, and everything else out.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/non-climb-horse-fence-48-in-x-200-ft?cm_vc=-10005


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## norseofcourse (Mar 29, 2016)

ShadowsFIAL said:


> If I am sectioning out pasture space, will just a few electric wires work, or do I really need to do the six wire strand like the rest? Honestly we are trying to do cheap as possible, but I understand the rotation, and that they will eat everything down eventually if I don't. I might even be able to get away with giving them 1.5 acres if my husband will be willing to let the horses roam around all over the property haha. If he even get horses that is.


You might be able to get away with 4 strands for the interior fencing.  I'd still space it as close as I could, but maybe not make it quite as high.  While there's not as much harm if they go through into another pasture, as there is if they escape out your perimeter fence, you still don't want them to get into the habit of going through fences - they may decide to go through the perimeter fence next.


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## norseofcourse (Mar 29, 2016)

Baymule said:


> We fenced our place with 2"x4"x48" non climb horse wire. Yes it was more expensive, but we have already made fence mistakes on other land and I wanted a good fence. It keeps mine in, and everything else out.
> 
> http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/non-climb-horse-fence-48-in-x-200-ft?cm_vc=-10005


If I was starting fencing from scratch I would seriously consider this.  I had horses before I got the sheep, and already had 4 strand electric rope, so I chose to add another strand (then a 6th), rather than completely redo my fencing.


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## ShadowsFIAL (Mar 29, 2016)

I will talk with my husband about it. It might take us longer than a year, but perhaps it will be worth it.


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## Latestarter (Mar 30, 2016)

I would encourage you to seriously think fencing as one of, if not the MOST, important investment to your property improvement plan. You'll read it over and over as you browse this forum and probably any other; of people who scrimped on their fencing and lost animals to predation, escape, theft, injury/death. It's a huge expense, everyone will agree, but doing it right the first time or as best you possibly can, can save you so much more down the road. 

The most important is the perimeter fencing as this will be your animals main protection from incoming stray dogs (IMO the #1 killer of small livestock), coyotes, bob cats, etc. You can let the animals use the entire space to wander while you save up to cross fence into separate pastures over time. When I say perimeter, I'm specifying the fencing for the perimeter of THEIR entire area. This includes the fence between your family/pet use area from their pasture. You wouldn't believe how many people have lost their livestock to their own dogs (IMO #3 killer).

The 2nd most important area will be their holding area(s) near their shelter where you'll most likely keep them at night, during bad weather, or when you need them contained for whatever reason.

If the entire property perimeter is too large a cost, then do it one pasture at a time, but again, do it right. You can also use high tensil wire for fencing and electrify the entire fence alternating positive/negative. This will save you adding additional electric wire over top the new/existing fencing.


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## ShadowsFIAL (Mar 30, 2016)

Latestarter said:


> I would encourage you to seriously think fencing as one of, if not the MOST, important investment to your property improvement plan. You'll read it over and over as you browse this forum and probably any other; of people who scrimped on their fencing and lost animals to predation, escape, theft, injury/death. It's a huge expense, everyone will agree, but doing it right the first time or as best you possibly can, can save you so much more down the road.
> 
> The most important is the perimeter fencing as this will be your animals main protection from incoming stray dogs (IMO the #1 killer of small livestock), coyotes, bob cats, etc. You can let the animals use the entire space to wander while you save up to cross fence into separate pastures over time. When I say perimeter, I'm specifying the fencing for the perimeter of THEIR entire area. This includes the fence between your family/pet use area from their pasture. You wouldn't believe how many people have lost their livestock to their own dogs (IMO #3 killer).
> 
> ...



Thank you so much.  I think we are going to go ahead and do the wire instead. It may take longer, but like you said. It will be worth it in the end.


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## Baymule (Mar 30, 2016)

We bought 8 acres and moved last February. There was nothing here but the house. We already "did it wrong" and I knew it would be a lot of work and a lot of expense, but we used the horse wire with 7' T-posts. The T-posts stick up a foot taller than the wire, which leaves me room for 2 strands of barb wire, or you could use hot wire. We have one stretch of fencing left to do. If you skimp on fencing, you will live to regret it.

You can buy one roll of wire at a time, it's 200 feet. A square acre is 204'x204' or something like that. I took a lot of pictures, I need to make a fencing thread.


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## ShadowsFIAL (Mar 30, 2016)

Baymule said:


> We bought 8 acres and moved last February. There was nothing here but the house. We already "did it wrong" and I knew it would be a lot of work and a lot of expense, but we used the horse wire with 7' T-posts. The T-posts stick up a foot taller than the wire, which leaves me room for 2 strands of barb wire, or you could use hot wire. We have one stretch of fencing left to do. If you skimp on fencing, you will live to regret it.
> 
> You can buy one roll of wire at a time, it's 200 feet. A square acre is 204'x204' or something like that. I took a lot of pictures, I need to make a fencing thread.



Please do! It will help a lot haha! How far apart should I put the T-posts?


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## Baymule (Mar 30, 2016)

@ShadowsFIAL I just posted a fence thread. we placed our T-posts 10 feet apart.

http://www.backyardherds.com/threads/non-climb-2-x4-horse-wire-fence.32922/#post-420939


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## ShadowsFIAL (Mar 31, 2016)

Baymule said:


> @ShadowsFIAL I just posted a fence thread. we placed our T-posts 10 feet apart.
> 
> http://www.backyardherds.com/threads/non-climb-2-x4-horse-wire-fence.32922/#post-420939



Thanks much!!!


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## ShadowsFIAL (Apr 4, 2016)

Looks like we got an acre instead. Less than what i was hoping for, but better than renting in the city! So we made some changes to our plans. The sheep will have two pastures we will rotate them between, and have their shelter in the center of the two, on the inside where our driveway is. This will give them two pastures of equal size around 99'x68'. I plan to throw down some grass and clover seed next week to see what takes, however it already has lots of good grass on it, just wanted to add a bit more nutrients.


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## Baymule (Apr 4, 2016)




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## norseofcourse (Apr 5, 2016)

Congrats on your new place!
If you want more nutrients, you might try something other than grass or clover.  Sheep really love forbs (weeds).  You probably can't get packets of weed seeds (lol), but you might be able to find seeds for things like chicory or lespedeza (if they grow in your area).  Or some veggie plants - I'm going to grow some turnips this year for my sheep, maybe radishes too.


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## ShadowsFIAL (Apr 5, 2016)

norseofcourse said:


> Congrats on your new place!
> If you want more nutrients, you might try something other than grass or clover.  Sheep really love forbs (weeds).  You probably can't get packets of weed seeds (lol), but you might be able to find seeds for things like chicory or lespedeza (if they grow in your area).  Or some veggie plants - I'm going to grow some turnips this year for my sheep, maybe radishes too.



Haha everything was a weed at one time! I wonder if I searched hard enough if I could find forb seeds. Also I will have to search for chicory & lespedeza. I have never heard of those.  So they like the turnip tops and radish tops? I might try and convice my husband to plant some in the pastures haha. I like turnips and radishes as well, so they will have to share.


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## ShadowsFIAL (Apr 5, 2016)

Is this a good mixture? 

*Great Plains Sheep Forage Blend*
$100.98 + Free Shipping
Coverage Area:
Quantity: *



*Product Summary*
Seeding Rate: 
20 lbs. / Acre
REGION: 





SUN/SHADE: 




HEIGHT: 
6'' to 4'
ANIMALS: 
Sheep
USES: 
Food Plot
WATER: 




*More Information*
Raising sheep in the Great Plains requires a high quality pasture able to withstand the snowy winters and hot summers. Our Great Plains sheep pasture blend contains a selection of grasses and legumes designed to provide nutrient-dense, palatable forage for your sheep, lambs and lactating ewes. We’ve also included birdsfoot trefoil and chicory to help control internal parasites in sheep and lambs.

This blend produces a pasture that will contain approximately:


40% Tall Fescue (endophyte free)

20% Kentucky Bluegrass

15% Perennial Ryegrass

10% White Clover

10% Birdsfoot Trefoil

5% Chicory
Note that due to state legal restrictions, Chicory will be removed from shipments to Colorado.



In an effort to help our customers visualize the finished product, note that the percentages listed above are what you can expect the stand to contain once established. For the contents of this seed blend by weight, please contact us to request a digital copy of the seed tag.


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## Gaylittleswan (May 18, 2016)

Well, for two horned jacob rams, they usually seem to be symmetrical, but on the females and four+ horned sheep there is no guarantee. But overall, if you buy from a breeder that has ewes and rams with nice, strong, even horns, their offspring should reflect those traits.
Jacobs are a really pleasant breed, and they produce high quality fiber and (from what I've heard), a good quality meat. One webpage that I found claims that their milk is pretty sweet, but I've only heard it be mentioned once. Although jacobs tend to be shy, that can be improved with handling.
I might just be biased, but I definitely would look at the breed a bit deeper before turning it down. After all, every breed has some great things to offer!


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