Farm Update -- Desparately need advice

[SuburbanFarmChic]

We essentially dry lot. We have 1/2 an acre total and run 6-12 animals. A mix of goats and sheep. All depends on who is here and who is being lent out for weed control or as a milker. We bring in round bales and they also get grain, waste veggies and waste hay.

 

[CESpeed]

My goal is to make sure I'm not crowding them if they are in a 50 x 75 pasture space. If two or three ewes and their lambs were in that space all day, would they feel crowded? I'm considering adding a lamb run to make sure they have planty of space to exercise. At night they'll go into a barn that has 10 x 10 pens.

I don't want unhappy animals.

 

[SheepGirl]

My sheep were in a dry lot for 2.5 months during the summer as they were waiting for us to put up a fence. They were under our 16x24 deck and the ram pen was 32x8 and the ewe/lamb/wether pen was 32x24. So essentially my ram had 256 sq ft of space + 128 sq ft of shelter space and then my ewes, wether, and ewe lambs had 153.6 sq ft of space each + 51.2 sq ft of shelter space each. Of course it wasn't all divided up; they all had the run of the 768 sq ft + 256 sq ft of shelter. Plus I gave them the deck stairs to hang out under.

They actually crowded themselves underneath the deck stairs most of the time, because it was so cool under there.

I don't know if they were happy or unhappy. I just know they acted the same as they did out in the field (albeit they didn't graze)...hanging out under the shelter during the heat of the day and eating at night. But you COULD tell they were always SO happy to see me with their feed!

Here's what they looked like in their pens, from the top of my deck:

And these are the sheep pens, empty:

 

[CESpeed]

Thank you everyone for your responses. I appreciate the information. I feel a lot more comfortable with my planning now. I think with 3,750 sq ft of pasture, plus 144 ft of inside space, three ewes and a ram will be very comfortable.

This will be my new barn for the sheep:

http://barnsbarnsbarns.com/glenwood.html

 

[SheepGirl]

Your field won't be able to feed your sheep for very long, so plan on feeding the ewes & ram hay, too

As for your barn, it would probably be easier & cheaper to just have it one large area, rather than separate stalls. You can always build or buy panels to put up when you need them--it will be a whole lot more flexible, too.

And in response to the PM--you're welcome

 

[Baymule]

If you have room, plant pumpkins for your sheep. They keep through the winter and the seeds act as a natural wormer. good luck with your sheepies!

 

[CESpeed]

I am going to have a garden and I did plan on including pumpkins. I'm happy to know the sheep will enjoy them, too.

This is an alternate barn thought: http://www.applevalleybarns.com/hcalifornian.html or
http://www.barnsbarnsbarns.com/remington.html

 

[SuburbanFarmChic]

If you have a small yard, I would recommend saving your garden space and hooking up with a farmers market. They always seem to have extra pumpkins at the end of the season and sell them cheaper than I can allot growing space for that qty. We get them by the truckload free or cheap.