Hello, I was just a lurker, now made it official and joined

[bjjohns]

Welcome. We do the milk for calfs and the two us thing, but we use goats instead. For us, the weed eater goats work a little better, and we will start pasture rotation with them ahead of horses a little later this spring (someone -ME- has to build a milking trailer first).

 

[WyoLiving]

I have been thinking about sheep. Love lamb. How hard are they to fence in?
I really need to research sheep, not sure I want to deal with shearing the fleece. A friend had three sheep and didn't get them sheared and they got maggots in their tail-end. Yuck, really turned me off of sheep at the time.

I think I may have forgotten to mention that the place is in Wisconsin. I know that makes a difference in what is really possible on the land. And, I grew up within 30 miles of where we are moving.

Out here in Wyoming, the land has a grazing density of 1 animal unit for each 40+ acres. We only get 12" rain annually. Wisconsin is over 36" rain annually and I need to look up the animal units per acre.

Not looking forward to the 'skeeters, I have been spoiled on that front. Aside from the masses of millers we get this time of year, there isn't much for bugs out here. Well, lots of dung beetles, but not much else. I have killed 8 mosquitoes in the last 6 years. lol!

 

[hardcore]

hello, got a few sheep(grass cutters) and a donkey(guard) i haven't been the best owner, I need to learn how to tend them properly...which brings me here. thanks for having me.

 

[WyoLiving]

Hello, hardcore! welcome to the site.
Hope you can find all the information you need.
How much pasture do you have for your animals?

 

[hardcore]

hello, wyoliving. we don't live on the property, but its 2 miles from me, so i pass everyday to check. its a 4 acre tract with a few barns and out buildings, they have the run of the place

 

[WyoLiving]

I like your landscaping crew. Looks like 10 sheep?

 

[hardcore]

theres a few more running around in there now. i need to cull, i had to add 4 round bales of hay this winter. i also put out a bag of feed when it freezes, thou, not that often here.

 

[SheepGirl]

I have been thinking about sheep. Love lamb. How hard are they to fence in?
I really need to research sheep, not sure I want to deal with shearing the fleece. A friend had three sheep and didn't get them sheared and they got maggots in their tail-end. Yuck, really turned me off of sheep at the time.

I think I may have forgotten to mention that the place is in Wisconsin. I know that makes a difference in what is really possible on the land. And, I grew up within 30 miles of where we are moving.

Out here in Wyoming, the land has a grazing density of 1 animal unit for each 40+ acres. We only get 12" rain annually. Wisconsin is over 36" rain annually and I need to look up the animal units per acre.

Not looking forward to the 'skeeters, I have been spoiled on that front. Aside from the masses of millers we get this time of year, there isn't much for bugs out here. Well, lots of dung beetles, but not much else. I have killed 8 mosquitoes in the last 6 years. lol!

Not that hard to fence in. We have 47" woven wire (the 330' $150 roll) with 4" wood posts spaced every 8'. Could have done with all T posts or T posts every other, but my parents want to put boards up and paint the fence white, so wood posts it is.

I have had maggots in one of my 5 day old lambs. I banded her tail and maggots showed up a day or two later. This was two years ago, at the end of May (hot & humid, perfect for flies). That said, she is the only sheep I've raised myself or helped raise with my neighbor (so probably 1 out of 200-300+ lambs) get blowflies. I'm not sure not getting sheared was a cause for blowflies. The flies aren't going to land where there is long hair, there has to be something stinky, like rotting skin (in the case of the banding) or maybe manure building up on the wool because the sheep had scours. You are in Wyoming, I'm sure there are plenty of sheep shearers out there. Find one before you get sheep so you are not in panic mode trying to get them sheared. Or get hair sheep so you don't have to worry about it.

Here in MD, the University of MD recommends 1 AU per acre, which is about 5 sheep. One AU = 1,000 lbs, so if your sheep are 150 lbs, you can fit more on the land. I'm not sure how much rain we get, though.

 

[Farmin' Girl]

Hello and

 

[WyoLiving]

Still dreaming of getting some livestock on our property. Been too busy fixing buildings, getting the garden site squared away, and raising chickens.

DH is building a chicken tractor for us to raise broilers in. The idea is to lock them in the "coop" at night, then move the tractor and let them out on clean grass for the day. the tractor has a coop area and a larger area of secure run for them. Water will be by the pop door to the coop and the feed will be 8' away at the other end of the run. I had a batch of cornish cross that were raised with my egg layers and they were pretty good about scrounging for food, so I am hopeful that this system will work well for us. We have a couple of friends who live in residential areas that would like to "rent" our "chicken tractor and field" to fill their freezers. They would be expected to help butcher and pay for feed, and in return go home with fresh, healthy homegrown chicken.