How Delicate are Sheep?

[Legamin]

Excellent point. Thanks!

That is something I hadn’t thought about. Good point. My main problem is keeping my pasture mowed low enough that they are willing to go and eat! I feel like my main job raising sheep is to mow the fiends!

 

[Legamin]

I can handle the worming (at least I think I can), and we don't have yew here. We did have some chokecherries, but they died out several years ago and didn't come back. There are a few scraggly Juneberries (listed as toxic for sheep) that I could cut out. Only a few berries and the birds eat them green. I'm really just wondering whether I can have sheep at all, since so many of the plants on the list I read are growing here and not likely to stop doing so without (or probably even with) heroic measures. Like I said, I destroy the worst ones that I'm familiar with.

You don't realize the biodiversity in a pasture until you start collecting medicinals. Yarrow was on the bad list, for example, and it's scattered around everywhere.

I agree with the problem of sheep eating poisonous plants in an overgrazed pasture…I can never get to that point with my current number of sheep on 10 acres…but with one grand exception (the stubborn ewe that REFUSES to come into the barn regardless of weather or temperature….the sheep just pass over the ‘don’t’ plants. I’m in Washington with a fair amount of biodiversity and a lush pasture, wooded area and fallow area and just haven’t had the issue….but I will never claim it CAN’T happen! If I were you I would try four sheep to start and see where that takes you. It’s a number you can manage by hand without special equipment and control their movements with a bucket of grain.

 

[Legamin]

You think if my lamb gets ahold of a leaf of creeping indigo it will drop dead? I’m getting him a muzzle that he can drink through while he is out but I was worried if some kid threw it in thinking the lamb will eat it.

I couldn’t tell f your comment was sarcastic…but not understanding much sarcasm…I thought I’d respond…
a “leaf of creeping indigo” is no threat to your lamb. An entire bush of creeping indigo…probably best avoided…
In all likelihood your lamb will ignore green tidbits tossed over the fence.. The lamb will not do well ‘muzzled’. They are natural grazers, it is in their DNA, you shouldn’t try to inhibit this behavior except when moving an animal from trailer to pen or around a crowded area where a loose animal might find ‘goodies’ or hurt a child or poorly balanced adult accidentally and control is preferred. sheep are not like children or pets that are so domesticated that they cannot be trusted on their own. They will seek out what is natural and tasty and tuck right in and 99.99999% of the time that will be fine.
By the way…for the purposes of the absurd I completely made up that ’statistic’! Please ignore it and do some research on animal handling.

 

[Baymule]

I just moved. But my previous farm had black nightshade on it. The sheep eagerly stripped the leaves from it. but avoided the berries. If there is plenty of graze and freely available hay, they WILL eat some of the poisonous plants, but at different times of the year-I guess they know when they are safer to eat. All the grass and hay they can eat seems to dilute the effects of the bad plants too. Wilted stone fruit leaves like peaches or plums are supposedly deadly poisonous too, but mine eat them like candy. So go figure. Poison? Sickly? Deadly? Drop dead instantly deadly? I do make an effort to eliminate poisonous plants and research plants before planting anything new. Sheep love weeds, they have deep roots and bring up minerals and nutrients from greater depths than grass.

 

[Cindy in SD]

I agree with the problem of sheep eating poisonous plants in an overgrazed pasture…I can never get to that point with my current number of sheep on 10 acres…but with one grand exception (the stubborn ewe that REFUSES to come into the barn regardless of weather or temperature….the sheep just pass over the ‘don’t’ plants. I’m in Washington with a fair amount of biodiversity and a lush pasture, wooded area and fallow area and just haven’t had the issue….but I will never claim it CAN’T happen! If I were you I would try four sheep to start and see where that takes you. It’s a number you can manage by hand without special equipment and control their movements with a bucket of grain.

Yes, I was actually thinking about getting two or three bottle babies (maybe one little ram), so they'll learn not to be afraid of me. I read somewhere that you needed at least five sheep to make them feel comfortable, but that might be more than I can handle, "nursing". Plus, once the babies start coming, I expect it gets to be a lot of sheep even quicker than it gets to be too many cows.

 

[Cindy in SD]

I agree with the problem of sheep eating poisonous plants in an overgrazed pasture…I can never get to that point with my current number of sheep on 10 acres…but with one grand exception (the stubborn ewe that REFUSES to come into the barn regardless of weather or temperature….the sheep just pass over the ‘don’t’ plants. I’m in Washington with a fair amount of biodiversity and a lush pasture, wooded area and fallow area and just haven’t had the issue….but I will never claim it CAN’T happen! If I were you I would try four sheep to start and see where that takes you. It’s a number you can manage by hand without special equipment and control their movements with a bucket of grain.

Stubborn ewe... Yes, that's exactly what I'm eager to avoid with the bottle baby theory. I want them all in halters and willing to be led. No way can I leave them out at night with our coyote population. We haven't actually had any on our property (that I know of) since we put 4' high field fence all around a couple years ago, but then we haven't had any sheep for them to drool over, either. I have little doubt they could clear that fence in a heart beat if they wanted to.

Plus, I want to milk them, so they do need to be tame. I'm wondering how much milk I could get from a not-milk breed, if I can't find a milk breed within a reasonable distance. I intended to milk my Highland cattle, but we never got to that point. We had a couple dry years and it just got to be too expensive to feed them.

 

[Cindy in SD]

I just moved. But my previous farm had black nightshade on it. The sheep eagerly stripped the leaves from it. but avoided the berries. If there is plenty of graze and freely available hay, they WILL eat some of the poisonous plants, but at different times of the year-I guess they know when they are safer to eat. All the grass and hay they can eat seems to dilute the effects of the bad plants too. Wilted stone fruit leaves like peaches or plums are supposedly deadly poisonous too, but mine eat them like candy. So go figure. Poison? Sickly? Deadly? Drop dead instantly deadly? I do make an effort to eliminate poisonous plants and research plants before planting anything new. Sheep love weeds, they have deep roots and bring up minerals and nutrients from greater depths than grass.

Thanks for the reassurance. I figured it was probably like that, but you know, unless you've actually experienced it, it's hard to know what to believe. I also pull up toxic plants as I find them, and I don't even have anything but poultry (and doggies) at the moment. I'm sure they're important, but they don't need to grow on my place.

 

[Lizzy733]

Thanks so much! What do you use the iodine for? I do have some, but it's for me. I'll have to get to the medical chapters in my "howtoraisesheepies" books. Reading those kinds of chapters caused me to put off getting chickens/ducks/turkeys/geese for a whole year, so I've been avoiding reading them. And I've yet to have any kind of widespread medical issues with any of my poultry. At some point though, one does have to pull one's head out of the sand.

I have a spray bottle of iodine for any open injuries. You'll likely come across a few the first time you have them sheared and they can look pretty brutal - giant red gash brutal. Been using it on our poor flystruck boy who is on the mend. His wounds are more raw and scabby skin and it's been keeping them clear of infection while he's been healing. Heaven forbid, but if you have a predator attack, horn injury, etc... It'll come in handy. We had someone in to shear our sheep the first week we were here and went out and got a bottle the very next day.

Copper foot spray would be a good investment too - it's used to treat hoof rot in its early stages. I haven't added this one to my medicine cabinet yet, but it's on the list.

 

[Lizzy733]

Stubborn ewe... Yes, that's exactly what I'm eager to avoid with the bottle baby theory. I want them all in halters and willing to be led. No way can I leave them out at night with our coyote population. We haven't actually had any on our property (that I know of) since we put 4' high field fence all around a couple years ago, but then we haven't had any sheep for them to drool over, either. I have little doubt they could clear that fence in a heart beat if they wanted to.

Plus, I want to milk them, so they do need to be tame. I'm wondering how much milk I could get from a not-milk breed, if I can't find a milk breed within a reasonable distance. I intended to milk my Highland cattle, but we never got to that point. We had a couple dry years and it just got to be too expensive to feed them.

I've read with non-dairy goats, you can get around 500ml\day. I think you're supposed to be able to get about a litre outta the dairy breeds. Do note, sheep and goat milk is naturally homogenized, so you may need to invest in a way to separate it if you plan to do anything fancy.

I'd like to get some smaller breed non-milk goats in for butters and cheeses etc, as they seem to have a higher fat content in the milk than most. That's a future project though. Definitely not ready for goats just yet.

 

[Cindy in SD]

I've read with non-dairy goats, you can get around 500ml\day. I think you're supposed to be able to get about a litre outta the dairy breeds. Do note, sheep and goat milk is naturally homogenized, so you may need to invest in a way to separate it if you plan to do anything fancy.

I'd like to get some smaller breed non-milk goats in for butters and cheeses etc, as they seem to have a higher fat content in the milk than most. That's a future project though. Definitely not ready for goats just yet.

So that's a little over two cups (approximately) per mama goat. Maybe not as much for sheep, or maybe similar. Not bad. I'm the only one here who will drink milk anyway, and I only drink it fermented. I don't have anything against fresh milk, but I can't get raw milk, so I figure it needs a little rectifying.

I figured I'd see whether I could skim cream over the course of several days to a week in the fridge (as some people say they do), but I recently read in my cheesemaking book that if you ferment naturally homogenized whole milk, you can then churn the fermented milk directly into butter. Butter with flavor, unlike what I buy in the stores. Fermentation reputedly weakens the bonds that hold the cream in solution. I had long wondered why people thought butter was so flavorful. Apparently people used to do it this way all the time and butter's reputation has remained long after the flavor was gone.

I can't wait to try this. Anyway, yes I want to make cheese, but most cheesemaking (as far as I can discover) uses whole milk in any case. Mind, this is all from books. I'm eager to try, and if I need to, I'll definitely get a separator. Got to get a sheep first, though.