new sheep - breed? and other questions

[dwbonfire]

my uncle gave me some sheep, he is from up north and he didnt know what breed they are or really much about them, and neither do i. they also still have thier tails and i know this isnt a very good thing sanitary-wise. im not even quite sure when they were born but it was thier year so they arent very old. they are wool sheep, and i was told sheers for them are quite expensive. i ended up with two rams and a ewe. i have a few pictures i will post and then a few questions:

-what breed do you think they are?
-being wool sheep, are they worth anything to sell for?
-can i use horse body clippers to sheer them?
-how old until they start breeding? (so i know when to seperate)
-is it bad to breed these because of relation? i know with other animals people dont have a problem with it, i dont want issues or want to let them if they should not..
-is it too late to do thier tails, and how would i do this if i still can?

thanks!

 

[goodhors]

They look young. Do you have an actual age on them? If you want the tails done, it should be soon, along with castrating the males. Flies and warm weather bring infection to any cuts or open holes.

I would not breed a ewe lamb to her brother, even a half brother. More likely to have problems, though it won't always happen. Castrating the males ASAP will remove the breeding problem, allow you to keep them all together. Ram sheep also get pushy, will ram into things as part of their growth into adult males. You don't really want that.

I would wait to shear off the wool, when weather is more consistantly warm. Male lambs will grow better after being castrated, wearing short hair in the hot months. Probably will outgrow the ewe lamb because all their food goes into growth instead of hormones like hers do.

We shear our lambs after giving them a bath with soap, then blowing off excess water with the shop vac. We want wool damp for cutting with the horse clipper blades. I am using big Osters with the 83-84 blade set. I want clean sheep to let the blades stay sharp. For some reason we can't get the wool to cut at all on a dry sheep with those clippers. We cut wool very short for Market Lamb classes, and sheep seem to stay cooler in hot summer weather, grow better size-wise.

Calling the Vet could help answer your questions, any local special issues sheep have in your area.

If you have horses, don't let the lambs lick the horse mineral blocks. Sheep can't tolerate copper, which horses have in feed and mineral blocks. White salt is fine.

 

[dwbonfire]

thank you very much for your answers!

i believe they were born in February, does that look about right?

i'd like to maybe sell the rams or trade with someone for an unrelated male. if i were to sell, how much would a wool sheep go for? i only ever see the hair sheep online in my area.

also, any idea on the breed? i know if i advertise them for sale people will want to know..

 

[aggieterpkatie]

The breed is hard to tell. Possibly some Tunis or Shetland (black one)?

 

[patandchickens]

You will probably never really know for sure about the breed and they perfectly well could be crossbreds in which case you will *really really* never know.

For tails, they may be big enough to oughta be done by someone with a crush-and-cut type tool (at least in Ontario it would actually be illegal to band their tails at such a late date). Talk with your vet, also about vaccinations and castrating.

Good luck, have fun, cute sheep ,

Pat

 

[carolinagirl]

could they possibly be a hair sheep variety? That would explain why their tails were not docked.

 

[boykin2010]

there are shedding wool sheep. They have wool but it falls out in chunks. I have some of them. They come in all colors and i have one lamb that looks pretty close to your brown lamb.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I don't really think they look like hair sheep or hair mixes to me. The wool looks pretty typical of a crossbred wooled sheep.

 

[dwbonfire]

they definetly dont shed. they need to be sheered every year, my uncle has it done.

are these sheep marketable at all? ill need to sell one of the males, what would he be worth?

 

[Ariel301]

They should be marketable, if nothing else, as meat on the hoof.

As for value, it's hard to say...it will depend on where you are. A lot of people here charge $50 each for 2 month old or so lambs/goat kids for meat.