larryj57
Loving the herd life
Never having lived in California, I'm just wondering, how many animals can you have on 1 acre? Here in the south with one acre we are looking at chickens and maybe a few rabbits.lacasse farms said:
small homestead breed
- Thread starter lacasse farms
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Ruus
Ridin' The Range
It is certainly true that you should do research into your local market. Some places there's a good market for grass-fed whole carcasses that will fit in a smaller freezer, other places there's no market for lambs of any sort. The fact is, there is no breed of sheep I'm aware of that will turn a profit on what an acre will support, which around here would be 3 regular sheep and maybe 6-8 Soay. Profit margins are such that you need a large operation to make a profit with sheep. Soay as a breed are primarily suited to people trying to live a more self-sufficient lifestyle with animals naturally selected to be healthy and able to get along without supplements, rather than operations that want to churn out lots of lambs and wool to sell for profit. Soay (like any other breed) are not going to meet the needs of every producer.
They are naturally shy, but they're also extremely nosy and curious. If you're calm and consistent, and spend time just sitting or walking around the field without chasing them or trying to catch them, it's not at all hard to train them to come for grain in a bucket or a trough and get them pretty tame, although they're not going to be extremely tame pet sheep you can walk up and hug unless they're bottle raised or at least handled/petted extensively as very young lambs. Sheep in general are not as cuddly as they look.
No shearers need to be hired for Soay; they shed out in the spring. You can collect the wool by rooing, but the wool is more suited to felting than spinning. Also, as I said before, it's brown, which is harder to sell than white. I do know someone who makes very cute little felted sheep from the wool and sells those, rather than selling the raw fleece, but if you don't want to bother with the fleece, you don't have to. They'll just shed it off in the pasture and the birds will use it as nesting material. If you want a breed similar to Soay that have a nicer fleece and you don't mind shearing yourself or paying a shearer, you might look into Shetlands. They're a good bit bigger than Soay, but still a small breed, and their wool seems to be very popular with handspinners.
They are naturally shy, but they're also extremely nosy and curious. If you're calm and consistent, and spend time just sitting or walking around the field without chasing them or trying to catch them, it's not at all hard to train them to come for grain in a bucket or a trough and get them pretty tame, although they're not going to be extremely tame pet sheep you can walk up and hug unless they're bottle raised or at least handled/petted extensively as very young lambs. Sheep in general are not as cuddly as they look.
No shearers need to be hired for Soay; they shed out in the spring. You can collect the wool by rooing, but the wool is more suited to felting than spinning. Also, as I said before, it's brown, which is harder to sell than white. I do know someone who makes very cute little felted sheep from the wool and sells those, rather than selling the raw fleece, but if you don't want to bother with the fleece, you don't have to. They'll just shed it off in the pasture and the birds will use it as nesting material. If you want a breed similar to Soay that have a nicer fleece and you don't mind shearing yourself or paying a shearer, you might look into Shetlands. They're a good bit bigger than Soay, but still a small breed, and their wool seems to be very popular with handspinners.
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lacasse farms
Exploring the pasture
i'm not looking to do this for any profit. simply just for our own use and to be ready to be self sufficient if the time ever arrives.
