Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[Mike CHS]

Teresa asked me a couple of days ago if Pete (a wether) had any problem with Oshi head butting him since Pete has small scurs.

I told her that no, Pete has not had any problems with Oshi getting him since he is smarter than I am and keeps an eye on Oshi.

 

[Mike CHS]

I'm not sure if we have anymore frosts or not but I have been supplementing the hay with grass that I cut for them. Of course they prefer the grass but I can pretty much cut enough for them in about 30 minutes and that uses a lot less gas than the cost of more hay.

We are getting pretty close to having to separate the ram lambs from the ewes so that we don't have anymore unplanned breedings. There are a couple of the rams that have that look that we want to continue so we may keep a couple of them to maybe sell as herd sires. They are only a couple of months old but they have that look of complete power that Oshi has. I know that having tame rams can backfire but for the last several months, Oshi has acted like Ringo. Even when I break out the brush to do Maisy, Oshi will come and stand in front of me so he can get his back scratched.

 

[Ridgetop]

As long as he doesn't sneak up on you when you are brushing Maisy because he is jealous of her brushing time! LOL

 

[Baymule]

Rocky pushed on me a few days ago. He got in trouble for that! I slapped his face, then chased him and even got in a good kick in his butt! Screaming Old Lady on the Warpath! He has calmed down a lot. He likes chin scratches and is a pretty good boy. He’s about to get a harem of lovelies as soon as I finish this pen and sort out ewes.

I know what you mean by having “that look” of quality. Even as youngsters, you just know they are the quality that you want.

I’m glad Oshi has recognized that you have the goodies, like brush, animal crackers and he has to behave to avail himself of Mike’s Royal Treatment!

 

[Mike CHS]

We had a couple that came to look at lambs today and we gave them the tour. I didn't have the sheep into our holding area until they got here since I won't bring them in just to stand there trying to figure out why. They showed up and I went down and did my "Here Sheep" call a couple of times and all 70 of them came rushing in. A little detail left out in this story is that I put feed in the troughs before calling them.

We tried to talk them out of buying sheep since they only have one acre and want 3 ewes and a ram. We did convince them that they don't want a ram now to stay with the ewe lambs but I'm starting to rethink selling them anything.

 

[SA Farm]

Depends on their property and plans. I basically started with a trio and they only rotated my backyard for the first year (roughly 18k sq. ft.) With using about 2 acres to rotate them now, my property seems to comfortably handle up to 8 without supplementation through the 6-8 months of non winter we have up here.
As long as they’re aware of the possibility of having to dry lot and feed hay during the poor grazing times, will rotate the grazing, and have some understanding of the risk and management needs of a ram, I don’t see a problem having a handful of sheep on an acre

 

[Baymule]

Maybe sit at the table with them, draw up a small shed for shelter where they can lick them up at night. Go over fencing, cross fencing with plenty of 16’ gates. Make them realize that a ram needs his own pen and has to be taken out before lambing. They will need dry storage for square bales of hay and metal trash cans to keep mice and rats out.
Like @SA Farm said, dry lot and feed them, it can be done.

If they have no infrastructure it’s going to cost them to get set up. They will have to keep their numbers down, to fit their property.

 

[Mini Horses]

Certainly, they are newbies!

One acre, which has their house on it? I wish them luck. AND does their zoning even allow sheep??

 

[Mike CHS]

They have had sheep that they raised for meat but they never were in a breeding situation. They seem to have the basic experience though.

 

[Ridgetop]

Trust your gut feelings about them. If they understand that they need to buy hay NOW as well as after the grass and weeds are gone, you might suggest that they buy only 2 ewes and a ram lamb. If they are buying lambs, they don't need a ram now but are you going to allow their sheep back on your property to breed them later? Maybe sell them 2 ewe lambs, and a ram next year for breeding.

The problem is that we want our sheep to go to good homes when we sell privately. When taking lambs to the auction, there is no guarantee who will buy them. I try to sound out the buyers but after the sheep leave the property it is out of my hands and I try to forget about it. I won't take back a sheep (or rabbit, goat etc.) that I have sold onto my property due to threat of disease. Years ago I did, and the animals came back in horrible condition. They left healthy and came back sick. I had to quarantine them, get them back in good condition and then they went to the auction. I NEVER REFUNDED MONEY. My policy now is that I won't take anything back on my property. AT ALL!

I had a woman in the area buy a ewe "to eat the weeds". We are in a heavy brush and fire area so that was fine. I told her that she would have to provide hay as well. Six months later she called wanting me to take the ewe back. The weeds were gone and she didn't want to buy hay! She wanted me to give her back her money, pay for the hay she had bought, and for the halter she had bought! When i refused she became abusive over the phone.

If these people have had sheep before, know how to handle and take care of them, and are willing to feed them in a dry lot situation, you are probably ok to sell them a couple ewes. I would try to discourage them from taking a ram until next year when the lambs are ready to breed. BUT realize that if you don't make this sale, someone else will. Or they will buy at the sale barn and probably get sick or wormy animals.