Anyone got pet sheep ..... !!

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canteron

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Please can you advise me on pet sheep .... breed, sex etc. I was thinkving of having 3 (as I know they are quite good at dying so their would be a spare).!

Stupid things such as far as I can see girl sheep are sweeter - but if you don’t breed with them is it better for their health to have them spayed (and would any vet even undertake that!!)

I have lots of sheep experts around to help with the foot rot and fly strike and think I could even manage the sheering - but I need help with the practicalities of pet sheep rather than commercial animals).
 
I’m going to try not to be negative here. I have done a few seasons of full time lambing now and know a bit about sheep from my career.

They are large, heavy and die for no reason. They are good livestock animals as they produce young yearly and have two incomes (wool and meat), also having them on a large scale makes the upkeep and random dying worth while. To name a few they need regular hoof trimming, shearing, injections, worming etc etc.

You will need stock proof fencing + some more idiot proofing. In small paddocks, actually stuff that, even on 50 acres a sheep will break its leg on the one bucket you left out or get its head stuck in the stock fencing. Recently I saw one that chewed through electric fencing and made a noose for itself.

Tame them and they become bolshy and will run you over. I would never have a small child around sheep motivated by food as they trample adults.

Have them flighty and you won’t get near them, they will jump inside out to get away and attempt to scale anything. They also will run into any small crevice possible as long as it’s not in the direction you are trying to herd them.

Sheep do not get spayed regularly as far as I know. I can’t see any appeal for it as it’s ‘unlikely’ to have a random ram come and cover a ewe and even less so that she would take it without being teased and even less so that it would hold without extra minerals/nutrition. They also would probably take excuse of stress and pain of a procedure to die.

Learn about the zoonotic diseases they carry too, especially if you do decide to lamb them. No pregnant or weak people should go near lambing ewes due to the toxoplasmosis risk.

Probably will need a stock number as well (not sure on this).

Bar be above they are sweet animals with individual personality’s. But would I have them on a pet basis? No.

Do a few weeks work on a farm and you will get to know what they are like.
 
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You will need a CPH number and decent fencing. If you have help with dosing, jagging, clipping, foot trimming, worming etc you should be fine. My hubby is shepherd to 4000 blackface and cheviot ewes but I have six pet herdwicks and I love them!
 
Some of my neighbour's flock have taken to roaming around my field. The lambs are very cute but I get the impression they would be hard to manage. They seem to wander about the place at will.
 
Zwartbles are a fairly easy to manage breed. I have some regularly holidaying with me - mostly retirees or some late lambs. They still need their fleeces removing, drenching for worms, their feet dressed and blow-fly protection and a plan for when they get sick or just drop dead.

They are very thorough nibblers and get your hedge-bottoms tidied.
 
I had Wiltshire Horn and they are easy to manage and don't need shearing! My friend has 'Easy Care' sheep which are a cross between Wiltshire Horn and Welsh Mountain and are also easy to manage. Get three young ladies and you will be fine - I still miss mine but due to divorce, they were rehomed . . . as pets!
 
I have Zwartbles, large docile sheep, with bling, that can be halter trained and handled like a horse for foot trimming ect, where smaller sheep need tipping up. There is nothing wrong with getting some wethers (castrated males) but I doubt any vet would spey a female. They are great for keeping tidy paddocks as they graze the bits where horses do their droppings helping to keep the area sweet.

You have to get a County Parish Holding number which is needed for the movement forms that will accompany the sheep. You will have to send the top copy of the form to ARAMS within 3 days. Should you ever breed or need to retag a sheep then you will need a flock number but one is not required before the sheep arrive.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/register-land-you-use-to-keep-livestock http://www.arams.co.uk/

I enjoy having my sheep about but if they are grazing in the same field as the horses I have to have escape corners as the horses will have the odd five minute chase around of the sheep and they can overheat in summer when run around. Some horses think stomping on sheep is a game too.
 
It would be wise to choose a breed suited to the type of grazing you have. We have hardy native types because they can almost live on fresh air when the winter's are long and hard, they lamb outdoors and lambs are tough enough to survive despite the elements. In your position I would look at either getting ewe lambs or wethers. Are you wanting to breed from them at any point or do anything else with them? After the winter we have had, we are likely to have plenty of pet lambs brought up on a bottle and you are welcome to as many of those as you like - for free!
 
Some of my Herdwicks! How can you resist! :)

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we have pet sheep and don't have any issues. you have to be friendly with the local farmers and get one to shear them and trim their feet (and show you how to do it too). they need worming etc like other livestock and we don't have any real problems with them. we set up a shelter for them over the winter this year as the barn has been pulled down but they NEVER once went in it to sleep only to eat and they wouldn't have done that if we put their food outside. Ryelands are nice and gentle... and produce meat if you want that . I grew up on a sheep farm so im used to having them around but they are fairly harmless... but they do drop dead sometime just because its a tuesday (or a wednesday).
 
ycbm said:
My friend has a herd but hers are black when young not brown. I use their fleece on my arena :)
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A flock ;) Herdy lambs are born black and then after a year or so they lighten to dark brown and after first shearing their fleece lightens up to grey.
 
WorkingGSD said:
A flock ;) Herdy lambs are born black and then after a year or so they lighten to dark brown and after first shearing their fleece lightens up to grey.
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Here are never brown. Others in the area can be, but not hers, just black fading to light grey as they get older. I've got all the dark fleece, not a brown one among them.
 
pet sheep are a complete pain in the rear end; over winter they are more bleddy work than horses; worming and other meds they need are far more complicated than for horses and nothing is available for a small number (so costs a fortune). And just to add insult to injury they will climb, pee and crap on your horse’s hay so that they then wont eat it.
 
ycbm said:
Here are never brown. Others in the area can be, but not hers, just black fading to light grey as they get older. I've got all the dark fleece, not a brown one among them.
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That is really interesting - and quite unusual! Are they crossed with anything?
 
mule said:
In what way do you use their fleece?
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I started back-filling every footprint with it three years ago when the surface was too loose in the summer, and now it's full of fibre and rides brilliantly. It will rot in time and I will put more in, but just now it's perfect, and was free.
 
ycbm said:
I started back-filling every footprint with it three years ago when the surface was too loose in the summer, and now it's full of fibre and rides brilliantly. It will rot in time and I will put more in, but just now it's perfect, and was free.
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Bloody hell, I'd never have thought of that
 
Wood Green have a flock of 12 pet sheep they're trying to rehome, if all this baaaaaaaa-nter has inspired anyone to get some woolly hooligans.
 
We have Oxford Downs and I suppose you'd probably class them as pets given we have a core flock of about 10. I love them, they have entertainin personalities and are a joy to watch in the field. That said, it is stressful at times (shearing, dagging, feet, moving, lambing) and there's no way I'd be able to manage it without my vet husband and my farming father in law - our girls are BIG!

Working GSD - I am so envious of your Herdies. I absolutely love them but as we live down south, husband said no! :( I hear they are excellent escape artists though so maybe the right decision!
 
tatty_v said:
Working GSD - I am so envious of your Herdies. I absolutely love them but as we live down south, husband said no! :( I hear they are excellent escape artists though so maybe the right decision!
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We bought a small flock of older ewes straight off a Lakeland hill farm a few years ago and they were real escape artists because they had already learned to do it. But the six lambs I bought are fab and haven't escaped yet or shown any signs of wanting to. They do have around 50 acres of rough hill ground to wander though so think they are pretty content.
 
WorkingGSD said:
We bought a small flock of older ewes straight off a Lakeland hill farm a few years ago and they were real escape artists because they had already learned to do it. But the six lambs I bought are fab and haven't escaped yet or shown any signs of wanting to. They do have around 50 acres of rough hill ground to wander though so think they are pretty content.
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I think that's the key - suitable ground for them. We have 17 acres plus a few more fields scattered around but it's classic lowland pasture. I think they'd be bored and probably as fat as pigs! The Oxfords are cute too, like little woolly teddy bears, just not as cute as the herdies!
 
My two pence worth

If you don't lamb that's more than half your worries gone, we haven't lambed ours this year and its been almost too tranquil lol

If you don't move them anywhere that's more trouble gone

If you have decent fencing, don't move them and don't lamb them they make great pets

Pet lambs reared on the bottle tend to get more bolshy (those raised to a bucket less so but still can get a bit much)

It will cost more but buy weanlings if you can, these are still nicely pliable to train to come to a rattling bucket but not so tame they flatten you in doing so

I love my sheep, they are fab and pretty easy (Shetlands) we have a travelling shearer visit once a year, buy a bit of worming stuff and fly stuff every now and again and battle with trimming their feet when we absolutely cant avoid it. They stay happy and healthy with minimal input

if you go for sheep and get comfy DONT go for goats thinking it will be a bit of fun to mix things up a bit because goats are satan's representatives on earth
 
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