Horses and Sheep!

Firewell

Firewell

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The farmer who rents some of the fields at the DIY yard where I keep my horse is kindly going to put 100 odd sheep in with my horse...

I haven't even been told! The gardner mentioned it this morning 'oh I thought the sheep would be here by now', I said 'what sheep?', he said 'the sheep that are going in your field'. Wtf!!!

I started seething but after thinking about it I decided it may not be a bad thing, my horse is on his own as he's a rug ripper so it will give him some friends, also because he's on his own in quite a large field he can't eat all the grass down so it is a bit of a jungle and it will be nice to get the long grass, thistles and weeds ect eaten.

I am worried that my young TB will be freaked out by suddenly having a 100 sheep with him but apart from that is there anything else I need to worry about/consider/complain about???

I wish the person who owns the place would tell me these things in advance!!!
 
Sheep are great at controlling the grazing that horses don't touch and have benefits for parasite control too.

The downsides are that they will eat any food or hay you put out for your horse and if you have an open shelter they often use it in bad weather possibly excluding the horse and soil any bedding you might have in. Sheep poop is not such a good look especially on a grey.

I borrow sheep every year though, the positives outweigh the negatives for me.
 
Oh goodness! What is Luke Fluke?? I'm sure the farmer wouldn't put them in there if they had a dangerous disease?
Feeding is not too much of a problem as I can just feed him outside the gate, theres no shelter just trees and theres so much grass so I'm not feeding hay.
 
My horses have to eat with sheep youngster at first would of killed lambs but now has been known to look/ smell newborn lambs and then walk away, quite funny looking at 16.3 with nose on a baby lamb knowing she won't hurt it.
 
I keep both. I don't usually graze them together as some horses will chase and even try to stamp on the sheep or grab hold of them. If a horse has grown up on a farm and is used to them, then it's not such a problem, I have a few horses that are able to go out with the sheep and 3 that I wouldn't dream of turning out with them. Sheep are gentle and will avoid a horse if possible.

If your boy has never seen sheep or been out with them, then I would introduce them very carefully. Electric fencing designed for horses is no use for sheep, they just walk through it.

All that said, they are excellent to put into horse paddocks from the rotation of species point of view, they will eat all the roughs and reduce worm reinfeststion.
 
joeanne said:
Liver Fluke!!!
Make damn sure they are free of it before going in with your horse!
Click to expand...

I thought it was donkeys that passed LF to horses :confused:

Sheep make great grazing partners for horses - they will tidy up the ground, help reduce the worms and the won't chew rugs or tails. One of my ponies is out with sheep ATM, absolutely fine with me!
 
I haven't read the liver fluke links. But the larvae need to live in water and the host is a water snail. So unless the sheep come from a bog with standing water, I shouldn't worry about fluke. Generally mixed grazing is a good thing and will prevent parasite hotspots.
 
This info on liver fluke might be useful
http://www.wormersdirect.co.uk/information-wormsheets-liverfluke.asp

Its less likely to be a problem if you have well drained or alkaline soil than wet acidic soil as the fluke is spread by small snails who need warm wet conditions.

The sheep may have been drenched against fluke so worth checking. Not sure that the sheep pass the fluke to horses (tho they might), horses can get the fluke but it may be they get it in the same way as the sheep because of the ground conditions rather than animal transmission but someone else might know better.

I would be looking on it as a positive from a 'bugs' point of view as the sheep will help to break any horse worms life cycle (they ingest them and the worms cant live inside sheep). Ideally tho the horses and sheep would be separate fields and rotate them to get the max benefit worm wise.

One concern is how the horses will react, I have a horse who cant be in a field with any other animal and he will go for sheep, my other horse is happy with them in the next field but isnt sure what to make of them.

I certainly think it is unfair to dump 100 of them in the field just like that, there needs to be separation for a short period really to let the horse get used to them.

Also is there enough grass? 100 sheep will strip a large field in a few weeks if not shorter!
 
Ok phew thanks! We do have sheep grazing at our yard but usually in the back fields, they have grazed my field before I came to the yard and my horse has been fine :).
We are on clay soil and it does get wet in the winter but it's not especially damp or marshy.

I have told the owner that my horse has never been in with sheep before so I don't know how he will react, just to warn them.

My horse isn't nasty but he is very very playful! I hope he doesn't hurt them :/ he does think it's fun to chase my sisters little yorkie dog if he comes in the field.. And god forbid if anything goes near his food! He's very protective of his dinner and he has gone nastily for the odd dog that's wandered too close to his food bowl.
Hope he will be OK with them, I like sheep, very gentle creatures.
 
Actually Fluke has become more prevalent in the last few years with the wetter summers , we have been seeing more and more cases of it in lowground sheep on what might have been considered better grazing in previous years. Your farmer really isn't going to want fluke in his sheep either so if he has any sense he will be monitoring his flock as well.
 
Annoying they didn’t think to tell you but at least he can have some company … :D

I used to have my arab on a farm with lots of sheep – he collared me a few times ‘that bloody horse of yours has been chasing my sheep again’ hehe … I did try to have a word with her but she didn’t take much notice … think she gave up out of boredom in the end :p
 
Heres a pic of me and my old sheep (we made friends) ... they're rather friendly little things too :rolleyes:

197742_10150710413915464_763485463_19339857_7002656_n.jpg
 
My horse has killed lambs and chased sheep - he's not usually aggressive at all - but will chase anything in his paddock.

Was fun watching him chase a cock pheasant round & round - it took about 4 laps before the bird engaged it's one brain cell & flew off.

I'd never heard of horses killing lambs/sheep before but several people have said it isn't uncommon esp with Irish horses for some reason.
 
We had a horse here (not mine!) who was turned out with sheep one day; he then started galloping after them and chasing them, and then started to bash them over the head/back by striking out with his forelegs. It was awful, totally surprising and horrible. He was the same if a dog went into the field, you had to be so careful.

So I'd be inclined to watch yours and see how he reacts with sheep, coz you never know. I'd never thought of any problems with mixing sheep and horses before this incident, but now I always worry if it will be OK.

Luckily my boy is fine with sheep, loves them and misses them if they're not there. Huge plus point is that the sheep eat the grass down and keep it manageable, plus the vet says they'll "clean up" pasture if horses are grazed alongside.

But yes, sheep will eat anything you put down for the horses, and vice versa. So if you put things like a salt lick down, you'd need to avoid certain things which are toxic to sheep like a salt-lick containing copper.
 
My boy had spent most of his life on a dairy farm before I bought him. He was horrified the first time he met sheep in fields on hacks, used to stand still and glare at them. When spring came and lambs were produced he obviously thought they were 'spawn of the devil'.

Now he has sheep visit him in his paddock (electric fence high enough for sheep to pass under, but keeps him in) and lives happily alongside.

They keep his starvation paddock clear, and as he is on his own (in sight of other equines) seems to like their company.

Hadn't heard of liver fluke so will be asking livery owners about it.

Jane
 
I have a foster sheep & 2 foster lambs, they are ace. Great for de-spooking horses, scoffing grass and helping control worms.

I love my little sheeps, only time any horse had a go was when one stupid tup went over to see my day old foal, mummy was not impressed! :D
 
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