Live field toppers - Sheep! who has them?

[VictoriaEDT]

I know there was a post not too long ago about some of you small landowners that have sheep to lear the fields up. Well I have 4.5 acres and two horses (big boys). There is way too much grass for them to keep on top of as I restrict their grazing so I will probably get 3 or 4 lambs (that were going for meat!). Will I be left with enough winter grazing with this amount of sheep? Also, are they easy to look after?!
Any other suggestions would be great.....thanks

 

[Chex]

I think they owuld leave you enough grazing - especially if you give them feed and hay (the sheep that is!). Chex has about 40 sheep with a couple of lambs each in a 13 acre field, and they don't seem to eat that much. Sheep seem to randomly die

, and have bad feet, and refuse to stay in their own field (in my experience anyway!), but if they weren't in my field I'm sure there would be far more grass. Saying that - my friend took 2 orphan lambs last year, and they won't eat grass - she has to give them hay and sheep feed!

 

[VictoriaEDT]

oh no! thats typical and is likely to happen to me too!!

 

[Tia]

One of my fields in England was about the same size as yours and I used to have the neighbouring farmer put in about 100 sheep for a month. They cleaned it up perfectly and then the grass came through a treat afterwards. To be honest I very much doubt that 4 sheep will make much of an impact on your land and I'd imagine that they will eat the grass rather than the weeds.

I had a sheep in a previous life lol! and he was easy to look after; they need to be dipped, feet done, sheared etc but it wasn't a hassle as my neighbour had sheep so he just used to get lumped in with them when he was doing everything.

 

[kibob]

Hi. I have 7 sheep that follow my horses around, clearing up the grazing. They do a good job, although are a little fussy about eating weeds

they will nibble off the docks though when they are at young growth stage. You will still have plenty of winter grazing left with that amount of sheep. You may want to make smaller paddocks and rotate horses/sheep around.

Sheep get bored easily and like a change of scenery. I would suggest small paddocks with three strands of electric fence around and rotate with your horses regularly. If you are getting orphan lambs you should feed them lamb nuts, I still feed mine a scoop full a day just so that I can keep them tame and they are easier to move around this way as they will follow a yellow bucket, well like sheep really

Health wise, yep, they get foot rot through damp conditions, and will need their feet trimming and purple spraying to treat any foot rot (I would guess we trim ours 2-3 times a year depending on how damp it has been.) They also need worming. We don't dip ours, but we spray them once/twice a year against fly-strike (horrible maggotts eating sheep alive - yuuk!!). We will shear them in the next month or so, and we trim up their tails and bums when they get pooey!!

They will stay out all year round but ours don't like that

, we have a tiny paddock with shelter attached and they go in there during the worst winter months. Fed haylage/hay and bedded on straw.

You can usually find a free-lance sheep tender - we've got a local guy who comes out and does the shearing/tailing but we do the rest ourselves. Failing that, chat up a local farmer with a bottle of whiskey and I'm sure he'll let your sheep tag along when he is getting his sheared etc.

Hope this helps.

 

[airedale]

I have them and they are great - but sheep do not eat nettles under any circumstances. HOwever if you get a native breed (I have Shetlands) and not one fo the stupid commercial breeds - then they will eat brambles !!

the paperwork required by DEFRA is a bit onerous

10 small sheep on a 2 acre field will eat all the grass in 4 months and require another field to eat.

If we have another drought in the summer the sheep will eat like locusts grass you will need for your horses.

However they DO benefit the quality of the grass and will make the field like a lawn (bar nettles and also those large dinnerplatesized thistles).

Sheep will eat ragwort but like any animal it is toxic for their liver and so they should not be allowed access to the plant.

If anyone wants any ewe lambs black with white faces and panda eyes I've got 8 pedigree lawnmowers to sell or they will be roast lamb next January.

 

[Tia]

[ QUOTE ]
not one fo the stupid commercial breeds

[/ QUOTE ]

Can you please tell me what the stupid commercial breeds are?

 

[buzzles]

I've 5 sheep and they're great for eating all the grasses and weeds that the horses don't. They also keep the ragwort down, it is poisonous to them but they never usually live long enough for liver damage to set in as they die of old age or are slaughtered. Mine are all pets and were orphans so they're very friendly which makes them much easier to handle and move around, they just follow a bucket of nuts and come if you call them. You do have to fence the fields with sheep wire as they're b****ers for escaping. The main problem you have with them is foot rot and you do need to keep their feet peared down. They also need to be wormed regularly and sheared and dipped in the summer. Other than that they're fairly low mantainance, they get hay/haylage and sheep nuts in the winter and have a sheep lick all year round. The only other thing is that they can be very loud, I'm trying to wean mine off the nuts at the moment now that the spring grass is coming through and they spend all evening baaing at the gate to get fed, we have one who sounds like a foghorn and they make such a racket, I usually give in and throw them out some food to shut them up!!

 

[airedale]

the ones that have had their native instincts for survival bred out of them - mainly the ones that have an inbuilt desire to peg out and those that have little character and have lambing problems and also lamb at stupid times of the year (like early january) because humankind have interfered with them.

REAL sheep lamb in April when lambs were meant to be born, will thrive on poor grazing and have TASTE.

 

[airedale]

sheep now have resistance problems with wormers and the advice nationally is to NOT worm them unless essential.

dipping is NOT necessary - you buy Crovect or Vetrazine and spray them against fly strike and this lasts 8 to 10 weeks

foot rot and bad feet is more a problem with commercial breeds - real native breeds have fewer problems.

as for allowing sheep to eat ragwort 'cos they have a short lifespan - I hate that attitude with a vengence - the sheep have every right to live life with a fully functioning liver as a horse does.

 

[jewel]

does anyone know roughly how much i should expect to pay for lambs? and what are store lambs?

 

[*hic*]

We have them - and they're going to lamb any time now. They are fussy feeders unless you keep them fairly tight on space in which case they will eat most stuff. We eat our male lambs and the ram each year. I can say that when we have had sheep that have eaten plenty of ragwort there is NO evidence of liver damage - it's checked very carefully. I can also tell you that the worm count is nil!

We use crovect as directed on the label - more than twice a year. I'd much rather not use that sort of poison on any animal but the alternative of flystrike is just so gross to have to deal with and I cannot even begin to imagine it from the sheep's point of view. *shudders*

We also find that they are little blighters for escaping and when we got our first ones were told by the big sheep farmer we got them from that in his opinion it is the aim of every sheep to die in a manner not yet attempted by other sheep.

 

[MillionDollar]

We have 600 lambing ewes, over 1,000 lambs at the moment. They are fantastic for the grass, I will never not have sheep.

I have 3 pet lambs from this year that will have to go to market if I can't find anyone to buy them

they are lovely lambs as well.

Branston and Pickle-

Branston, Pickle and no name-

 

[fmay]

Don't you all look forward to roast lamb dinners? My childrens first thought when they see a sheep is 'mint sauce'

 

[*hic*]

I've just had lamb chops . . . . .

and I'm looking forward to the new crop of lambs arriving although we've still got quite a lot left from last year. My favourite meat!

 

[MillionDollar]

I love roast lamb, its my favourite meat. But when its a lamb that you've looked after since Boxing Day, bottle fed them, etc its a bit different.

 

[ginniebee]

Just wondering though, is it true that sheep like to nibble horses tails, were moving yards next weekend and the farmer wants to keep his sheep in with the horses, (4 ewes and their offspring) I was just wondering if it would be a good idea to tie up their tails, the horses, not the sheep lol!!! Also is it true that sheep help keep the worm count down or is that an old wives tale?

 

[Chex]

I've not had any problems with the sheep eating their tails. The cows are a different matter though - the naughty calves ate K's tail back to bone! If they'd done that to Chex they would have been veal steaks! (I'm only joking of course

)

 

[ginniebee]

Lol im quite partial to a nice juicy steak myself!! or a lamb chop!!!

 

[MillionDollar]

I have to admit that one of my NF ponies has had her tail chewed off TWICE! First time wasn't too severe, the next time it was right up to her dock

so she had no tail. I was very upset as we had to take a pony with no tail to lots of shows/comps

However, I'm sure its just the stupid pony

caught her again having her tail chewed by lambs the other day. I have had 6 horses and its only happened to the one, the rest don't let the sheep come anywhere near them.

Yes sheep do cut the worm count right down, I only worm my horses 4 times a year because of this.