[cambee]

Hi all. We are new to the forum and to smallholding although we have had chickens and some horses on livery for the last couple of years. This year we would like to get our first sheep and at the moment we are very busy securing all the fencing and putting up post and wire where we have dry stone walls. We would like pedigree sheep and I really love the look of Shetlands. Our land isn't great and fairly steep in parts so I think they might be suitable as a breed? Having read loads and been on a sheep course I feel fairly confident but I can't decide how best to start. I don't feel confident enough for lambing yet so I don't want to buy pregnant yews so what do you suggest as a starter herd- what age, how many and presumably just females? We want the sheep partly to help with the grass rotating with the horses and also for the freezer but ultimately if all works out we would like to breed. We have about 5 acres usable for sheep but want to start fairly small at first. I have in my head that either 3 or 6 is a good number? Also does anybody know a Shetland sheep breeder in the Derbyshire/Cheshire or Lancashire area? All advice appreciated. Thanks

[Foobar]

Buy couples (i.e. ewes with lambs at foot).  Or buy in ewe lambs that will be ready to tup this autumn.  (the latter being the easiest option as you don't have the stress of dealing with growing lambs, worming etc etc)

[twizzel]

I would buy a few store lambs and rear them on to kill in the autumn first before venturing into breeding ewes. Then you'll know if you can go right through and take them to slaughter, see what breeds suit your land etc. With primitive breeds you have to bear in mind too that the lambs take longer to finish so it's quite possible you'll have to over winter them and keep them until at least the following spring- so need to separate from any ewes running with a ram, and still have grass left for when lambing begins. A more commercial breed would finish by the first autumn and give you more space over winter.

[Fleecewife]

Shetlands are lovely.  As well as giving you some very tasty low CLA meat, you get their fleece and you could get the skins tanned if you are eating any.  They are small, easy to handle, sound as if they would do well on your less than lush grazing AND they come in all sorts of colours and patterns. 
Yes, with Shetlands, if you lamb at the natural time of April, which seems appropriate for a primitive breed, then in order to have a fair sized carcass to make slaughter and butchery charges worthwhile you will have to overwinter them on grass and hay, then let them fatten on spring grass and send them off in July or August.  For your extra trouble, you get a wonderfully flavoursome, slow reared meat animal.
Shetlands really do tend to lamb easily, perhaps not as reliably as Hebrideans, but don't require the high lambing input some breeds need.
We always recommend that you start off with three ewe lambs, so born in April and you acquire them in August at 4 months.  Shetlands are not bred at one year ( they go to the tup 5 months before their 2nd birthday) so you have more than a year to learn about your sheep, get to know them and for them to get to know you.  If you are still nervous of lambing, then Shetlands will come to no harm waiting another year to breed.


If you are desperate to have some sheep now, you could try to source wethers which will be 10 months at the moment, and raise them to slaughter in July/August, but that is not a cost effective way to go.


For information about Shetlands and breeders, go to the Shetland Sheep Society (not the one in Shetland) to enquire. Shetlands are no longer a rare breed, so there are many breeders to choose from in all areas of the UK.


As with all breeds of sheep, if you decide later that you don't like the breed, you just eat them 

[NethertonSH]

I agree with everything Fleecewife has said.  I'm going into my 2nd year lambing with Shetlands. Had about 8 ewes lambing last year and this year I have about 20. As Fleecewife said they're small and easy to handle.

[daveh]

If you want to get the hang of things sheepy, I have some very tame Castlemilk Moorit 10 month old castrates (wethers) for sale that you could fatten over summer and take to slaughter in Autumn. (Yes, I know they aren't Shetlands but that was one of the breeds that went into them).

[Anke]

Yes Shetlands are easy to keep, breed and handle in general, but only if you want to breed for your own consumption. There is a large surplus of breeding pedigree anmals for sale at any time, but unless you want to go into showing your sheep I would not start with pedigree stock. Unless you are well known in showing circles you will fail to sell your stock - which you may have bought at pedigree prices - for anything close to similar amounts. So getting a few wethers to start with should easy you in, and then I would buy ewe lambs at auctions or direct from  a breeder, but at meat price. Many pedigree breeders, especially down South favour a very fine fleece, which seems to push the breed to smaller size.

Oh, and coloured ones do not make anywhere near as good carcasses as white ones, and white ones are easier to sell at market as hogget or mutton. But you dont get such lovely fleeces from them...

If you contact the Shetland Sheep Society you will have breeders falling over themselves to sell you stock, they are not a rare breed anymore and kept as non-commercial flocks all over the country.

[YorkshireLass]

I wouldn't spend "proper money" yet. Either get a few wethers to fatten then eat/sell, to give yourself a trial run OR get some older ewes. My first sheep were a pair that were almost "retirement" age, so would have  needed closer monitoring in a large flock, but were still fit and well and went on to lamb easily.


When are the Country Shows starting up near you? I love just going and having a look down the lines, you get a better idea for the size and temperament of the animals then. Shetland sheep are like the pony - small but cheeky and sometimes too clever.

[cambee]

Thank  you all for your responses and advice. I am reading, pondering. and will without doubt be back with more questionshttp://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/Smileys/default/smiley.gif

[cambee]

That was meant to be a smiley but IT is not my strong point!

[Marches Farmer]

Many pedigree breeders, especially down South favour a very fine fleece, which seems to push the breed to smaller size.

One of the things the breeders in the 18th and 19th centuries found, when selecting breeds to improve various aspects of their native sheep, was that improving fleece only works for one generation and after that the carcase would suffer.

[SallyintNorth]

Many pedigree breeders, especially down South favour a very fine fleece, which seems to push the breed to smaller size.

One of the things the breeders in the 18th and 19th centuries found, when selecting breeds to improve various aspects of their native sheep, was that improving fleece only works for one generation and after that the carcase would suffer.

Round objects.

Ex-BH breeds top class commercial sheep, one of the things he breeds for is 'a fine skin'.  Not for the fleece per se, but for the easier lambings it confers.  His conformation scores, and hence the prices his lambs fetch, have risen year on year, as has the quality of his fleeces.

[Dans]

We started with 1 year old castlemilk moorit ewes and put them to the tup in our first year. We'll have had a year to get used to our ewes before the lambs arrive. If you're going for a primative ewes you could get them as ewe lambs and have a couple years before you need to think about lambing.

Dans

[farmershort]

I would buy a few store lambs and rear them on to kill in the autumn first before venturing into breeding ewes. Then you'll know if you can go right through and take them to slaughter, see what breeds suit your land etc. With primitive breeds you have to bear in mind too that the lambs take longer to finish so it's quite possible you'll have to over winter them and keep them until at least the following spring- so need to separate from any ewes running with a ram, and still have grass left for when lambing begins. A more commercial breed would finish by the first autumn and give you more space over winter.

This!

[Anke]

Many pedigree breeders, especially down South favour a very fine fleece, which seems to push the breed to smaller size.

One of the things the breeders in the 18th and 19th centuries found, when selecting breeds to improve various aspects of their native sheep, was that improving fleece only works for one generation and after that the carcase would suffer.

Round objects.

Ex-BH breeds top class commercial sheep, one of the things he breeds for is 'a fine skin'.  Not for the fleece per se, but for the easier lambings it confers.  His conformation scores, and hence the prices his lambs fetch, have risen year on year, as has the quality of his fleeces.

I bet he had a somewhat larger gene pool to chose from... it is quite a small one for Shetlands...