The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Frieslandfilly on November 08, 2011, 11:18:57 am
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This is the first year we will be keeping sheep over winter, tips for a succesful outcome would be most appreciated :) We are not too exposed but have clay ground so it holds the wet, we have spare stables if they need to come in (we only have 2 sheep!)
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You can either inwinter them or outwinter them.
Inwintering is more for the benefit of the ground and the shepherd than the sheep.
A bad thing to do would be to bring them in wet whenevr you decide that they dont like it outside. This may cause pnemonia.
Inwintering gives you more control but also more responsibility as they depend on you for 100% of their diet.
Some hill breeds dont really like being in.
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The ideal for any sheep over winter is :
- available shelter
- freedom to exercise and graze
- hay or silage (or haylage) when the grass is unavailable or has lost its feed value (after Christmas up here)
- access to unfrozen water
If they're not in lamb and aren't lambs themselves they shouldn't need any hard food.
If it was possible to let them wander between grass and the stables at will, that would be ideal for them. Otherwise I would teach them about the stables (have them in a few times, give them some hay there) - if the conditions become such that they'd rather be in, they'll stand at the gate asking to be in and will walk in when you open the gate for them!
Lucky sheep :D :sheep:
If you do have them in, keep the ground under their feet as clean and dry as you can - with only two you shouldn't get too many problems, but walking about in each other's poo and pee can lead to foot problems when sheep are kept indoors for any length of time.
Oh, and if you haven't overwintered sheep before, do you know about giving them fluke meds, minerals, vaccinations? If not, shout and we'll inundate you with advice! ;) :D
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I don't bring my sheep in for any reason except for poor mothering at lambing, then I'll pen them to bond with their lambs. Unless you don't have enough ground for them, I can't see any reason to either.
Like sally said - its not good for em to stand around in each others fecal matter and confinement can lead to increased cases of parasites, pneumonia etc.
You could feed them hay/concentrates - it just depends on the breed and the ammount of land they are on.
Do, however make sure they have access to water that isn't frozen. Its slightly less important when there is snow on the ground as they will eat that, but then you run the risk of having foot-deep ice in the troughs and it can be a bugger to shift.
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aslong as daily visits and full access to water and feed and shelter it shouldnt be that bad how much land they got access to? could you leave a stable open for them? any items to make a sturdy shelter? maybe a few bales of hay with a sheet of ply as the roof or even just a few bales high for them to get down behind to get out of the driving wind/rain. ours have access to a shelter plus they get under the tractor and trailer when bad weather maybe a few tyres to provide a windstop? also make sure you break the ice on the water trough. extreme cold a handful of ewe nuts or some soaked sugar beat is go a good warmer. hope this helps
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Thanks for the replies people :) I think I am being over cautious about them but they were day olds when we got them and have been hand reared! They were supposed to go with the others last month to 'you know where' but for various reasons they were behind in weight so we kept them back and decided they could go in the new year. They are 8 months old and because they were hand reared are quite dependant anyway, by that I mean they think every time I go near the paddock they are going to get something good! They have had a mineral lick ever since they went out after weaning so thats not a problem. They are on a paddock of about an acre and they have a pig shelter, they have a handful of hard feed each night already because they were intended to be fattened up! I am thinking that the cold weather will be fine to leave them out in, it is prolonged wet I am worried about, although I guess if I had hundreds they would be left to get on with it!
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ummmm they sound as if they have the life of Riley and everything they need!!! No way do those sheep need to come inside!! If they have the pig arc they can go in it in the rain or (more likely) just stand/lie on the sheltered side of it.
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we keep 200 in the coldist part off scotland they need feed 24 /7 bale everey day when snow iss covering the field.
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LOL, yes they probably do have the life of Riley, but only for a short while ;)
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Plenty of layers and a decent waterproof coat.
Whisky...for medicinal purposes of course.
Log fire for when you get home...needs to be on and ready!
Chains or spikes for wellies in the ice.
Bubble wrap your water bucket in the field at night...helps keep the worst of the freezing at bay.
Heated gloves.
Plenty of hay in so you do not stress about running low in the worst of the weather.
If you poo pick in rubber gloves like me...get some sealskinz liners - helps stop your fingers getting cold when handling frozen poo!
A good scarf...I always feel warmer if my head and neck are warm.
Get everything purchased now and ready...rather than having to panic buy when you are already struggling.
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Plenty of layers and a decent waterproof coat.
Whisky...for medicinal purposes of course.
Log fire for when you get home...needs to be on and ready!
Chains or spikes for wellies in the ice.
Bubble wrap your water bucket in the field at night...helps keep the worst of the freezing at bay.
Heated gloves.
Plenty of hay in so you do not stress about running low in the worst of the weather.
If you poo pick in rubber gloves like me...get some sealskinz liners - helps stop your fingers getting cold when handling frozen poo!
A good scarf...I always feel warmer if my head and neck are warm.
Get everything purchased now and ready...rather than having to panic buy when you are already struggling.
Great list Love it! Whisky esp! Nevermind the sheep! Great suggestion re bubblewrap - I container the pigs water (the sheep can access a stream) so will deffo do that. Thanks
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Brilliant list. Add hot water bottle - such a comfort in the small of the back, or to warm the hands, on return to the house!
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EMIGRATE.......
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Ha, I keep thinking how perfect where I live is, if only I could pick up the holding and plonk it down somewhere warm :D Like Provence :D
I out winter my sheep here, in a very wet dale in Cumbria, at 1000ft. I have made shelters for the sheep out of pallets with a tin roof - they use them when it's very wet. The shelters are open at the front, facing a wall, about 3ft away. Other than that, plenty of hay, a handful of cake to keep them coming so you can check on them everyday, and unfrozen water - and they'll be fine :)
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I got ticked off by a much larger sheep farmer for feeding concentrates in a bucket because come lambing, he reckons that they will still come running to you when you enter the field, leaving their lambs in the dust (or mud as the case may be).
Can't say it particularly affected mothering last year for me though - although he may have a point if you have tamer sheep than mine.
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I got ticked off by a much larger sheep farmer for feeding concentrates in a bucket because come lambing, he reckons that they will still come running to you when you enter the field, leaving their lambs in the dust (or mud as the case may be).
Ours learn very quickly that we no longer bring cake. We stop caking maybe 4-5 days before they're due to start lambing; by the time they get started they're back to ignoring us! :D
But leaving lambs is only really a problem where there are factors predisposing to poor mothering. First-time mums, lots of twins, very large lambing areas, that sort of thing.
One of my tips is, however you expect to be shepherding during lambing, get your sheep used to you being among them in that way ahead of the time. Then you get less scattering of sheep and lambs when you appear, for instance, on foot with a collie dog. It's usually saving the quick lamb and not getting back to the slower that causes the problem, so the less they're panicked the less they get seperated.
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The lambs learn to come too :D
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Unless you have a well trained sheep dog Bucket training is essential. After a few days the lambs come running too. Until then keep them in a smaller paddock. He was probably just trying to find fault for the sake of it.
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We bucket train ours and feed them in a smallish pen, makes it easy if you have to check them or do someting nasty to them (like worming, feet etc) although we have found that some of our Herdwick ewe lambs are not as keen. We are hoping that as the cold weather sets in they will get the idea! ::)