The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: 17AndCounting on June 24, 2013, 10:16:17 pm
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I have a small area of garden that I'd likle to let a couple of my sheep into to mow the lawn, but I don't want them running amok in the whole garden!
I wondered if it'd be possible to contain them with stakes and site mesh? Has anyone got any experience of this?
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Given sheep have 2 aims in life- escape and die, I think any temp fencing would need to be electrified and you need to keep a very close eye on them and make sure the fencing is giving a good kick otherwise they will run through it and you've got yourself no end of problems (getting stuck, escaping, hanging themselves).
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Some sheep are great respecters of any barrier. Others seem to hurl themselves headlong through any fence if there is something appealing on the other side. Suck it and see I guess!
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It perhaps depends partly on the breed you keep. Primitive horned sheep will have the mesh ripped up and wrapped around their horns and necks in no time, but some more docile breeds might be ok until the grass was eaten shorter than the other side.
The mesh would have a better chance of holding them in if it is well tensioned, with strong poles and guy ropes at each corner, but I agree with the replies so far - keep a very close eye on them, as the opportunity for mischief and disaster is great.
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Hi yes the other side is always tempting! But I have large areas of my garden yet unplanted and choosing the most well behaved couple sheep of my flock, I contain them within sheep netting that is attached to warratahs. I weave the warratahs through the netting and pull it as tight as i can hitting the warratah (Metal tripost) in with a hammer or back of an axe. Then tie it at the top so the sheep cannot push it down. If they are burrowers i tie it at the bottom too so they cannot lift it! I use LOTS of warratahs and one end is best attached to a fence post so you can pull it tight. I have a couple areas about the size of a medium sized lawn that i do this in, and never had any problems. Some of my sheep cannot be trusted though! I wouldnt risk using flexi plastic netting as even my little pet lambs manage to get out of that pretty quickly! Good luck.
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We bought some of this stuff to use last year (orange plastic safety netting), I had to block off around 50 metres of barbed wire fencing that the sheep could get through before my stock netting came.
Never ever ever again, what a waste of money!!!
We used hazel stakes weaved in and out to hold it up, the sheep stayed clear of it for about 12 hours, then realised they could nibble it and pull it down, very soon they learned it was easy to rip and in the end they all just were running in and out of it and ripped the whole lot of fencing to pieces.
Some got stuck inside it and others ate it!
Not an experience I would want to repeat, including trying to fish all of my sheep out of the farmers wheat field next door...
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yes! what a waste it is ...one learns ...i did the same. Mesh needs to be metal/wire sheep netting.and as someone mentioned to me this morning :) make sure they cannot get to poisonous garden plants on the other side...rhodos privet yew etc.