The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: TracyC on January 31, 2017, 08:16:36 pm
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Hi there
New sheep owner here :)
We've got 3 lambs that were 2016's that we bought from our farmer neighbour. They've been outside since we got them but the grass is starting to look hard done too so I would like to give it a break. My other field is resting too (horses) so I was wondering if I could bring them inside for the month of February. Do people do this, is it cruel? We have a large barn that currently is housing the hens due to the avian flu hassle, but we could make a large pen in there and feed them hay daily with a bed of straw?
Interested to hear if we could make this work, do people do this?
Thanks.
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Can't see it would be a problem, just keep an eye out for feet problems (scald, footrot) and bring them in when they are dry.
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As long as the ventilation is good, they shoudl be OK. As twizzel says, bring them in dry.
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Thanks both
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I know farmers who have them in the house :)
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I'd keep them out and feed hay or nuts in the field. I find that bringing them in can be a lot of work and I always seem to get foot problems
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A field hayrack moved around regularly or put on an area of hard standing, with hay available at all times, should keep them fit. If the ground becomes very poached, however, it might be worth bringing them in for a while. Housing is a lot of work, runs the risk of pneumonia if the building isn't well ventilated and, depending on breed, could lead to some of them going stir-crazy after a while (thinking of my Badger Face here).
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If you keep their feet on clean dry straw, and the air dry and moving, they'll be fine indoors for a month while the field recovers. But they'll be quite happy fed hay outside too, and the ground recovers quickly once the grass begins to grow.
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No point in keeping the sheep outside and ruining what's left of your grass when you've got a nice large barn to put them in.
Main potential problems, as mentioned are:
Lack of ventilation which can lead to pneumonia and that shouldn't be a problem in a large barn.
Foot problems. I've never found that a problem where the sheep are well bedded on dry litter. And easily treated with only 3 sheep. More likely to get foot problems from wet soil than dry straw.
So - is it cruel? Well put it like this; if in winter you give sheep the choice of staying outside on a bare pasture, or going inside where their food and water and fresh bedding is, you'll find they spend most of their time ruminating inside. They might have a nice thick coat, but they still appreciate a bit of comfort!
I have a field where the sheep can either graze it or go into a building, and even in summer, when there is no food in the building, they still prefer to go inside and sit on the straw while they chew the cud.