The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: phillips321 on March 12, 2017, 05:01:42 pm
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Hi there guys,
We've got a 1 acre paddock along with an additional 1/3acre grass area. We're looking to get some sheep (5-6?) in order to enjoy the delights they'll bring.
Ideally we want a hardy breed and one that require minimal maintenance.
So we have a flat field that's got good grazing in, the property is an old pig farm so also has plenty of pig sties and covered areas should we need to use it.
So a few questions, i'll order them to make responses easier.
- What type of sheep would you recommend?
- If i want to breed them to have lambs can i cross breed?
- Are certain sheep/lambs best to send to slaughter?
- How do you rotate the stock? Do i send the ewes to slaughter each year and keep back the lambs?
- How many would my 1 acre hold? I'm thinking 5/6? In the winter I could add the additional 1/3acre by opening a 5 bar gate nice and easily.
- How many times and when do i treat them for flystrike, ticks, lice, etc...?
Thanks in advance
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What type of grazing is it? Unless a decent ley you've sown yourself in wouldn't think you could keep 6 ewes on an acre in winter.
1. A low maintenance hardy breed. Easycare perhaps? Lleyn? You have to like the look of them.
2. Yes you can crossbreed, in fact I'd recommend it to gain hybrid vigour in lambs. The type of cross all depends what you want from lambs.
3. Best to slaughter....in what way? Some breeds have better confirmation so grade better, others have better bone ratio so killed at better %. I like charollais for killing lambs.
4. You'll retain your best ewes (you decide what traits you want) cull troublemakers. Retain daughters of good ewes. Kill/sell other ewe lambs & wethers.
5. Hard to say without seeing land. Will you house at all? I'd begin with 3 during winter maybe risk 7 in summer but be willing to sell if grazing is suffering.
6. Depends on breed & location & product used. I use dysect, IGR, covers body last time for 10 weeks (I think) and cheaper than clik.
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Great that your asking questions, but if you have a good look through the sheep section you'll find many of the answers plus much more.
Just bear in mind, if you have six sheep, they all produce twins then that's 18 sheep on one acre....... :o.
I'd suggest starting with three wethers, rear them for meat and see how you and your land copes before expanding further.
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Just a thought - land which has had pigs on will have a high copper content - copper is toxic to sheep, so I would suggest getting it checked out before putting your livestock on it.
For breed, the primitives are small, light on the land and do well on poorer quality pasture, but purebred lambs can take 16 months to reach slaughter age. If you choose a crossing sire carefully, you would get the benefits of primitives plus faster finishing lambs, by the end of the first year, so no overwintering of lambs, which helps conserve your grazing.
An acre will seem huge at this stage, but the amount of land needed to keep livestock healthy is more than you would think. Sure, when you put your 5/6 animals out they will have loads of grass if the land is good, but they will quickly eat it, then what will you do? Overstocking really is a mistake, as you will only produce miserable, puny lambs which will not thrive, and you are likely to get a build-up of parasites in the soil. Anyway, with such a small area you will need to supplement winter grazing with ad lib hay, plus some hard feed.
I wasn't sure what you meant by rotating stock - it usually refers to moving your flock to fresh ungrazed fields regularly through the year, to make best use of grazing and avoid parasites. With only one acre you can't do that. If you meant how do you replace old ewes, it depends on the breed and whether you are emulating commercial breeders' methods, or whether you see yourself as a smallholder. Many smallholders keep breeding from their ewes until they loose their teeth, then they replace them with their own daughters. Any ewes which have to be culled before they are too old can be used as mutton, which is delicious.
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Do you want to rear sheep for your own meat or to sell? If its just for your own meat I'd do as already suggested and buy 3 or 4 weaned lambs, keep them over the summer/Autumn and when big enough slaughter them. You'll pick up so much knowlege in a short space of time!. Lots of smallholders like the smaller breeds as their easier to handle, but if your looking for bigger joints of meat then one of the larger breeds might suit you better. Big sheep still cost the same as small to kill and cut, its around £25-£30 in this area. I've found the temprament and size of the Lleyn suits me best.
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I recommend you buy a copy of Tim Tyne's Sheep Book for Smallholders - this will give you the answers to your questions and lot more besides.
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I recommend you buy a copy of Tim Tyne's Sheep Book for Smallholders - this will give you the answers to your questions and lot more besides.
I'm currently waiting on the Haynes manual: Sheep Manual The Complete Step-by-Step Guide to Caring for Your Flock
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Do you want to rear sheep for your own meat or to sell? If its just for your own meat I'd do as already suggested and buy 3 or 4 weaned lambs, keep them over the summer/Autumn and when big enough slaughter them. You'll pick up so much knowlege in a short space of time!. Lots of smallholders like the smaller breeds as their easier to handle, but if your looking for bigger joints of meat then one of the larger breeds might suit you better. Big sheep still cost the same as small to kill and cut, its around £25-£30 in this area. I've found the temprament and size of the Lleyn suits me best.
Agree with everyone else. I don't want ewes that are too big- a. they eat a lot more and b. they are harder to handle and I mostly have to do that on my own. My lleyns came to me last year as shearlings and have definitely grown since then, I would estimate they are 70kg now. Nearly finished lambing them- all have had twins so far. Poll Dorsets are a nice docile breed too- we crossed our lleyn ewes with a poll dorset ram and have been very happy with the lambs. But I would echo everyone else and suggest you buy 3 or 4 lambs and see them through to slaughter in the autumn first. We reared pet lambs for 5 years before buying our ewes last year and it has been a baptism of fire ! 1 acre I would say is not enough to keep breeding ewes, you would be better to rear a few lambs each year and let it rest over winter. If you go for smaller primitive ewes you may find they are better suited to the small amount of land but most small primitive types need an extra 6-12 months before they are ready to kill. Thus in the 2nd year you could end up with last years lambs and the current year lambs plus the ewes, all on 1 acre ???
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Ok, it makes sense to just get some lambs for the summer so they can go to slaughter before the winter. It should also help to save us money over the winter.
Regarding tagging. If i purchase lambs from a local farm do I need to tag them with my own CPH/flock number?
Thanks
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No, lambs will be sold with tags from their breeders.