The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: ThomasR on October 20, 2014, 07:13:23 pm
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Hi
I have booked in a ram to come and see my girls but am running out of space. Ironically I have just put up a new fence ato separate my Zwartbles from my hebridians but the main fence a temporarily been taken down to fell trees. So that leaves my with 2 acres of fenced grazing and 16 ewes waiting to be typed not to mention my comercial meat lambs. My neighbour has horses and several fields and was wondering if I would be safe to put a few girls and a tip in there. Is it safe or will they be savaged by them but I guess always better safe than sorry. I don't want anything to happen to this tup so I would rather put them on nettles rather than in danger.
So really I'm in an extremely sticking situation and only have the Easter holidays to lamb in and was wondering if I could just feed the sheep with hay if they did go into the nettles but that would leave me in a sticky situation with no hay at lambing time as my supplier is treating it like gold dust.
PLEASE HELP ME
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Some horses are fine with sheep and some really really not ( two posts on here recently , one damaged foot , one broken leg ) up until recently we had a very old horse that liked to have sheep for company , and was very gentle but she died , now have 2 horses grazing never seen sheep and I and the owner are not keen to test wether they are ok or not . Can you not fence of more of the field with a temporary fence , we are always clear felling trees and I just put a few posts and staple sheep net onto them , then take down when trees all gone. Don't understand why you say your supplier is so cautious this year vast amounts of hay have been made and most dealers say sales have been very slow up to now , even a piece in the Scottish farmer saying this and that prices are less than last year . You could buy blocks or concentrates to feed rather then your hay
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Sheep and horses commonly graze happily together. You might find the horses chase the sheep initially, but normally that's just a dominance thing and they soon settle down happily. But it's just as well to keep an eye on them initially for your own peace of mind.
I've grazed sheep with horses, donkeys, cattle with no problem. The animals have hardly looked up when the sheep were introduced. But if you are worried, then they will be quite happy with the nettles! Nettles are actually quite nutritious and grazing animale will eat them at this time of year as grass becomes scarce.
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My ponies (three) are grazing with the ewe lambs. The ponies sometimes swing their heads at the lambs btu don't chase them. TBH, they pretty much ignore each other.
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I keep my shetland pony in with the sheep most of the time - the only time she was a problem was when a ewe gave birth in the field and the pony seemed to want one of the lambs and wouldn't let the ewe near her 'adopted' lamb - I had to drag poor Rosie ( the pony) out of the field - quite literally kicking and screaming - so the ewe could get back to her other lamb.
but newborn lambs aside, she seems fine with them.
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I know of a donkey that will swing sheep around by their ears if they stray too close. Dogs were getting the blame for removing the ears until the donkey was seen to be the culprit.
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My Clydie was great buddies with our tup. They always hung out together in the field. Other horses that we have had were not to be trusted with the sheep so the answer as always is it depends on the particular horses.
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I've seen a ewe kicked by a frisky horse. It wasn't deliberate, but it was messy, and it has made me pretty wary. It all depends on your horses though.
I'd find another hay supplier if I were you. As Shep53 says, It's been a great year for hay so you should be able to find some quite easily at a good price.
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Right guys thanks for all your help I personally would never have trusted a horse with sheep as even if it did not mean it a horse could easily kill a sheep if it got spooked and as they are my neighbours horse I will not be doing and just giving them hay and locating another farmer for more. How much hay would I need to feed them they would be fully grown Hebs. I will give the Zeds the better grazing as they are a large greedy friendly breed that will perish on nettles. Even though there are more Hebs.
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Hi just following up my last post the Rams are coming this weekend and was wondering how much hay I need to feed my heb ewes and ram. There are seven ewes and a ram lamb that is coming on holiday to see my girls. They will have a crystalix but they will only have nettle which would only be enought to last them a few days max. I'm starting to freak out worked that I might do something wrong as it is my first year in sheep altogether let alone lambing and tupping.
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Ours are fine with them, but we do tend to put small groups in with them. Yellow rockie suitable for both x
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If you are talking good heavy (20-25kgs) small bales of hay, one bale will feed 30-40 commercial sheep on grass for one day. Hebs will eat less, of course - maybe 2/3 as much as a Texel or similar.
If they have no access to grass, they may eat up to twice as much hay.
So in theory, if you are keeping the tup for 5 weeks, and there's effectively no grass, 9 -10 bales should be more than plenty. Put out a flap or two night and morning, spread out well. If they clean it all up, give them a little more next time. If they leave any / sleep on it, give them a little less next time.
If your bales are small and/or lightweight, then of course you will need more of them ;)
They'll need plenty of fresh water if they're eating hay.
If it's a tup lamb and he's coming off grass, I would certainly put out a feed block too. You don't want the girls' nutritional levels to plummet, either ;)
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Nettles as feed ..... really? Sheep will nibble the occasional young nettle leaf in Spring but they'd have to be pretty desperate to eat the tough ones with well developed stinging hairs at this time of year. Nettles are rich in iron, which inhibits the uptake of copper in the diet which, in turn, can cause swayback in some breeds.
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Hi I have just received good news and the fence will be back up by next Friday at the latest. So for the week that they are in the nettle patch I will feed them hay and lots of water. What sort of lick should I get it would be a harbro own brand one and I have checked they do not do a specific tupping lick will a high energy do or is there something better? Sorry for asking stupid questions but am a complete novice.