[Dougal]

A sheep on a maintaince diet through the winter with a fleece depth of 5cm is not under cold stress, that is burning energy to stay warm until about -15'C, a dairy cow in full lactation is about -20'C. That is in still conditions rather than very windy. What really knocks them about is constant wet weather when their insulation gets water logged and so loses heat faster, that and having a wet bed so they don't lie down and rest enough.
If to put them inside make sure there is lots of ventilation and even consider shearing them if you are going to house them all winter the same as in Norway and parts of Canada where they are housed due to the depth of snow and predation from wolves and bears rather than the cold.
Traditional farming houses all over Europe had the living quarters either next to or over the top of the livestock to utilise the heat that the stock give off. A 250Kg weaned calf gives off the same amount of heat as a 3KW electric heater. The cold will be the least of the sheeps problems over the winter.

[Rosemary]

Traditional farming houses all over Europe had the living quarters either next to or over the top of the livestock to utilise the heat that the stock give off. A 250Kg weaned calf gives off the same amount of heat as a 3KW electric heater.

Wish we'd thought of that when we renovated the house 

[goosepimple]

Brilliant    butt n ben - you could still do it Rosemary, get rid of the 3 piece suite ....... or not, creature comforts and all that 

[happygolucky]

  , a lot of cultures still keep their livestock in their home...

[ladyK]

I have been wondering about hedge shelter so this thread has come in quite handy:
I have some tall hedges with tree overhang in the field with my 7 Soays and they have been very happily sheltering in there for the past couple of months. However it occurs to me now that all this growth is loosing their leaves, so there will be just bare branches left in a couple of weeks - not much shelter from rain then, it would seem to me? Or am I being over-worried here?
I've been wondering about building a shelter of some sort, the pallet ideas here seem really good - anyone has photos? Would love to see how you put these together (am very new to all this, I'm sure you can guess).

[twizzel]

My orphan lambs had a shelter in their field and they always used to bury their bums in the hedge instead.

[in the hills]

ladyK, our Soay love their shelters. They do use our mature hedges but if the rain/snow is heavy they head for the shelters. We just have one in each paddock. OH made a wooden one in one field - can stand up in it and it has gates that can be closed if need be eg. lambing, ill sheep and the other is just made from curved corrugated sheets (was fathers chicken shelter originally) and can be moved around.

[Dougal]

Soays, as in from the Island of Soay... that place on the west coast of Scotland that is so wet and so windy that trees don't grow? They'll be grand I can assure you! It's a little like Shetlands, from Shetland where the wind has a run up all the way from Florida and doesn't slow down until it gets to Norway and the hay is £70 a bale.
Sheep are hard beasts and can stand almost anything the climate can throw at them so long as they have some fat on their back and some grub in front of them. They'll be grand, stress less and enjoy their company all the more.

[SallyintNorth]

That was my first thought too, Dougal - but we have to remember that in their native habitat, the little primitives are probably carrying just one purebred lamb.  Often in the smallholding scenario they may be carrying a pair of commercial cross lambs - and a ewe will need a lot more help to get through the winter with her lambs on board if so.

[ladyK]

That's all very true (no commecial crosses for me, just yet).
I have simply been watching my lot and I noticed that while in my small field they did like using the field shelter in hard rain only. After the donkeys moved into that shelter they started congregating under the raised poultry house which also offered a spot of dry ground in hard rain. So they do seem to like that, so I'd like to try and offer something better than bare hedges now that they moved to the big field. DYI skills in our household are very limited though so it will have to be something simple or I'll never get around to put up anything (which might be just fine, I realise).

[Dougal]

All stock performs best if it has a dry bed, makes sense really. The wet sucks the joy out of everything including sheep. A few sheets of tin on a slight angle and nailed to a fence post would give most sheep enough cover if they wanted. Simple and cheap.
 

[JulieWall]

I've seen my sheep walking round with snow/ice on their backs which stays there until the temp warms up and melts it along with the snow on the ground. This should tell you everything you need to know about the insulating properties of wool, awesome stuff! Wherever they have laid in the field are melted spots because there is less wool on their bellies but it doesn't put them off sitting in snow - they have a perfectly adequate field shelter but, by choice, only go in there to eat hay, get out of a blizzard or drop lambs. As long as the lambs get a good feed they will stay warm but if you have shelter for them it is better to use it providing it is clean, well aired and dry.