[fgaskell]

Hi all,
Just curious, and wondering if you all leave your sheep outside or do they go into a shelter
during the winter or at night. Especially curious about lambing and what everybody’s opinions are about shelter.
Hope that makes sense...
Thanks

[Rosemary]

Our sheep have acess toquite good natural shelter in terms of shrubs and trees, but they do sometimes ahve acces to a field shelter, depending on which field they're in. How much use it is depends on the wind direction.
At lambing time, I try and bring them in a few days before they're due and keep them in for 12-48 hours after lambing.

[fgaskell]

Our sheep have acess toquite good natural shelter in terms of shrubs and trees, but they do sometimes ahve acces to a field shelter, depending on which field they're in. How much use it is depends on the wind direction.
At lambing time, I try and bring them in a few days before they're due and keep them in for 12-48 hours after lambing.

Thanks that really helpful

[twizzel]

Mine come in for lambing anywhere from 2 weeks to 4 weeks before, depending on weather. Other than that they stay out 24/7 with hedges for shelter.

[fgaskell]

Cheers twizzel.

[SallyintNorth]

All natural shelter here, but one or two fields have pig arks and we do let the ewes with young lambs use them.

All hands-off, natural lambing, outdoors in April, here (Shetland tup).  We have covered pens we can use if any family needs a bit of extra tlc, but since we started using only the Shetland tup and lambing after mid April, no-one has needed it 

We had some unexpected late lambs one year, so the lambs were only 2-4 months old going into winter.  We opened up a back way into the haystore for them and their mums, which was much used and appreciated.  But older lambs only need additional shelter in very wet years. 

Cold isn't a problem, but they need dry to lie on.  We spread straw in the field if necessary to make a dry pad for them to lie.  But if the rainfall is incessant, then a field shelter, or access to a shed, is a boon.

[Fleecewife]

Our land is subdivided into smaller pastures, each with a field shelter, available for sheltering from rain and for lambing. These were built before our hedges had grown, when the wind howled across our land.  Now we have much more natural shelter, but our sheep still choose to retire to their field shelters when it hails (listen for the sound of thundering feet heading for cover then), when it rains heavily, or when they are feeling below par as well as some ewes when they lamb. They are never brought into sheds or enclosed in buildings.  All our sheep are roughy-toughy primitives; they have the intelligence to seek shelter when they need it so we provide it and leave the choice to them.  (I believe there are pics of our shelters on our website - click the green ball under my hebby pic <--)

[Buttermilk]

All my fields have hedges and or trees.  I have one moveable shelter 2mx3m and have another on order that is 3mx3m for the field that they spend the winter in.  The rams will have the smaller shelter as the field they will be using only has one hedge on the west side.

As I lamb at the end of January/february I bring the sheep up onto the yard a week before lambing and give them a large stable to run in and out of, with another stable as smaller pens for mothering up.  Once all have lambed they get both stables to use as well as an adjoining field.

Once the grass is growing they all go off down the fields and the natural shelter.

[Anke]

Depends on the sheep you have.... my Shetlands (and currently also Shetland x Gotland lambs) have no field shelter or similar, but a mature hedge on the north side of the big winter field. In the first couple of years of smallholding life they had access to my hay shed for lambing - but the pure Shetland ewes choose to lamb outside, with the crosses and commercial ewes choosing to go inside... so now I have only the Shetlands they lamb outside completely, and stay in pens in the field for a day or so (until the boys are wethered). The pens can easily get a roof (OSB board) on if heavy rain forecast to provide a dry corner for the lambs. I lamb only from mid-April onwards (South East Scotland, good grazing), and have very few lamb/ewe losses.


I don't think you are doing traditional breeds a favour by lambing inside or even providing field shelters, other than places to get out of the wind and some dry corners for lambs in spring. Different story for high-maintenance commercials...

[sabrina]

I have only 3 sheep but they do use the field shelter a lot. In the summer to get a break from the heat and flies. Last winter being in the shelter saved them as we had huge snow drifts overnight. Although I had to climb over the snow to get in they were safe eating the hay i always put in during the winter . They also have been know to be in there during heavy rain. the shelter was built for my Shetland ponies.