[FahransFeathers]

Hi

Looking for some advice on what sheep to get as a beginner to raise for meat??

We've had sheep before but only about 8-10 of them and they were only kept for grass for a friend and we didn't have to do anything with them as only had them a month and then they were moved on again.
Is there anyone near Llanelli in south wales that would be into sharing their tips and tricks on keeping sheep? we are due to move there soon!
any advice really welcome as this would be our first time raising our own sheep for meat purposes and we will be wanting to get about 10 to start with and go from there.
what do they need feed wise?
injections?
do they require a lot of hoof trimming or generally do you only do it if necessary?
if you want to put them with a ram for lambs is it better to buy the ram in or borrow one?
Finally where in/around Llanelli is it best to go to try and find sheep locally? online or to a farmers mart?

current partner has lambing and sheep experience but this will mainly be my own venture and ill try my best to research as much as i can before we do get any!

[twizzel]

Get a breed that you like the look of, and that will suit the ground you have. We have Lleyns, they are very maternal, good mothers lots of milk and lamb easily enough and produce a nice meat lamb. The ewe lambs are very saleable for breeding stock.


Feed depends on the breed, grass quality and availability etc etc. How long is a piece of string kind of question.


Jabs, flock health etc should be covered by your vet, but as a minimum Heptavac is a good idea to get them vaccinated against particular nasty diseases.


Feet- don’t trim routinely, don’t trim if lame.


Ram- they are a pain in the ass to keep sometimes and will need company of another sheep for 10 months of the year when they are separate from the ewes. But I would strongly advise against borrowing a ram as the bio security risks are too high. And whilst we talk about bio security, make sure you quarantine any incoming sheep to your land. Speak to your vet, but cannot stress how important it is to ensure you don’t bring in resistant worms, scab, foot problems. Spend as much as you can afford on a good ram, if you’re keeping ewe lambs he will be very influential on your flock.


I can’t help with where to buy- find a breed you like first and go from there. Buying privately is always better really. Good luck 

[SallyintNorth]

I think you will be fairly near to [member=26580]Backinwellies[/member] so hopefully she can give you some pointers, may even be able to sell you some Llanwenogs (which are super sheep for a smallholder, imo, although I don't dispute than Lleyns are good sheep too.  You can get a lot of triplets though, with Lleyns, which I would personally want to avoid until you know what you are doing.) 

If you are breeding only for your own meat lambs, the quality of the tup is less important (and frankly it doesn't matter if one of the ewes is his mum and the others his aunties.)  So one option is to keep a good tup lamb entire each year and eat him after he's tupped the girls.  Another option is to buy in a chunky tup lamb from the store or fat ring each year, (with the proviso about quarantining and dosing) to produce meatier lambs, and eat him after he's worked. 

If you are breeding replacement ewes, or ewes to sell, then you will want a good, unrelated tup, of course.  If you want to sell pedigree lambs, then aged tups is one way to get top breeding for a fraction of the cost.  (A tup being sold at 3 or 4 years old has been a good tup but is now coming onto his daughters.  A poor or mediocre tup wouldn't have made it to 4 years old ). 

Some breeders like to work their tup lambs so that they can sell them as proven shearlings, so you may be able to come to an arrangement to have a tup lamb on loan each year. 

If own use is the thing and you want to breed your own replacements, then you could do a bit of each.  Get a pukka tup when you need some replacements, use one of your own tup lambs in between (and don't keep any inbred daughters )

[Womble]

I see Doganjo made this connection already, but have you seen this post, [member=214713]FahransFeathers[/member] ?

[Backinwellies]

I think you will be fairly near to [member=26580]Backinwellies[/member] so hopefully she can give you some pointers, may even be able to sell you some Llanwenogs (which are super sheep for a smallholder, imo, although I don't dispute than Lleyns are good sheep too.  You can get a lot of triplets though, with Lleyns, which I would personally want to avoid until you know what you are doing.) 
 
 

Just so you can join the dots ....  Backin wellies  is also   Linda   and nantygroes on Fb ..... and yes happy to help

[FahransFeathers]

Hi everyone!
thankyou for all the replies!

We are 100% interested in raising for meat rather than pets although i know everyone tends to get a fave sheep at some point lol
Breeding would obviously become a part of the raising for meat which we are totally happy to do and will definitely have the space to do so.

I think we'd probably buy in a tup and then probably eat him once he's done his job unless he was really good, we would then either decide later on to keep or sell him or to sell on any daughters.

[member=26580]Backinwellies[/member] I will definitely need to give you a message! any advice is honestly going to be so helpful as i'm a proper novice!

There are a few sheep breeds i like the look of but haven't been able to find any close enough to where we'd be moving to so if i could get any closer to us that would be amazing.
Whilst we aren't moving till potentially May it would be nice to get contacts from the area and any advice and info on raising the sheep as i want to be fully prepared before we do anything .

thank you!

[twizzel]

Sell my livestock is a good site with stock for sale privately. You can filter results by breed, distance etc.
With eating a ram it’s best to leave it till they are way past the breeding season or the hormones can taint the meat. You can always just send to market instead.
It might be an idea to buy a few store lambs in late summer/autumn, run them on over winter into next spring then send them off, it would give you a bit of experience handling sheep, caring for them etc, without adding breeding into the equation?

[FahransFeathers]

I think that's my idea too!

think we are going to buy some lambs, figure out all the kinks with them and their care first and then send them off to the abattoir for meat. Then next year get some more and then try our hand at breeding when we are more confident.

i think this is probably the best approach to it and will make it easier for us in the long run rather than completely jumping in at the deep end!

really looking forward to it anyways and I've ordered a tim tyne sheep book for doing research with and will be asking one of my local farmer friends if i can go up to theirs next weekend and see what they do as they have started lambing earlier this year than expected so would be good to get some insight before we move and then get our own!

What do you need to get before you buy any sheep though? not many places I've looked give you a proper list of items/first aid/ when to do injections etc.

[vfr400boy]

I started with 4 weand lambs and finished them then did pet lambs and got 3 ewes with lambs at foot , this year we will be lambing them its been a good experience so far with more ups then downs, 

[PipKelpy]

"There are a few sheep breeds i like the look of"

Ha!

I do agree though, I always liked the look of Ryelands and read all about them etc, "thems the sheep for me!" I told myself.

 "You don't want them" a nice guy said to me at the Builth Wells smallholder show in 2003, "Dorset Downs are better!" He also had a stand there with 2 cute sheep on show! I had NO intention of having Dorset Downs, but fate intervened and I received a telephone call off a breeder who had seen an ad I had placed offering me his DD ewes, good pedigree lines too. Those ewes did me proud for several years, spring lamb prices through the roof!

 Shetlands, love them! Some are bonkers some arent. I put mine to my Bleu Du Maine tup and had some fabulous lambs, one stayed as a ewe for 8 years, kept several of her daughter's too.

I've had mule cades, some have been better than others. One in particular, triplets, quads, triplets etc. Fine ewe but knackered before her time.

Last year I bought in some unregistered Wiltshire Horns.

OH MY GOD!!!

Where have these been all my life? To a Dorset Down they have shot out fab lambs WITHOUT assistance and usually when I'm not around! I swear they have waited for me to go across the field before thinking, "right, lambs out now!" I've got to get me some more of these!!

[FahransFeathers]

Wow [member=194324]PipKelpy[/member] !

Sounds like you've had a canny few good sheep!

i've not ever thought about wiltshire horns before , could be a possible choice! 
Will have to keep narrowing down my options!
I've had a look at a few adverts today to get my head around what's out there already but i think i need to wait closer to the time to put my own advert out!

Thanks! 

[SallyintNorth]

whispers  We love helping people choose their breed... 

[Richmond]

We keep a few Wiltshire Horns - they are lovely. Would recommend them. Give birth easily, are good milky mums and don't need shearing

[PipKelpy]

We keep a few Wiltshire Horns - they are lovely. Would recommend them. Give birth easily, are good milky mums and don't need shearing

Have to admit, despite the no shearing, I didn't consider these in the early days as they aren't the prettiest. A stripey faced Shetland with big brown eyes on the other hand?

But i saw the ad last year, with lambs, so thought why not. Really chuffed too! Mum has said it's a pity the horns can't be chopped off, but they don't bother me, (also something to grab hold of!)

The only downside to mine being unregistered is not knowing the lines should I want to put to a WH tup so I have suggested seeing if I can get a couple at least of registered hoggs or older girls with ewe lambs so if I wanted to breed replacement WH, I could. Always comes down to money!

[Richmond]

Ours aren't registered either. We just wanted shedding sheep large enough to produce a decent lamb carcass when crossed with anything! One has a wonky horn so she wouldn't win any prizes but is extremely placid and happy to stand for hours having her chin scratched.
We also have Soays which tick the pretty box