[NickRJ]

We have been offered a couple of sheep. At the moment breed unknown but understand that they are 5.5 years old. We have been offered them for free. The offer has come form a local, primarily diary farmer we have got to know as they were offered to him. He hasn't seen the sheep yet either as they were offered to him and if we don't want them he is happy to take them and they will be destined for his freezer. He does keep a few pigs purely for family consumption and has the facilities to process them for the freezer on his farm. My wife and I are completely green as far as sheep keeping goes, beyond reading the Katie Thear and Seymour! It occurred to me that it might be a good way to develop a feel for finding our feet with sheep, again purely for our own meat supply really. My idea was that we could keep them for say six, seven months and then arrange for them to go to the local slaughterhouse. We have enough grass for them to graze, they would be effective "lawn mowers" I guess for the area I have in mind. We would need to get some fencing organised but our farmer contact has offered to hold them for us if we do want them until we get ourselves in a position to take them. Does this sound like a totally barmy plan or do you think it would be a practical way of building a little experience of sheep keeping/handling? We have had our hopes dashed of raising some pigs for pork as African Swine Flu in this part of the world has meant that we won't be allowed to raise pigs so a couple of sheep may be a good alternative. Oh, and there hasn't been any livestock on our land for decades so I guess the chance of flukes/worms etc should be fairly minimal. AM I being really silly, is there something I haven't really thought through?

[Womble]

Understand that at 5.5 years old, you won't be 'adding value' to them, say as you would if you bought lambs and grew them on.

But if your objective is to learn about sheep keeping, why not?  I'd go for it, personally. Just be super-aware of not bringing worms onto your land with these sheep. If your land is currently worm free, you only get one shot at keeping it that way.

[twizzel]

I wouldn’t get them if you want to eat them… mutton is nice but 6 years old is too old for me. For eating quality you’d be better getting some lambs or hoggs.


The cull trade is flying at the moment so why are they being given away for free    I would steer clear, and buy a few lambs.

[Penninehillbilly]

Sounds a good plan.
As long as they are healthy.
I was going to caution on escape artists, but they would at least teach you about how sheep get out 🤣.
I think you said your wife wanted to learn spinning? Hope they have good fleeces.

[NickRJ]

Thank you all for the replies, some interesting and contrasting views. I should perhaps have added that the sheep are "free". We do intend to find out about the reason the sheep are on offer. Sheep aren't a common sight here in Poland, particularly in this region, as it isn't as popular as pork and beef. The farmer who has offered them to us, as I say he isn't the owner, the sheep were offered to him and he knows of our intention to be more "self sufficient" and he's happy to keep them for his own freezer if we don't want them but I am tempted because, there is a bit of a learning curve involved, at least from an introduction to sheep and it is almost effectively "free food". It seems less of a gamble than starting entirely fresh faced and inexperienced with young lambs and then progressing through the whole process of finding a ram and tupping etc. etc.

Thank you for the warning about worms Womble. We'll check that out.

We do plan to see the sheep first before making any firm decisions Penninehillbilly so it will be interesting to see what sort of fleeces they might have. If they are viable and my wife does want to turn her hand to spinning it means we may also benefit from a free fleece or two for her to practice with.

We'll give it some more thought but it is nice to know that my idea wasn't so daft. Thank you again everyone.

[Penninehillbilly]

Womble has a very good point about worms (and all parasites), but if they look OK,  I would get them, keep them inside or in a small area, get an FEC done, treat for external parasites.
If you are friendly with farmers it may be worth asking if you can buy a couple of treatment off someone.
Actually I'm having a think, there are diseases as well, thinking maedav isna (sounds common in Poland) and Johnnes.

Not sure how these would affect alpacas when you get them.
Not wanting to put you off, just things you should think about? 

[NickRJ]

Thank you, indeed things to think about. In fact there is, despite the relative scarcity of sheep here, a sheep farm not so far away which we visited last autumn as part of my wife's agricultural course. The couple who run it seemed very approachable and friendly and so we might pop along to "pick their brains" if, when we see the sheep and if we feel it is something we want to try. They were clearly enthusiastic about their sheep and so I am sure they will be able to point us in the right direction as regards what to look for, get tests done and get medications etc.

[Anke]

With only two, you would also have a crash course in shearing them (unless you know of someone nearby who has a large flock to shear and you can transport them to him/her), depending how big their fleece and as we are going into summer.


Also depending on breed, we have eaten 7yo Shetland mutton and it was delicious - grass fed only on our farm and as fat as butter! Makes brilliant curries, slow roasts (with mezze kind of spice rub on) etc.


As to worms etc - will these sheep have been inside for winter? Then the worm load should be very low, except possibly for lungworm.


Also how tame are they, and do you have (need?) housing for overnight - my family lives in Northeastern Germany, and sheep there now have to come inside overnight or you need a guard dog (or two) and electric fencing - wolves!.

[Anke]

Oh, forgot - you need to hang the carcass for a week or so, so slaughter from October onwards.

[Backinwellies]

personally I would be very cautious of 2 free sheep. .... why are they free?  Make sure they are very human friendly before saying yes or they could put you off sheep for life!

[SallyintNorth]

we have eaten 7yo Shetland mutton and it was delicious - grass fed only on our farm and as fat as butter! Makes brilliant curries, slow roasts (with mezze kind of spice rub on) etc.

^this

Primitive sheep mutton is fantastic meat, no question.

I have also eaten mutton from several other breeds and types and it's all been fabulous.  When it's that old, it needs to be hung for a minimum of a week after slaughter, and will want long slow cooking, but oh my goodness, you may never want to go back to lamb. 

Mule mutton mince makes lasagne so good you never want to make lasagne with any other meat ever again.  You have to pour a pile of orange fat off your plate before you eat, but it's still the best lasagne you've ever eaten!  (These were older Swaley Mules, 5 years old and older.) 

Mutton sausages beat most pork sausages into a cocked hat, doesn't matter how old the sheep was.  They don't need a load of fancy ingredients added to make them taste good, in my view, but lots of people like to spice 'em up. 

Old moorland Swaledale ewe mutton, joint or chops, roast slowly with veg and red wine (so basically a pot roast I suppose) - flavour so good that lamb will forever after taste washed out.

(Basically, as moorland farmers we liked to sell our lambs, and drafted ewes who were good enough to do a few more years on an easier farm, so we would eat the old biddies who didn't deserve to have to go through a slaughter mart.  We ate like kings ) 

[Christian]

No, it's not a daft idea - sheep are fun! One thing that always helps is having somebody at hand with some experince - so when you run into trouble (and into trouble you will run....) you can ask before you have to bother the vets. Get the friendly expert to check your pasture for nasty stuff like rhododenron.

Good luck!

Christian

[NickRJ]

Thanks again all, we will be seeing the farmer we know on Friday morning, he isn't the owner of the sheep, he is the guy who has been offered them and is the chap who is happy to let us have them if we want them. Convoluted I know, we will be able to discuss with him then if he knows any more about the sheep in question and if he has seen them yet. He has invited us along as he will be slaughtering a pig on Friday morning and while I appreciate it isn't exactly a spectator sport and we do like to know how these things are done properly. It's all very well looking at the neat and tidy drawings in Seymour's book but nothing works as well as a proper demonstration. Apart from game, rough shooting and keeping poultry, some of which found its way to the pot we haven't had to deal with bigger animals and so it will be "educational".  He taught us how to milk his cows the other week, by machine but all new to us. This is such a completely different lifestyle to the one we left behind, hours commuting backwards and forwards from Kent into London, me with a "City" job and my wife in nursing in a doctors surgery in Camden. Would we go back......not in a million years