[Shropshirelass]

So after 35 years I've finally gone & managed to with the help of my cousin get a starter flock of sheep - I've gone with to start a small flock of 5 Torddu Badger faced sheep - 1 tup & 4 x yearling ewes, & had my 1st go at shearing yesterday.

The aim is to get a few more ewes before the autumn. I'm aiming for around about 15-20 ewes, but if I cant find any more this year then he'll go on my cousins Texel X Hoggs to keep him busy.

Now they've been shorn when should I ideally treat them for flystrike & their obviously all tagged & they've been fluked before coming down to ours & feet are fine, but when should I fluke again & with the tags is it worth it at this point ordering any as its going to be a small pedigree flock - & where's best for small numbers of tags that don't cost the earth.

Also with regards to drugs ect we were thinking of doing routine stuff with the main flock to save on costs ect but as it's going to be on 2 different cph's & flock numbers & businesses - Is there a way we can work this or just do things separate?  Its just we don't really want to be buying something that doses 50-100 sheep for just 5, which is often the case.

We're also looking at doing meat boxes & also selling cuts & joints individually to customers, what's the best way to go about this & pricing? We wouldn't be doing it in huge numbers.

Pics below of my new investment:

[Rosemary]

Great stuff! Have fun with them!
You said they'd been fluked - what about worms? If you are bringing them on to clean grass, I'd be quarantining OFF the grass and doing a faecal egg test, then taking your vet's advice on treatment. If you've got clean grass, you don't want to bring worms on - you may never have to worm. Fluke you can't do much about as deer, rabbits etc carry it too.
Avoid combined flukicide / wormers like the plague.

I would do them with an external parasite treatment soon, but since they've been sheared, the risk of fly strike is less. I always did mine after shearing but let the fleece grow back a bit - maybe a couple of weeks. There is a variety of products - Clik, Clikzin, Crovect, Clik Extra - to name but 4. These have different dosage rates, pack size, price, length of efficacy and they don't all do the same thing.

For example, of the four above, only Crovect is suitable for preventing and TREATING fly strike and it prevents ticks and other parasites BUT it only lasts 8 weeks. The other three prevent fly strike only but all, I think, last longer. Clik Extra lasts 19 weeks, so should cover the whole fly season with one application.

With your small numbers, piggybacking on someone else is a good idea, if they are using the product you require. However, legally, only a vet can split a POM product like pour-ons and wormers / flukicides. Latrely, when we only had a few sheep, we bought wormer, if we needed it, and flukicide from our vet and just bought the quantity required. More expensive per dose, but far cheaper than buying a 1l pack then ditching most of it when it was past the use by date.
Vaccines likewise can only legally be shared by a vet, but it goes on, for the reasons you say.Just remember, most vaccines must be used within 8 hours of being breached - and ignore those who say "ah, just keep it in the fridge". Vaccines are pretty cheap - why risk it?

I used to get my butcher to price cuts individually, according to what he was charging in his "posh" shop.  If you can get folk to pre-buy boxes, that helps your cash flow - and take a deposit (non-refundable) to stop folk messing you around.
Tags, unless your sheep lose some and need replacements, you won't need until your first lambs are born, so you're a whiley away yet. We used bubblegum tags from Allflex. Came in 10s. Found they pretty sticky.
Hope this helps and enjoy.

[Shropshirelass]

They were all wormed before purchase. I know the most of the legalities - drugs, paperwork & movement side of things as I worked as a vet nurse for years & have lived on a farm my whole life, but its more for business & tax purposes & again this is where the meat side of things will be. Because it will be such small numbers we'll mostly be running with our main flock at times & obviously with just 4 ewes he'll be bored in the breeding season - so we're planning on putting a few home bred hogs on him as we've found Texel x Badger faces quite a nice cross. So even if I don't end up with many pure lambs for the butchers we'll have a few spare crosses to go or have as nice replacement ewes for the main flock. As I'm hoping to either sell a few pure ones as breeding stock or keep back a few daughters, but won't breed those until their yearlings so it'll give me 2 years before I need to bring in another tup to put on any daughters. But that's a long way off but it will hopefully be a more established flock by then.