[nin]

We are looking at having a small flock of welsh black sheep this autumn.
I could do with advice re paddock size these are a small breed so i am guessing they don’t require as much space per ewe as a Texel or similar.

We have brought a smallholding in Wales that’s a complete land renovation job and are in the process of putting fences and gates back in as previously taken down for amenity land and then let to go to bramble by previous owners.
We have 16 acres in total with Pigs and goats on a small part of that.
I want to run about 15-20 ewes and move them relatively regularly to let the grass grow given a total
of about 10 -12 acres for sheep what size paddocks would people suggest for this number of a small breed.

[Rosemary]

This is our experience. If you plan to have 15-20 breeding ewes, depending on the breed and your system, you may also have ewe lambs, tups and wether / tup lambs.
For the period of tupping, you'll need to keep your ewe lambs seperate from the breeders and for some of the year, you'll need to keep you tup and wether companion seperate from the ewes. WE used to take the tup out after five weeks, but put him back in once the ewes were scanned in lamb (when he was effectively redundant and could do no harm) and leave him in until midsummer.
One of the reasons we had Ryelands was that male lambs were ready to kill at 6 months, so basically went straight from the ewe - we didn't have to over winter any, so didn't castrate. If it's a slower finishng breed, you will have castrates over the winter.
Some folk like to seperate ewes carrying multiple lambs from singles, so the multiple bearing get extra feed in the six weeks before lambing, and it is good practice. At that time, we used to put the single bearing ewes and the ewe lambs together and leave the tup and wether wth the twin bearers.
The point I'm making is that you may need to manage small groups of sheep, made up of different individuals, so it won;t be 15-20 animals in one group all the time.
What's your land like in wnter? In my experience, that's more of a determining factor than summer stocking. Our land floods in winter some years and that was terribly stressful. We put in an area of hard standing where we could feed the sheep.
I saw what I thought was a great idea, if you can manage it, where there was a central handling area with the grazing fields going off it, like a pie chart or spokes on a wheel. The handling facilities wee at the hub, so to change fields, the sheep came to the hub, then went out to a new feield. They were always keen to come in, becasue they thought it meant new grass, even if it was actually worming or foot trimming.
We have 10 acres of grazing and ran about 12 - 15 Ryeland breeding ewes. We divided our 5 acre field into four, plus 1 acre paddock and a two acre paddock plus an orchard and odd bits here and there. We also had away grazing, so they all went away for the summer to let our grass recover.
The way we divided the 5 acre field - like a cross - meant that if we had to bring them in from the furthest paddock, they had to come through one with new grass, at which point they lost interest in cooperatiing, So bear that in mind in planning your fencing.
Not sure if that answers your questions, but hope it helps anyway.

[SallyintNorth]

If you have 20 ewes tupped then in summer you will have close to 60 sheep, plus a small group of lads needing kept separate if you are going to keep your own tup. 

The ground sounds of the type where, even in summer, it's not going to be rich grazing.  So for 20 ewes and their 35-ish lambs, you'd want a sizeable area, maybe 10 acres?, at the point of maximum demand.  (We keep groups of around 7 or 8 mostly smallish ewes with their lambs in fields around 2-3 acres here on our North Cornish hilltop.  They need moving on frequently, especially from the smaller fields, at the point of maximum demand.)

I cannot stress hard enough how much I would 100% do the "hub and spokes of wheel" design to which Rosemary alludes if I had the luxury of starting from scratch.  Using such a design and moving animals on very frequently would give you optimum use of your ground.  (I'd be envious!)

[Backinwellies]

I didnt have the luxury of starting from scratch but best thing we ever did was put in a holding / sorting pen where 3 fields meet ....

As to numbers start smaller ....10 ewes .... for first couple of years ... test the systems and ground capacity.   10 ewes quickly becomes too many in winter when lambs/ and shearlings are added in following yrs.  (my 15 breeding ewes last year produced 31 lambs and as a rare breed need to be kept over winter .... so now have 48 sheep (includes 2 oldies I'm too fond of to bin.... yes it happens!) .... all slopping around in mud. .... normally I sell many as ewe lambs  / stores before winter ... but other priorities here meant that didn't happen. 

[Fleecewife]

Well, you have some amazing replies already so I just want to add a point or two if I may.


First, I'm with Backinwellies to restrict the number of ewes you start off with, for the reasons she gives.


Second, any fences you put up are pretty much there for good, so just do the basics initially, then they can be modified either permanently or temporarily as changes occur.


Just to explain a bit:  we started with 3 Jacob ewes on our 9 acre holding in southern Scotland.  We were then asked if we could 'board' 7 Hebridean ewes for a year, pretty please, but long before the year was up the owners had done a runner, so we had 10 ewes.  Then of course we needed two tups.  Then we discovered how amazing Primitive sheep are compared to softer breeds such as Jacobs, so we acquired some Soays (which JUMP), then some Shetlands, which come in a variety of colours and patterns, then we discovered that Hebrideans come in a stunning multihorned version so we bought up the best of a dispersing multihorned flock, then I discovered fleece sheep for my fibre crafts so I acquired a small flock of those - all on 9 acres    And don't forget the relevant tups, at one point we had NINE tupping groups, which needed fencing heavy duty enough to prevent neighbouring tups leaping over.
It sounds as if it was mayhem, but in fact it wasn't because I love puzzles so everything worked smoothly, but dearie me, not ideal.  We eventually calmed down and concentrated on the multihorned Hebrideans, so we no longer need all those small paddocks, specially as we have now retired with 4 aging Hebbie ewes and a decrepit Shetland wether.  We plant trees instead.


However, I do think our example is worth bearing in mind, taking as a warning or something.


The vague pattern we adopted was I suppose a bit like the wheel system, with the big difference that part of our land is on the other side of the road, so is ideal for an all-males area, where there was no chance of fence jumping and our young males could grow to 16 months before becoming hogget, the most delicious way to eat Primitive meat.  As well as a wheel idea, we put several gates at the outer edges of each paddock, so there was a way to move animals directly from one paddock to the other.  Those gates also allow us to walk the perimeter every day, which we still do.


Even if this isn't very informative, hopefully it will give you a laugh     Good Luck with your new holding!