[Pixie]

Hi

I'm thinking of getting two sheep for pets on our smallholding,as they will be kept as pets i want to get them quite tame so they can be handled by children aswell.I was just wondering what age would be best to get them at,do i need to get orphaned lambs or can i have them a bit older? also an advise on which breeds would be best is great!

Thanks x

[Fleecewife]

I would get them at 4 months, newly weaned from their dams.  That would give them a normal healthy start in life.  Orphan lambs seem to have an above average rate of health problems.
 
May I suggest though that you get three?  Three is a flock and sheep are flock animals.  Also, if you lose one then there is no panic about a single sheep being left alone.
 
The choice of breeds is endless, so in part it depends on what is available.  You should though consider the size they will ultimately grow to, as a cute cuddly pet lamb can grow into an enormous and somewhat dangerous adult.  So avoid the big breeds such as Suffolk, Texel etc.
 
I would go for a breed which appeals to you for its good looks and ease of handling.  Then if you can make it a bit useful too that is a bonus.  My choice would be Shetland because they are small enough to be petted, easily handled, easily trained to the halter, friendly, pretty to look at with a range of colours, readily available throughout the country and of course they grow a wonderful fleece, so you and the children can learn to make felt, weave on a legloom or even    spin     They can be roo'd instead of shearing, which is something children can join in and with only three the time it takes wouldn't be a problem 
 
I've just re-read your post and you haven't specified the sex of your lambs.   Wethers are always a good bet but if you were to have ewe lambs then you could get into showing with them and maybe after a couple of years you would want to breed up a couple more........   Definitely avoid entire males - overfriendly, petted, fully grown rams would be frustrated and lethal

[Rosemary]

Where are you, Pixie?

[Pixie]

Thanks so much for that fleece wife,plenty of useful info!Yes it's ewes i want and the shetlands look lovely,i'v also been looking at the black welsh mountain breed as apparently they are good to have with children.I'v done a little felting in the past so am looking forward to trying it with my own wool.Can i ask what roo'd involves?i'm a complete novice!I think it might be a plan to have three,it makes alot of sence 

Rosemary i am on the pembrokeshire/carmarthenshire border next to the Preselli hills.

Thanks again x

[Foobar]

Black Welsh Mountain are lovely.    If you want to keep the wool and do something with it then you need to think about shearing - are you going to do it yourself or do you have someone local you can get to do it for you.  Getting someone in just to do a couple can be expensive unless you have a friendly farmer nearby who will just pop round.  A sheep that you can roo, like the shetland, would save you some hassle.

[wonderpupp]

I have a single pet sheep called Colin. Very much a pet. He thinks he's a dog.


Colin was an orphaned lamb, who had fly strike when he was small, and didn't get big enough to send away to become chops with the other lambs on my uncle's farm. (As well as the treatment he had meant he was in meat withdrawal at the time) He followed my cousin around all the time, didn't herd with the other sheep and was a bit of a loner. When she was headed back to Uni, she wanted us to take him on.


Colin gets on well with my dogs, and plays with them. He's happy enough on his own. He got sick last year (sheep were created to escape or die, right?) and the vet came out and I asked if we should get him a couple of friends, but he said (apart from being ill at the time) he looked happy enough and was pretty spoilt!


Colin stands guard for my ducks and chickens. We have not lost any to foxes (or seen the fox within our boundaries) since he's been around, patrolling the area. (and it was a regular occurrence beforehand)He's just a mix breed sheep, and he's pretty big now, but I think it's all wool. I think at the moment he weighs about 40kilos as he had a limp the other day so I had to tip him up to check his feet, and he weighed so much more than he did last year after shearing.


My husband and I have learned how he communicates that he wants to play, or have a scratch, or some food. And he comes when you call him.


Colin was born in Feb 2011 and we took him on in September the same year, he was a stressed little sheep, with patchy wool. Now he's confident and playful and knows that when you say no, it means back off. (He went through a phase of headbutting my leg, and it hurts if he catches my knee!)


I wouldn't have another sheep though, because he has problems so often it's crazy. Just when you think you're on top of worming, fly treatments and everything else, he does something stupid like getting stuck in some brambles in the middle of the night.


And playing hide and seek with a white sheep in the snow is fun too.
But he makes so much poop, I wouldn't want more than 1!

[Marches Farmer]

I would suggest that Colin, if entire, will sporadically butt you, especially in the tupping season and as he grows older.  If he considers you as "his" flock because there are no other sheep around he'll seek to be the dominant animal.  You can take the sheep out of the flock but you can't take the flock out of the sheep.

[colliewoman]

And I will suggest, that although he seems fine that neither people or dogs can speak sheep and he would be happier with a friend or 2 of the same species. But I may be pig headed on that one as I point blank refuse to believe a sheep would prefer to be on it's own rather than in the company of its own kind.
This is not meant as dig at you by the way wonderpupp as there are few people who would have been prepared to take on a pet lamb, let alone a broken one so I take my hat off to you   but I do think he would be happier and you would find him easier to cope with if her were with friends 

[in the hills]

Pixie, we have Soay. They may not be regarded as the most docile of sheep but they do become quite tame with handling and we have found as first time sheep keepers that they have been easy to keep. Good feet, no shearing and hardy little souls.


My 11 year old is brilliant at catching and helping with routine treatments (being small means that she can hold onto them) and many of them will eat from her hand.


Not sure where you are but you would be welcome to come and look at them and compare to other breeds.

[Pixie]

Black Welsh Mountain are lovely.    If you want to keep the wool and do something with it then you need to think about shearing - are you going to do it yourself or do you have someone local you can get to do it for you.  Getting someone in just to do a couple can be expensive unless you have a friendly farmer nearby who will just pop round.  A sheep that you can roo, like the shetland, would save you some hassle.

Well our 'next door' nieghbour (and thats in pretty loose terms over here  is a sheep farmer so i'd like to think that maybe i could get some help there but i have to admit the shetland breed do sound very tempting as obviously not having to shear would make life easier.

Pixie, we have Soay. They may not be regarded as the most docile of sheep but they do become quite tame with handling and we have found as first time sheep keepers that they have been easy to keep. Good feet, no shearing and hardy little souls.


My 11 year old is brilliant at catching and helping with routine treatments (being small means that she can hold onto them) and many of them will eat from her hand.


Not sure where you are but you would be welcome to come and look at them and compare to other breeds.

Soay look lovely too,there is just too much choice!Where abouts are you?It's lovely of you to offer

[goosepimple]

We have soay too, we're half hour south of edinburgh if that's any help.  They do the birthing thing on their own, pretty much self sufficient and hardy little scrubland primitive sheep that don't have problems generally.  They can be a bit nervous and are not like a 'normal' sheep, you would have to get very young ones.  We have other breeds too which are extremely friendly such as North Ronaldsay but they have a copper intake problem and are not the easiest to keep.  Soay were the first sheep we ever had and are still my favourite.
 
I think you could make any sheep a pet if it's young enough and you'd be doing a wether a favour if you just kept them.  You'd probably get a few wethers for free in fact, but as previous posts say, get a small breed.
 
Let us know how you get on. 

[in the hills]

We are in Mid Wales between Newtown and Welshpool.

[Fleecewife]

Thanks so much for that fleece wife,plenty of useful info!Yes it's ewes i want and the shetlands look lovely,i'v also been looking at the black welsh mountain breed as apparently they are good to have with children.I'v done a little felting in the past so am looking forward to trying it with my own wool.Can i ask what roo'd involves?i'm a complete novice!I think it might be a plan to have three,it makes alot of sence 

Rosemary i am on the pembrokeshire/carmarthenshire border next to the Preselli hills.

Thanks again x

Hi again Pixie.  In many ways it would be good to have a local breed such as the BWM, as you will be near breeders, and local people will understand the breed you have.  However there is the problem of shearing.
 
The roo'ing I mentioned with Shetlands, which you also do with Soay, involves pulling the old wool off when the new season's wool has grown about an inch.  This doesn't hurt the animal and doesn't require a shearer, so allows you to be self-sufficient with your mini flock.  Occasionally other breeds such as Hebrideans can be roo'd, but not usually.
We keep Hebs, Soay and Shetlands and in the past have kept Jacobs, Manx Loughtan, a Gotland and a whole variety of cross-breds.  Although I love our Soay, they can be difficult to keep and are not an obvious petting sheep, although in small numbers they do become very tame (some of ours poke around in our pockets looking for treats)  Their fleece is not all that wonderful for craft work and is very tiny, so with just three Soay it would take a couple of years or so to collect a bagful of fleece.
 
Are there any Shetland and BWM breeders near you that you could visit to talk about the different breeds and see them close up?  They will both have websites for contacts.

[Bionic]

Pixie, if you aren't in a rush to get them I would suggest you wait until the Royal Welsh Spring Festival in May.
You will be able to see lots of sheep there and talk to the breeders.
http://www.rwas.co.uk/en/garden-festival/

[goosepimple]

I'd Youtube rooing, there are probably better ways of doing it than I've seen on there     It does fall off even if you don't do this but they tend to remain a bit wooly around the bikini line and could do with a tidy up.  Agree with Fleecewife that although they are easy, they wouldn't be first in the line up of pet sheep