[KSThompson]

Hello,
I was wondering if anyone has any knowledge on the behaviour of pet sheep and if you could offer any advice.

I have a pet sheep (badger-face Shetland wether), just the one, now 2 & a 1/2 yrs old, whom we acquired when I was working on an open farm. His mother rejected him mostly due to the fact she had mastitis and was very painful.
I took him home and hand-reared him, and he's been with us ever since because we could not handle him going off to slaughter after all the hard work, and we had become quite attached!
He's only really ever known human interaction, as he has never been around other sheep, other than a couple of days after birth. He responds to his name and always runs to greet us when we go out to him. There is also two pet rabbits in the garden which he seems to enjoy watching when they show off (running and jumping around).

Lately, I've noticed that he seems a little down. I'm not really sure how to explain it but he just doesn't seem as happy. He recently had a vet check up, and we were told he's perfectly fine, if not just a little too well looked after (oops). So he's on a little diet, but he still enjoys his food.

He often gets interaction from all of us, not so much in the winter but as much as we can.
Is there any chance he could be bored? Do sheep get bored with their surroundings after a while? Currently he has a space roughly 25ftx40ft. He has some logs, a small tree/bush, and some plain rubber bicycle tyres which he seems to enjoy chewing/gnawing.  He's got a shed which he is shut into at night as he is alone, we don't want him being at risk to any predators, and has a large soft toy in with him which he's had from when he was young.

We take him out for "walks" over to a large public field just around the corner from where we live. He seems to perk up at this change of scenery and we run with him and he runs along side jumping and doing little leg flicks.

We've considered maybe moving things around and adding some more sheep-friendly plants and trees for him to forage from, and also making his space bigger.

If anyone has any other advice or views it'd be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
KTx

[Yeoman]

Sheep are flock animals; they need to be together.  Assuming your vet I didn't find any thing physically wrong I would strongly suggest that he is "just" lonely.  I'm not an expert but I don't think any amount of environmental enrichment will solve his problem.

You're obviously an animal lover so you really do need to chose whether to acquire some friends for him or find him a new home.

There are people in the world who keep sheep as a hobby i.e. without the end result being the slaughter house so you should be able to find him somewhere if you're not in a position to take on more sheep at the moment.

I'm sure he'll be fine once you find him some new friends!

[Foobar]

I agree, I suspect he is lonely and needs more social interaction.
If you have the space I would get him a couple of bottle-reared friends. Or some other animal - alpacas, dogs, cattle, goats etc which he could live with.  Alternatively find him a forever home with someone else, a petting farm or open farm might be an ideal place for him.  There are lots of people on here who I'm sure would take him .

[devonlad]

Definitely needs company of his own kind. Always worth making sure nothing physical of course but as others have said sheep need other sheep

[sokel]

We have a few PET sheep of our own but they live in a flock, we also had 1 at home that had a really bad start and lived indoors for a week, we brought him a friend in so that he always had sheep company and now they are both staying here full time
I would say yours needs a friend of his own kind

[thenovice]

I take it you have a county parish holding number? And the public field you walk your sheep to, is it registered with the rpa? Sheep are livestock, and can spread disease to other livestock!

[Pedwardine]

Where are you KST?
He is just needing sheepy company as others have said but sounds like you've not alot of room for too many companions. You obviously love him alot and I'd like to see you keep him rather than give him up to somewhere where he'll have friends of his own kind. If you can make his space bigger it would help and getting him a companion would be a wonderful thing for him. Alternatively could you find him a forever home whereby you could have visiting rights?

[smallflockshearing]

Another thing to consider is your shed - is it well ventilated?  With no throughput of air, they can be vulnerable to respiratory problems.  Maybe ok now, but one to watch for the future, especially if he acquires a chum.
I'm sure you could accommodate 2 - just make sure it is hand-reared as well to fit in with how you have things now.  A ewe might avoid competitiveness.  You'll need to think about the cost of the bought-in feed, and whether the ground can take it in the middle of winter.

[SallyintNorth]

I am going to be blunt.

You sound like very nice people but sheep need to roam around grazing. 25' x 40' is a cage, a prison, especially to a hill breed.  He's a lucky boy to have had a lovely home to grow up in, but he's grown up now and he needs to be being a sheep somewhere much larger.

We generally say 5 commercial sheep or 7 primitive sheep to the acre - that's 6 to 9 times the space per sheep as your boy has, plus a minimum of 4 sheep as a social group at that stocking density would have 35 times as much space for wandering about in. 

Put another way, your stocking density is over 40 sheep to the acre - that's way way too high (for any breed of sheep.)

Sheep don't generally chew tyres.  It's possible there's a mineral in there he's wanting, but your vet says he's healthy, so I'd say he's chewing tyres as a displacement activity, like dogs chew furniture when they're unhappy about being left home alone.  I could express this more strongly, but I don't want to be too harsh as you clearly care about your boy, enough to have come on here seeking advice about his happiness. 

If you can find half an acre to rent or buy, and get another sheep to keep him company, then he would certainly be happier.  Because he hasn't learned to be in a flock as a youngster he probably would struggle to adapt to being in a large flock, so if you look for another home for him it needs to be somewhere where he can adapt to being with numbers of other sheep slowly.

Otherwise, frankly I'd find someone sympatico who will take him to the local abbatoir for you.  He's had a lovely life up until recently, but this can't go on.

You don't say whereabouts you are; there could well be someone lovely on here who could offer him a better home, perhaps even near enough to you for you to visit.

[smallflockshearing]

Fair one Sally.  Well said.

[wallyward]

Hi
 
Lot of good advice above so I wont repeat any of that. If you do agree he would be better of somewhere else with company locally you may be at a loss of how to go about that. So this is maybe one suggestion worth looking at.
 
I keep sheep, Dorset Downs, we breed them for meat for us and the extended family. My wife has recently got into weaving so we have been considering shetlands. I was amazed at the amount of people we met through the spinning/weaving class my wife went to who keep small flocks of shetlands mainly for the wool. these sheep were kept to very high standards and given lovely lives just for their wool.
 
so it may be worth you contacting your local spinning/weaving group and seeing if you can arrange something through them. That way he may be able to go somewhere local where you can still be part of his life. You never know you may even get into weaving and doing something with his wool in the future! just an idea
 
Dont know where abouts you are but if in east anglia try contacting Barbara from Naked wool http://www.nakedwool.co.uk/shetland-sheep.html
 
regards

[ZaktheLad]

There might even be a local community farm or petting farm locally that will take him and give him the interaction with other animals that he needs.  Good luck in either finding some land to rent to keep him yourself or in finding him a suitable home where you can keep in touch with the new owners and visit occasionally. 

[Marches Farmer]

I'm with Sally and thenovice on this one.  Legally walking your wether on a public field is a minefield.   Never mind what he might pass on, what might he bring back - people do not worm their dogs regularly, as our neighbour with a public footpath crossing his land who's just lost three sheep to gid would tell you.  You must have a County Parish Holding number from DEFRA and fill in an Animal Movement Licence and send it off to your local authority every time a sheep leaves the holding.  Any animal coming back onto a holding triggers a six-day standstill and can't be moved off again until the same day the following week, unless you have a DEFRA-approved quarantine facility.

He sounds like a desperately unhappy sheep to me.  I know you've done your best for him and the best thing for him now would be to spend the rest of his life with other sheep grazing off an orchard or living in a farm park somewhere.

[HamishMcMurray]

We have 8 Shetlands and Hebridean ewes and wethers that we keep as pets. We're in the North West (just outside of Preston). If you would like him to go to a good home where he'll have friends to be with then please contact me. All our sheep are very friendly/tame and it sounds like he'll fit right in.

[JulieS]

...and if you're near Devon then I've got 4 tame ewes and wethers that he could come and join.


Just let us know where you are and I'm sure someone on here will be able to help