[bigchicken]

I think if you think sheep are a hassle then sheep are not for you. And as an answer to the question pick whatever breed you like the look of as in my experience that's what the majority do despite other people's advice. I went for Shetland and have never had any regrets despite all the negative comments you hear. The very best of luck.

[Jukes Mum]

We were advised to try Ryelands as a low- hassle beginners sheep. The plus is that they are cute and loveble.
So far no hassles other than follwing me everywhere and getting under my feet!
One thing you don't need to worry about is them escaping. Unless they are following me, they will be exactly where I left them. Lazy sheep!

[Bionic]

We were advised to try Ryelands as a low- hassle beginners sheep. The plus is that they are cute and loveble.
So far no hassles other than follwing me everywhere and getting under my feet!
One thing you don't need to worry about is them escaping. Unless they are following me, they will be exactly where I left them. Lazy sheep!

Agree with everything you have said about Ryelands. Don't you just love'em 

[Tim W]

Excellent theory in a commercial flock, It would perhaps need to be a little less ruthless and gradual in a rare breeds flock where breeding stock are a little thinner on the ground.

I have done this with what was a rare breed at the time---Wiltshire Horns----and it is one of the things that can ensure the survival of a rare breed.

We have managed to lift the lambing %age by 14% and 8 week wts by 2kg . we have vastly reduced the wiltshires propensity to abandon lambs and have added some valuable muscle . They also had pretty bad feet when we started 20 years ago but now rarely get a problem.
All by being ruthless and culling all problems

Many rare breeds are rare because they have been mollycoddled----

[Young Ed]

agree with the advice of talking to local farmers as what i can run down here in the south east will almost certainly not be able to live on welsh mountain faces and Scottish moors

apart from that my experience is that texels and sussex among others can be rather boisterous and flighty so not too much fun to handle and shear etc where as the other breed i have been working with, lleyn's, are a lot calmer and more friendly and almost a joy to handle! thus i am going for the lleyn which i will get off a local farmer i have been working for
Cheers Ed

[Blacksheep]

What are you wanting the sheep for and how much land do you have/how many sheep do you want?   If you are wanting low maintenance then you may be better have someone else grazing sheep on your land in return for the occasional lamb for the freezer which will have been reared on your land, and additional payment depending on how many acres. 
Alternatively you could have store lamb to graze the land so that you don't have to worry about lambing/shearing etc. 
If you are wanting to get into pedigree breeding then as others have said you need to choose a breed you like and that is suitable for your land/system.  Then be prepared to select the keepers/replacements that do best in your system and on your land.
We like our Zwartbles, fantastic tasting lamb, easy placid ewes to have about, easy lambers. Not for everyone though judging by an earlier post, but there is a lot of variation within the breed. We keep ours on a low input upland farm at 1100ft, and whilst they don't all do well up here most do seem to do fine, and it does mean lambs we sell generally go on to thrive in their new homes. 

[langfauld easycare]

www.easycaresheep.com they do what it says on the tin. but as has been said before they are easycare not zero care . and there are poor examples out there .
an old guy told me years ago when i found the breed i like it would take about 8 years to get them the way i wanted them . he was pretty near right but you are always improving ,whether it be lambing percentage , improve carcass etc, theres always something to do .


but as has also been said if you are viewing them as a hassle from the start it would be less hassle not to have any

[Castle Farm]

Hassle free sheep leans towards neglected animals.


If your keeping sheep you have to put the work in and that means good animal husbandry.
You can cull out the problems, but most of the problems come from not understanding what the sheep require to keep them on their feet and healthy.


Land management and stockmanship keeps a flock healthy.


Whoever came up with the name easycare was putting the breed/sheep at risk from numbskulls without a clue about livestock management.

[langfauld easycare]

Whoever came up with the name easycare was putting the breed/sheep at risk from numbskulls without a clue about livestock management.

the guys name is lolo owen , he won an m.b.e for services to agriculture , for creating (and naming) easycare sheep .
 they are not called zerocare .

[devonlad]

Hassle free sheep leans towards neglected animals.

Land management and stockmanship keeps a flock healthy.

Whoever came up with the name easycare was putting the breed/sheep at risk from numbskulls without a clue about livestock management.

anyone who happy to mistreat or neglect livestock will do so regardless of what they're called. my neighbouring farmer keeps the most neglected flock of texels you can imagine- what's his excuse- the name ?? prob because he's an a**ehole.

[Marches Farmer]

Hassle free sheep leans towards neglected animals.

Whoever came up with the name easycare was putting the breed/sheep at risk from numbskulls without a clue about livestock management.

If you want really easycare sheep I suggest you rent out your land to a neighbouring farmer as grass keep.  Watch what he does and offer to help.  That way you'll find out what's involved in sheep care and can then get your own sheep ..... if you still want to. 

[in the hills]

We let a neighbour graze our fields while we decided if we really wanted to go ahead and get sheep and also to learn what was involved in day to day care.

We told him that he could graze for no rent and he offered in return to teach us and be on hand in the future to give advice. We kept an eye on the flock and rang him if we thought there was a problem ... eg lame sheep. He would treat while we watched. He also rang us to watch work on the rest of his flock eg. injections, shearing.

Farmer is now a good friend and a great help to us.

So good advice there from MF.

[Me]

Carefully managing sheep with an "easycare" type philosophy and marking out and culling any with problems will do more for sheep welfare over time than catering to every need and "fixing" every problem in the short term be it with concentrate feeding, antibiotics or surgery etc etc.
 
I think easycare is a well chosen name, everyone remembers it and it has recently really entered the collective shepherding concious and many people have been persuaded to breed problems out rather than manage them to cover them up. (Neglect, miss-management, poor attention to detail is a separate issue to selection with easy care traits in mind)

[Hellybee]

Its all hard work...  But at the moment I must say its such a massive relief to have them all sheared wormed lambs resprayed, on new grazing, it's like a little holiday, bar of course checking they're still upright n got water, n licks

[Tim W]

Its all hard work...  But at the moment I must say its such a massive relief to have them all sheared wormed lambs resprayed, on new grazing, it's like a little holiday, bar of course checking they're still upright n got water, n licks

Now I know I've got low maintenance sheep ---no shearing/ not wormed yet this year/no lambs sprayed/no licks etc etc