Author Topic: How many sheep per acre? (Read 7479 times)

Steph · « **on:** December 29, 2009, 11:59:56 am »

Hey, Im a 16 year old girl living up in the Orkney Islands (Off the north coast of Scotland) We have a farm with cows but Im quite into working with sheep. We have 2 acre's of spare land and I was wondering how many sheep Id be able to put on the 2 acre plot? Any advice would be brill! Thanks - Steph

CameronS · « **Reply #1 on:** December 29, 2009, 12:16:12 pm »

i would say about 4 sheep per acre, depending on the breed of sheep, what the vegitation of the ground is like, how steep, wet etc the ground is and if you intend to breed and have lambs.
I'm sure someone else could give you much better information as i've had limited experience with sheep,
I've bottle reared two texel tups, and helped with lambing but thats where my experience stops.

Steph · « **Reply #2 on:** December 29, 2009, 12:22:02 pm »

right yep, I was thinking about strip feeding to try and make the grass last longer but as it stands i realy dont know. I think theres an extra 3 acres back home here so, im not too sure. We had sheep before but they were more pets than a source of income. I dunno! Thank you for replying, sure is a help.

Steph

woollyval · « **Reply #3 on:** December 29, 2009, 04:00:48 pm »

CameronS is spot on! Really does depend on type and what you are doing with them! Strip grazing can be problematic as sheep do not respect electric lines the way cattle do so if divided up into several paddocks and the odd bit of barn for housing about 8 breeding ewes for 2 acres plus would be the max you could get away with if you do not want management and overstocking problems!

What breed or type were you thinking of?

Steph · « **Reply #4 on:** December 29, 2009, 04:30:40 pm »

Ah right yeah, verry true. ummm, I want Jacobs but it just depends I think. Thanks - Steph

CameronS · « **Reply #5 on:** December 29, 2009, 07:02:28 pm »

If you go for Jacobs, you could possibly up the number of sheep per acre by 1 or two, as they are smaller. But like thewoollyshepherd says, sheep of all ages and sizes have no regard for electirc fencing.