[kate7590]

We're trying to plan what size polytunnel we need for our pet sheep.
We have 8 currently and plan to keep our permanent stock size to 10.
We're breeding 3 this year and again, this will probably be a set to a max of 5 a year.
We want to overwinter them in the polytunnel to help the ground recover and keep a closer eye on them through winter.

Iv been told they need a max of 2square mtrs per sheep over winter…so this is 2mtr X 1mtr, correct? (seems very small to me)
When the ewes lamb they can go in 6ft hurdles with their lambs until 6 weeks (again seems quite small but I know this is common practice)

Id like to double the space required per sheep, so they have plenty of room and aren't cramped over winter.

If each sheep needs 2mtr sqr, and we have 10 sheep max, thats approx 20mtr X 2mtr/ 10mtr x 4mtr, correct?

I just want to get this right in my head before we go ahead and order a polytunnel for them.

Thank-you very much in advance to anyone who can confirm these measurements for me…my brain is frazzled from thinking about it all evening!!

[shotblastuk]

You can expand most commercial poly tunnels by buying additional sections as you expand (so to speak).Before I bought ours we put some hurdles out to the same area as the poly tunnel and put the ewes in, in order to visually see what it looked like. Considering some breeds are three times the size of others it is a very rough estimate. We have cotswolds and Wensleydales which are the size of small ponies so need a much larger area than say a shetland.

[Backinwellies]

No sure of the logic of only breeding 3-5 a year ... not very cost effective.  Would it be better to have less and breed every year?

[Marches Farmer]

No sure of the logic of only breeding 3-5 a year ... not very cost effective.  Would it be better to have less and breed every year?

I agree.  If you don't breed from ewes it can be hard to keep condition off them in the summer and you can then have problems getting them in lamb and lambing problems if they do get in lamb.

[kate7590]

We will only have 5 breeding ewes…the rest are pets not used for breeding.
We're not breeding to make lots of money.

[Rosemary]

What time of year are you planning to lamb? We thought about housing ours from scanning at end January until lambing in early April but our vet, who is also a smallholder, said that the lack of exercise when housed can lead to difficulties at lambing.

Also housing lambs increases the risk of disease (although with only five ewes lambing you'd probably be OK). Personally, if I was keeping lambs in for 6 weeks, I'd be looking to keep them loose housed as a group so that the lambs can play as they would outside. We only keep ours penned after lambing for 12-48 hours to make sure they are mothered up before they go out in the field. If they were indoors, I wouldn't worry about it so much.

[kate7590]

This year they'll hopefully be lambing in April, however next year we plan to lamb around January for a number of reasons and hoped to keep them in from November, or when it starts getting too wet and cold until possibly Feb- March. That way they're in for the worst of the weather and we can keep a closer eye on them around lambing time.

I think we'd look to keep the ewes and newborn lambs in a hurdle pen for a couple of days then they can go back in with the group

[Foobar]

What breed are your sheep?  ..as type and size will make a difference to your calculations

[Foobar]

Sorry - my bad, I see you have Jacobs!


IMHO I would ditch the whole poly tunnel idea, you don't need it, and it seems rather extravagant just for 5 breeding sheep, unless you are going to use it for other things throughout the rest of the year.  Jacobs are hardy enough to lamb outdoors, and the best food for just-lambed ewes is grass, as that will ensure that they produce the best milk for their lambs, so keeping them in for 6 weeks isn't going to do you any favours.  I'd just have a small field shelter where you can put a couple of pens in in the event of a problem.

[kate7590]

We had a home built shelter that we lambed in last year but storm Barney destroyed it, hence why we want a poly tunnel. It will be used for storage the rest of the year.

[Jukes Mum]

Can sheep be kept indoors all winter, lambed indoors, and kept indoors for a further 6 weeks?

[Marches Farmer]

Well they can, but I shove 'em outside asap to avoid the likelihood of cocci.

[Backinwellies]

Horned sheep ... can they be kept in a polytunnel?

[OldGaffer]

Is it a good idea to keep sheep in a polytunnel? My concern is ventilation, from what I know and have read sheep require good ventilation, which is hard to arrange in a polytunnel. I stand to be corrected, but you may find that they will develop pneumonia or other breathing related illness if there is no air movement and it is stuffy.

Further, storms can rip polytunnels apart. When I built my sheep shelter, I buried the vertical wood beams the ground, which has prevented it being pushed over by gales. My only problem is roofing felt, which sometimes needs replacing.

[Backinwellies]

You can buy poly's especially for sheep .... ventilated sides.