Are you considering getting sheep or do you already have a few? In addition to providing an introduction to raising sheep, this post also includes some of Thrifty Homesteader’s most useful posts about sheep…
Table of Contents
Getting Your Sheep
When it comes to choosing a breed of sheep, I’m partial to the breeds on the Conservation Priority List of The Livestock Conservancy, and it’s not just because the breeds are rare. Yes, I do love the idea of helping to preserve a breed of sheep that’s on the verge of extinction, and that’s one reason we raised Shetlands for 12 years.
However, I also loved Shetlands because they are considered “unimproved,” which means no one has tried to make them grow fatter, faster, cheaper. Like many heritage breeds, they do great on pasture all summer and hay all winter. Many heritage breeds also have excellent parasite resistance and are outstanding mothers. In the 12 years I raised them, I never had a ewe reject a lamb, and the only sheep that ever needed a dewormer were the older ewes after lambing. Although I sold my breeding flock, we still have four fiber pets here on the farm.
If you are not interested in producing your own wool, you should choose one of the hair sheep breeds, which will simply shed its coat annually so you don’t have to worry about shearing. St. Croix, Barbados Blackbelly, and Wiltshire Horn are three breeds on the CPL. Katahdins used to be on the list but they have graduated from it because they are numerous enough now that they are no longer in danger of extinction.
- American Karakul Sheep
- Dorset Horn Sheep
- Sheep vs Goats
- Getting started with livestock
- Choosing livestock for your homestead
- 6 Questions You Must Ask Yourself Before Buying Livestock
- Quarantining new animals
Sheep Care Basics
Sheep tend to be very easy keepers. Most do well with a three-sided pasture shelter. Although some people will confine ewes to a barn during lambing season, we’ve never done this with our Shetlands or Katahdins, but we usually start lambing in April. The need to have lambing in a barn will depend upon how cold it is in your area during lambing season.
- Farm animal psychology
- Tips for Protecting your Livestock from Predators
- Stall cleaning: A necessary part of homesteading
- 4 benefits of rotational grazing
- Rotational grazing: How do you DO it?
- Livestock and hot weather
Sheep Health and Feeding
Many breeds of sheep do well on pasture in the summer and grass hay in the winter. If you are raising sheep for wool, you should not have hay feeders with alfalfa because you will wind up with fleeces full of alfalfa crumbs, which makes it undesirable or even unusable by fiber artists, depending upon the degree of vegetable matter in the fleece.
Although most sources say something along the lines that copper is toxic to sheep, that’s not entirely correct. Sheep need less copper than cows and goats, and they are more susceptible to copper toxicity than other livestock. However, sheep still need copper and can become copper deficient if you have copper antagonists on your farm, such as high sulfur and iron in your well water. Some of our older Shetland ewes became copper deficient, so we wound up giving them goat minerals every couple of months (because goat minerals have a high level of copper in them). After I started doing that, I discovered some other Shetland breeders who were doing the same thing. So, perhaps copper needs among sheep vary between breeds. It is definitely an area that needs more research because it’s not as simple as people used to think it was.
Sheep tend to be much more parasite resistant than goats and just healthier in general. In 16 years of raising sheep, I have never had one that needed a vet, and we’ve had as many as 20 adult sheep in our flock through the years.
- Alfalfa pellets vs cubes and hay
- Kelp: Friend or Foe
- Castrating Goats and Sheep with a Burdizzo
- BioWorma: A New Weapon Against Roundworms in Livestock
- Goats and Sheep and Cobalt
- Tuberculosis in cattle, goats, and sheep
- M-worm: A nightmare for goat, sheep, and camelid owners
Breeding
Breeding sheep is usually much less involved than breeding dairy goats. Although some meat goat breeders pen breed, most dairy goat breeders wait until each doe comes into heat and then they put her with the buck for a few hours. I’ve never heard of anyone who hand breeds sheep. In the fall, shepherds simply create breeding pens. Each pen has a ram and all of the ewes they want him to breed for the season. They leave them together for a couple of heat cycles, which is about six weeks, or longer.
All of our sheep have always lambed on pasture with the rams present. Of all the rams we’ve had, we only had one that had to be removed because he was causing a problem with the lambs. He wasn’t actually bothering the lambs, but he was trying to breed a ewe that had just given birth, which was scaring off the lambs. Of course, that’s just as bad as if he were being mean to the lambs because they have to nurse. So, depending upon the personality of your rams, you may need to be prepared to remove them from the ewes’ pasture during lambing season.
Our sheep have had far fewer birthing problems than our goats. We have only needed to pull one lamb in all our years, and it was a large single lamb presenting head only in a yearling ewe, but once my daughter found a foreleg and pulled, the lamb was born, so it was not even challenging. However, lambing ease definitely varies based upon breed, so do your homework before choosing your sheep.
We’ve also discovered a huge difference between Shetlands and Katahdins in terms of mothering. In 12 years of raising Shetlands we never had a ewe reject a lamb, but in only three years of raising Katahdins, we’ve had three bottle lambs. I’ve also heard other shepherds talk about having bottle lambs every year, so if you prefer to have outstanding mothers, definitely research the breed and also the flock where you buy your sheep.
- 5 tips for breeding goats and sheep
- It’s breeding season!
- Is inbreeding livestock okay?
- Heat Lamps, Safety, and Livestock
Additional Resources
Sometimes, even after reading everything you can find, you still have questions. That’s when it’s helpful to have another person to ask! Thrifty Homesteading is our Facebook group where we talk about all things related to homesteading, including sheep and other livestock. Join us!
Do you have experiences to share or questions about raising sheep? Post in the comment section below!
I have goats and I am wanting to get a few sheep. Can I keep the rams with my male goat and the females with my females goats?
The only issue would be that goats need a lot more copper than most sheep do, so you’d have to figure out how to get the extra copper to the goats. This could mean that the goats spend the night inside the barn with their own minerals. Here is more info on keeping sheep and goats together –
https://thriftyhomesteader.com/can-i-keep-sheep-and-goats-together/
Do sheep help with clearing brush like goats? I love that there are breeds that don’t need to be sheared.
Sheep like weeds more than cows do, but they don’t usually eat bushes and small trees like goats.
Hello. Does anyone know who manufactures Burdizzo. I did a search by name and I am getting Burdizzo style tools and manufacturesrs that make the Burdizzo style but I just want to know where I canget a pair if iriginals. I tried Caprine supply and did not find them. Please help. I just want a tool that works well fir the sake of my little dudes.
Sorry I don’t. I got mine from Caprine Supply, but that was 10+ years ago, so sounds like things have changed.
Sorry for the typos in my post. I wish I could correct them. 🙁
Do you need to trim their hoofs?
Yes, but not nearly as often as goats. Most sheep only get their hooves trimmed once a year when they are sheared. I will be publishing a video on my YouTube channel on Saturday that shows how we trim sheep hooves.
Here’s a video on How to Trim Sheep Hooves —
https://youtu.be/zDK1Ds7sFPA
I’m getting 4 ewe lambs in a week, and I was wondering if it would be ok to give them copper boluses? Any specificity on age and size of the boluses? (I have 2 gram and 4 gram sizes) Thanks!
I wouldn’t do that. Sheep are much more sensitive to copper than goats are. They rarely become copper deficient, although it’s not impossible. You can use copper oxide as a dewormer for them, but if you are concerned about worms, I’d probably just use conventional dewormers on them since they are brand new to you. The dosage for copper when used as a dewormer for barber pole worm is 1/2 to 1 gram for lambs. Some breeders will automatically give their goats or sheep a dewormer before they leave their farm, so be sure to ask if the breeder has already done that. And ask what they used, and write that down for your records.
Can you have a sheep with goats instead of other sheep?
Like many things related to livestock, the answer to that question, does not have a simple yes or no answer. Here’s an article about keeping sheep and goats together. https://thriftyhomesteader.com/can-i-keep-sheep-and-goats-together/
Do I need to deworm all new lambs? What do I use to deworm?
Also do all new lambs need any vaccinations? Our 8 new lambs are Royal Whites and 10 weeks old.
Hi Holly!
I have a few resources for you to give more detailed information, but the short answer is:
No- you should not routinely deworm your lambs, or your adults. This is the fastest path to developing dewormer resistance on your property.
You should only deworm animals that NEED to be dewormed, due to clinical symptoms. A dewormer is a drug to treat illness, and should not be used as a prevention.
Much more detailed info here-
https://thriftyhomesteader.com/goat-worms/
The most commonly recommended routine vaccine is CDT. I would check with the breeder to see if this has already been given. They need 2 doses 3-4 weeks apart, and then an annual dose.
This will give you wonderful information about CDT vaccines-
https://thriftyhomesteader.com/vaccines-for-goats/
I hope you find all of this extra info helpful:)
~Tammy
So when getting your 1st ewes. How do you go about the tagging. Should I get my flock id number for the lambs. I know if I want to sell at a stockyard or something like that. I just don’t want to get into trouble for something I didn’t really know
When you buy sheep, they should have scrapie tags from their flock of origin. You will need to get your own flock ID from the USDA and then get ear tags with that number on them. (I get mine from Premier 1 Supplies.) You will then need to tag all of your lambs before selling them.
To request official sheep and goat tags, a flock or premises ID or both, call 1-866-USDA-Tag (866-873-2824). Free tags can be provided if the producer has not received free tags in the past 5 years or as an incentive for providing scrapie surveillance samples from their animals.
Here is our podcast on scrapie — https://thriftyhomesteader.com/scrapie-in-goats-and-sheep/
I just traded a goat for a lamb. She looks a little skinny so I was thinking of supplementing her grazing for the next few weeks to give her a head start. What would be the best thing to feed her? She is a hair sheep and we are raising for meat.
Hi Brandon
You can use alfalfa hay and/or a grain specifically for sheep. But be sure to introduce both of these slowly so you do not upset the rumen. You can also put out a free choice sheep specific loose mineral.
Remember that transport and relocation cause stress which can create an optimal scenario for a case of coccidiosis. So be sure to keep an eye out for those symptoms as well as symptoms of worms.
https://thriftyhomesteader.com/preventing-coccidiosis/
https://thriftyhomesteader.com/5-point-check-for-parasites/
~Tammy
Thank you.
Hi. I bought two hair lambs. an ewe and a ram they are 8 month old meat lambs. I wanted them as pets. so adorable. I have a dog pen with a roof on it I’m using for them as a barn. it’s 8 feet wide by 24 feet long. I feed them 1st cut orchard hay. There’s no pasture they will live in my dog pen. I will keep it clean. they are on drainage rocks covered with straw. Can they survive this way or should I sell them.
Hi Dee
The short answer is, Can they survive?- yes, but not without consequences. Will they thrive- no.
Sheep are grazers and are meant to be out on pasture grazing as their rumens tell them to add more food to it.
Grazing a pasture also means that they are constantly walking. Confining them to such a small area will be restrictive to the amount of exercise they need to be healthy. This may create issues with obesity as well as various issues with their feet, legs, and joints. Confinement also predisposes them to various other diseases.
They are also going to get quite large and will soon outgrow the pen they are in. The ram in particular may become destructive.
You should also consider breeding control. The ram should be castrated to prevent offspring.
The housing you are describing is not adequate to protect them from winter storms. And depending on how it is positioned/protected may not protect them adequately from the harsh heat and direct sunlight of summer.
You mentioned they are hair breeds, so you will also need to make arrangements for annual shearing and while most sheep only require annual hoof trims, these may require more frequent trimming due to confinement.
These are just a few challenges before you. For the overall health and happiness of these lambs, I would find them a more appropriate home asap. It may be harder to re-home them as they get older.
Tammy