Is there a primer on lamb/sheep care?

[DianeS]

Good afternoon, all! I have the opportunity to pick up two lambs at a really good price. Up to date on worming and vaccines. Four months old.

What are the plain basics of lamb/sheep care that I would need to know? I believe I've read everything and am ready to handle this, but I'd hate to get them here and realize I missed something basic.

They'll have a run-in shelter, orchard hay and bagged grains from the feed store, the area is well fenced, and they'd have each other. Anything else I'd need in the first day or two after getting them here?

The idea would be to keep them for butchering in a few months, although if they turn out to be easy to care for I may keep one or both to breed instead.

Thanks!

 

[TrixR4kids]

How are you doing with your sheep??
Have you decided to butcher them or keep?

Sounds like you've done everything right.
It's always a learning curve anyway.

There are a few books about raising sheep that I really liked and found very helpful.

Living with Sheep is one of my favorites. It's a very easy read and quite informative.

Another good book and one that is quite popular is Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep .

Small-Scale Sheep Keeping For Pleasure And Profit is a good book with info on growing your flock to make a little money.
It's got some good tips on what to do and what NOT to do.

 

[DianeS]

I didn't get them. The seller was being flaky. I asked for basic info like vaccination history, current food, height, etc. The seller only got back to me with half the information, and never replied with the rest. So I passed. They were more than an hour away and I did not want to drive that far for just a maybe.

But thanks for the book recommendations, I'll be more prepared for the next opportunity.

 

[Bettacreek]

If you don't mind me being nosy, what breed, gender and how much were they? I ended up with a blue/natural (not sure what it's called) suffolk whether for $100, but the sire they're trying to sell for $300. Not that I want a full sized ram, but some day I would love to get a few ewes!