milking sheep -- paging beekissed

[PunkinPeep]

from http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=160679#p160679

I think if I had too little space for even a mini cow a milky sheep like a Katahdin would be my choice before a goat.

I know there are a lot of goat lovers out there but sheep just seem to be more my speed. Plus their milk is supposed to be about the best for cheese.

Sheep are a very attractive notion to me, but i don't know much about them. I think, in my mind, they need rolling hills and whatnot. Seems like a couple of beautiful sheep in my dinky little space might be insulting to their beauty. :/ Maybe i'm overthinking it.

You need to talk to Beekissed. She is the one 'been there done that' with the sheep situation.

So what about it, beekissed? Should i get milking sheep for my small acreage?

 

[Beekissed]

I'm not sure of the question but I think you want to know if sheep do well on small acreage...say, an acre? Mine are doing very well and I cannot describe to you how beautiful they are grazing on the green grass....it just completes the look of my place!

They are more bonded with me than other people's sheep....more like everyone's goats seem to be. They await me eagerly when I come home, even though I don't feed grain or treats on a regular basis. They run down to the front fence when they hear my truck pull in the drive and start calling me when they see me get out.

My Katahdin ewe that is currently fresh is very docile and I did an experimental tug on one of her teats the other day and it was sooooo easy...squirted a fine jet immediately and she didn't move a muscle.

They mow the grass very well~like a well manicured lawn~ but you may have to mow down some clumps of the stuff they don't prefer a couple of times a year.

They socialize with my dogs and cats, co-habitate well with the chickens and they seem to look to me as their flock leader.

They are the absolute funnest livestock I've ever kept and give me hours of enjoyment and amusement...they are very intelligent and comical! They don't drink or eat much and they only leave sprinkles in the yard which seem to dissolve with each rain.

Everyone I see in this county love driving by my place to see my sheep...they are not used to seeing people having sheep that close to the house and interacting with them like pets.

These sheep were the best livestock choice I've made and I don't think I would have gotten to know them and observe them as well if they were out in some field and I only saw them at a distance.

BTW, I just added a ram lamb to my flock and am currently putting Ugly Betty up for sale....wanna buy her?

 

[PunkinPeep]

omg, you're making me want some sheep.

How many do you have on how large a space? How often to they need to be freshened? How high are the prices to get your hands on some?

I imagined that i would have to separate them from the chickens, but if i didn't that seems awesome!

What kind of shelter do they need? Do they like to sleep outside or go in a barn or something?

That's very exciting!

Oh, i think the shipping from WV to TX might be a little steep for a live ewe. Hehe!

 

[patandchickens]

How often to they need to be freshened?

Pretty often. That is the biggest drawback of dairy sheep, that they don't have long lactations. I do not believe that even the longest-milking most-highly-bred dairy sheep go more than 6-8 months at a time. As opposed to goats or cows which can go 10 months easy and sometimes can go into a second year before needing to be rebred.

The other drawback is that turkey-baster-style AI does not work well with sheep, so you pretty much need either to own a ram or to have easy access to one whose owner will rent it out.

How high are the prices to get your hands on some?

It varies locally and seasonally -- I learned the hard way, do not go sheep-shopping just before Easter -- but if you just want A Sheep Of Some Sort you can get bottle-lambs (non-dairy) for cheap or free when someone's lambing, or grown adult (non-dairy) sheep for maybe $100ish if you shop around. If you want ewes or ewe-lambs from a dairy herd or registered herd (even if they themselves are not registered) you are looking at $200-300ish. Any ol' female sheep will give *some* milk; but sheep from lines or breeds that have been selected for "milkiness" (producing milk aplenty to successfully feed multiple lambs at a time) will do better, and dairy breeds/crosses will do best. There are tradeoffs involved however.

I imagined that i would have to separate them from the chickens, but if i didn't that seems awesome!

The main thing is that they can't be eating lotsa chicken food.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[PunkinPeep]

I have read that painted desert sheep have "milk aplenty for multiple lambs," and i have found some for sale pretty cheap in my area. Are they a reasonable milking sheep?

Oh, and a more specific question, i asked if a couple of sheep could live on a small parcel of land, but what i really want to know, i think is how well the grass from a small piece of land can sustain them. I would like them to be grass fed as much as possible.

And what's this about vaccinations? I would not have expected to vaccinate a sheep.

Thank you so much for entertaining my curiosity!

 

[Beekissed]

I have read about the painted desert sheep and it is all good.

About vaccinations....I know that all that is recommended and such but I have not done so.

I figure everyone does their flock the way they wish and I plan on having a pretty closed flock but will sell the offspring. I don't plan to vaccinate or medicate at all and will leave that up to whoever buys them to do that on their own.

I will be keeping a steady three to four adult sheep on one acre of land, with sections divided for rotational grazing. Of course, they will be having lambs and so this number will fluctuate from time to time.

I don't feed grain and have found that these hair sheep just do not do well on grains. They like graze and browse and will do just fine on hay all winter. My lactating ewe is keeping excellent condition on just grass.

I think it would depend on the quality of your grass as to how many you can sustain....we had a big drought this year and I decided that I would not keep the number I had originally planned. My grass is still going strong but it has put a big strain on it to run four sheep per acre when part of that acre is occupied by a house, buildings and gardens.

I would say that one could keep one freshened ewe going at all times and even have an overlap and be milking two at once, if you managed it right. Since hair sheep don't have a breeding season and can breed all year round, it would be easier to do this with those breeds.

 

[PunkinPeep]

You're so helpful! Thank you!

 

[patandchickens]

The most common sheep vaccines are against the clostridial diseases (tetanus, and clostridium C and D) which are ubiquitous in the environment and just want the right circumstances in your sheep to get going and kill 'em. A puncture wound, too-rich feed, etc.

So it is not quite the same calculation as when deciding to vaccinate against *contagious* diseases, as for instance most human and pet vaccinations are.

Pat