More sheep coming next week! (was: need encouragement)

[Farmfresh]

Or maybe you could find a rental!

The sheep farm that I toured last week keeps about 20 breeding rams and a herd of 100 ewes. She said that she only uses a few of the rams for her own herd the rest are leased out each season to folks with ewes that need bred -just for breeding time. After that they come back to her farm. This helps out folks who prefer NOT to feed a ram all year for what ever reason. Makes great sense to me!

 

[rebecca100]

That is exactly right. I bought him from people who had wanted a pet, and i think he was already showing aggression is why they got rid of him. Of course they didn't tell me that. I got him anyway since he was a registered Jacob and was very beautiful with the 4 horns and spotted coat and a rare breed on top. Of course I wasn't expecting the amount of aggression, a little is to be understood and dealt with, because like you said he had lost his fear and thought of people, especially small people as something to be dominated. Having raised animals on a bottle before, I knew they would push you like a child to see what they could get away with. We raised a paint filly on a bottle once and she was the worlds worst about pushing. The shock of it was just the ferociousness of his aggression. He didn't last long, that crap doesn't fly around here. Being my one and only ram ever he has made me leary of rams. I don't want to discourage anyone from getting one by any means and I know being self sufficient includes having your own breeding stock, I just know what my experience was and couldn't in good consience not tell it. I am all for the breeding and butchering! You then have your babies and milk and don't have an extra mouth to feed. I brought the two huge ewes home in a big dog crate in the back of my jeep. No trailer required. The only downside is having to buy a new buck everytime, but surely you could make that up with selling the babies.

 

[Blackbird]

No issues here with bottle babies since we got rid of our other buck last year. It is very important to teach them who is boss really early - and I'm definitely not above giving them a slap across the face after a bite or something.

My aunt and uncle have a herd of several hundred sheep - for wool; definitely not pets. However, if you do find some sheep, try to purchase ones who are at least semi-friendly and easy to work with. If I was to try milking one of my aunt's sheep.. well, lets just say I'd probably end up on the ground right quickly.


As with Monique, I am very biased... Go Goats!

 

[lupinfarm]

I agree with Merle. Unfortunately a lot of Ontario producers believe in the tough love mentality and thus sometimes buying a grown ewe is not the best idea. If you do decide to buy grown ewes try to go to a good, registered breeder and pay the money it takes to get a good quality, registered, animal with good blood lines. This will be a huge asset when you need to sell on lambs in the spring. These lambs are going to appeal to hobby farmers and you'll have an easier time selling them with a pedigree.

 

[Farmfresh]

I have always used the "Three Second Rule" with aggressive animals.

You have three seconds to react to the back behavior and three seconds to kill them! After that you stop and return to what you were doing before. It really works.

 

[justusnak]

Being fairly new to the buck issue here...( mine are pygmys) I have to say..they can be a bit pushy. However...a good "goat stick" teaches them really quick...who is boss!
As for the Ram..mine was bottle fed...and to this day ( at a year old) is still friendly. Even through breeding season. He KNOWS the ewes are MINE first...then his. A good stick ( or aluminum pole) can be your best friend when dealing with them. My ram has tried "rubbing" he head on my leg...and a stern NO backs him off quickly. Sheep do not challenge a fence...and electric will discourage a goat. Just do like I did...jump in with 2 feet...and swim!! You will never know if you can do it or not, if you dont at least try!!

 

[FarmGirl]

FarmGirl, let us know when you eventually move permanently to the gorgeous county! We've spoken on BYC I believe before about the county. Its a fantastic area and I'm slowly uncovering all the breeders around here lol. I just visited an amazing goat farm today.

Will do Lupinfarm, I'm looking forward to having a small flock take care of my lawn mowing chore

 

[patandchickens]

You guys are just the BEST, you know that? Seriously.

No, I have Romanovs. About 6 cups per ewe per day. This is enough for us, but I know you woudl get alot more from an actual milking breed or a goat.

Gee, that's not bad for a non dairy breed. I would certainly be ok with that amount (although obviously I would also be ok with more ). I do not want to be making cheese every day, and only have so much freezer space, so in fact one of the "plusses" of sheep as far as I'm concerned is that they would NOT deluge me with milk

Y'all FREE JUST SAID WIENER AND NUGGETS!!!!!!!!!!!

I know, I half choked to death on my chocolate bar when I read that! LOL

I still find it hard to believe that I could transport a mature ram in the back of a Ford Taurus wagon, and am still very leery of a) the safety issue, esp. w/r/t my kids (I'd really like them to be able to be in with the sheep when I'm there) and b) the need for extra housing, fencing, and feed if I kept a ram... but you guys are right, if I really couldn't turn up ANYthing (and I could start looking *now* for someone who'd rent me a ram, so's not to be surprised come Autumn) I probably *could* buy a cheap, ewe-raised ram lamb of any ol' description as long as he had, and I quote, wiener and nuggets <snort>, and then sell or freezerify him after the ewes were preggers.

(Could I *tell* if they were preggers, though, aside from them not coming back into heat? COuld I tell whether ewes were or weren't coming into heat? Boy, I just know NOTHING about sheep.)

I am still hopeful that I can find something cheaper than <ulp!> $250 a pop for ewe-lambs. Although I suppose if I *did* get those, their progeny (always supposing that they survived long enough to PRODUCE progeny -- that is a major concern of mine w/r/t buying lambs instead of grown ewes) might be worth a bit more for resale.

Time to sit down with the sheep breeder websites and make a list of everyone within an hour or so who has breeds that my sheep book says produce reasonable amounts of milk, and then make some phone calls!

Thanks again for the encouragement,

Pat

 

[miss_thenorth]

I answered your post on BYH, about how I would look for a ram, but just wanted to add that you don't need to have the same breed to impregnate your ewes, it could just be any ole ram, as long as the size was similar--as in--you don't want a huge ram breeding a small ewe.

 

[patandchickens]

Update on sheep acquisition scheme: after calling umpty breeders of a) Dorsets and other reasonably heavy-milking breeds, and b) Suffolk and other just-yer-basic-common-sheep breeds, it would appear that I am going to be going the "$250 ewe lamb" route. (Oy.) Nobody wants to sell grown lactating animals at all, and the ewe lambs of nonmilking type breeds are really not *much* cheaper than ewe lambs of dairy type breeds, unless I buy at auction or from Joe Hick with his motley mixed-auction flock.

Given that I know zero about sheep diseases and would really rather not find out anytime soon, I think I am better off sinking an extra couple hundred dollars total into buying dairy-type ewe lambs from a closed-herd breeder that does a lot of testing and vaccinating and suchlike. On the theory that a good animal costs no more to feed than a bad one.

I realize this is not what most of y'all would do, but it's what seems like the best idea for me in the long run.

I can't believe I'm going to be spending THAT MUCH for LAMBS, though.

They had DARN WELL better survive and lamb successfully, is all I can say!

I am waiting for calls back from two East Friesian breeders, but if that doesn't work out or if I don't hear from them in time, I will just call the sheep-dairy woman over near Sunderland back, the one I was talking with yesterday about her British Milksheep-Dorset crosses, and buy from her.

You people are SUCH a bad influence, LOL

Pat