Thinking about getting into sheep, but not sure of what you’ll need? Here’s list of the things you need to have figured out to successfully raise sheep. You need a plan for your sheep First off, to raise sheep that you are happy with, you’ll need a plan. Not all sheep are ideal for every…
Sheep can be stressed for a number of reasons including weather, isolation, immediate threat (like a predator) or something specific to the individual sheep, such as a health. So, how do you know? If your sheep are stressed, what does that look like? Stressed sheep may pace, pant, repeatedly call to other sheep, bunch up…
Sheep have plenty of grass to eat in the growing season, after all, if you are mowing your lawn then the pastures are growing, too! But…what about when the grass stops growing, what do sheep eat in the winter? In the winter, sheep eat stored forages, like hay or haylage. If there is extra pasture,…
Rejected or disowned lambs, can happen in most any flock and are one of the more confusing parts of lambing season to deal with. What can you do if you notice that a ewe has rejected her lamb? If a ewe rejects or disowns a lamb, you can try to rebond the ewe and lambs…
Sheep seem to always be in a group and following each other around. What are they doing? Why do sheep insist on staying in the group, don’t they want to do a few things by themselves? Sheep follow each other because they instinctively want to be in a group with other sheep. A lone sheep…
Sometimes sheep will steal the lambs from other sheep. Why? What is that ewe (mom sheep) doing with another ewe’s babies? Ewes have a powerful instinct to take care of their lambs. Sometimes that instinct is very strong before the birth of her own lambs, so she steals the lambs from other ewes so she…
You’re expecting lambs! According to the calendar, your flock’s lambing start date is anytime. Wow, a very exciting moment that’s taken some work and planning to get to! The time you’ve been looking forward to is actually here, now what? How do you know when your ewes are about to start lambing? Sheep that are…
Breeding season is when you set up the rest of your flock’s year. Having lambs born at the time of the year that suits you and your sheep the best will make lambing season go more smoothly for everyone, both you and your sheep! To have lambs born at the best time for your area,…
You’ve seen the pictures, rams with big, beautiful curling horns. Wow are they are sight! But do domestic sheep, the kind of sheep raised by farmers and ranchers, have horns? And if they don’t what do you call hornless sheep? Domestic sheep can have horns, but not all breeds do. Sheep breeds like Scottish Blackface…
Thinking about raising a few pigs this year? Good call, nothing is better than a freezer full of your own homegrown pork, especially when everyone else is scrambling to be at the meat counter when it finally stocks up again! What are you getting yourself into, here? Now that you have decided that raising pigs…