When you are new to raising sheep, you are happy to have as many sheep as you can and certainly wouldn’t dream of selling any of them. Then you get a few years down the road you realize that maybe a few of the flock members need to be sold or replaced. How do you…
The adult sheep in the flock need to be shorn every year, but lambs don’t have all that much wool to worry about for most of their first year. Yet, as the lambs grow so does their fleece, which will eventually need sheared. When and why would lambs need to be sheared, as well? Most…
Sheep are susceptible to worms and, unfortunately, those worms can cause tremendous problems with your flock. Your job is to take care of the flock and handle any problems that come up, but there’s the catch: since the parasites are inside the sheep, how do you know if your sheep have worms? Sheep that have…
Lambs sometimes have foot or leg problems, maybe it’s because they are so much smaller than their moms or maybe they are just a little reckless! Either way, you need to figure out what is wrong so you can get it fixed up and healing. To do that, you need to know what’s causing the…
Lambs are supposed to be born in the spring, right? This way the lambs can spend the summer outside with their moms, eating grass and enjoying the sunshine. So why do you see some sheep with lambs that were born in the winter? In the winter, it’s cold and there’s no grass to eat, so…
If you have watched any sheep farming videos or talked to someone in your area who has a sheep farm, the subject of deworming the flock is likely to come up. Why do sheep farmers need to deworm sheep and what happens if they don’t do it? Farmers deworm sheep to reduce the internal parasites…
Sheep are wonderful animals to have, since they are easy to keep and can be kept nearly anywhere there is grass! But these wonderful animals do have a weak spot or two, an obvious one is that sheep are prone to predation. So, what can you do to keep your sheep safe on your farm?…
Maggots, yuck! What on earth are those things doing on sheep? And why are some sheep getting maggots to begin with? Flystrike (maggots) in sheep is generally the result of manure around the tail of the sheep. The manure soiled wool attracts the female blowfly, which lays her eggs on the sheep. Those eggs quickly…
Sheep need water, but does it all have to come from the water trough? Can sheep get water from other sources so they don’t need to drink fluid water, at least for some parts of the year? Sheep need fluid water when they are in the high energy needs parts of their lives, in warm…
Sheep are becoming more popular or at least they are getting more attention these days, but why? What are the benefits of sheep to the folks raising them, the land and the community? Sheep thrive on grass The main benefit of sheep production is that sheep thrive on grass. Sheep grow well on a forage…