When you are considering buying a starter flock of sheep, you’ll want to know what you are getting into! Are your sheep going to need tons of time and attention or with basic care are they fairly easy keepers? Sheep are easy keepers if you are timely with flock management and have the right feed…
Bottle lambs are going to, of course, be more work for you than lambs that are raised by a ewe. Even if you are willing to put in the work, will it be worth your effort, as far as keeping those bottle lambs as breeding stock? Bottle lambs should not be kept as breeding stock….
You can successfully raise bottle lambs. It will take some work and planning and, of course, some patience! How do you make sure the lambs will grow well while being bottle fed and then get them transitioned off the bottle at weaning? Bottle lambs need lamb milk replacer fed as recommended. As long as the…
Eventually, you’ll come to the point in the year where you need to find some bedding for your sheep. If you have looked around any, you have also noticed that you’ve got some choices of which bedding to use. What are the differences between the bedding types and which is the best bedding for you…
Nothing beats the flavor of home grown lamb! And nothing can beat the price either! If you are considering raising a few lambs for your freezer (and you should be!) how do you know when they are ready for the butcher? Your lamb is ready to be butchered when it has filled out the rear…
Sheep bells are something that I think of from movies like Heidi or videos of festivals, including traditional dress and activities, from villages in the mountains of Europe. What about here, for everyday sheep owners? Are there practical reasons to have bells on your sheep? The main benefits of sheep bells are that they provide…
Do you have a good sized yard and are wondering “why do I keep mowing this thing?” Maybe you’ve seen other people with grass to spare get some livestock and start using their grass as a resource. Why not you? Sheep could be just what you are looking for! Sheep require food, which consists of…
After you have purchased a set of clippers, now you are ready to get started shearing your own sheep! How to work the clipper is easy, plug it in and turn it on. But yikes! How do you set those combs and cutters? The blades, the comb and cutter, must be set to the correct…
Thinking about shearing your own sheep? What equipment do you need to buy and why? Let’s dig into what you need to shear your sheep and why you would need it. Sheep are shorn with a hand held machine called a clipper that has two blades, a comb and a cutter, which move horizontally to…
Many flock owners have wool producing sheep, but not many shear their own animals. It does take some practice and some equipment but it is within reach of most any interested person. Even if you are not very strong or agile there are many different approaches to shearing so you can experiment and see which…