New to shepherding

Bruce

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norseofcourse

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Everyone's had really good points so far. I started slow, with just 2 sheep, and am glad I did. No matter how much you read, study and ask questions - when you get your sheep and you're staring at them and they're staring at you, both of you wondering, "what now?", you feel a bit lost (at least I did!). And remember, your sheep didn't read any of the stuff you read. But you learn what works, and you continue to ask questions and learn more stuff.

What are your goals? Some milk to play around with for yourself, or some type of commercial operation? Meat for your own use, or to sell lambs to others?

How much time do you have to devote to all this? To me, that's a big consideration. You can spend as little as a half hour a day feeding and watering - or major parts of days during times like lambing, fencing, vaccinations, milking, shearing, fixing fencing, hoof trimming, getting hay in, working on fencing, dealing with a sick or injured sheep, bad weather, etc...

I started with two pregnant ewes so I didn't have to worry about getting a ram right away. I kept a ewe lamb, so I had 3 sheep lambing the next year, when I began learning to milk. I learned a lot, and last year I did quite a bit of milking. I only milked once a day, in the morning, and I occasionally skipped a day or so (simply didn't separate the lambs overnight on those days). Still, it was difficult, getting up way early, before work, to have enough time to milk the sheep. I think I lasted 3 months or so, and I did enjoy it, except for the 'up early' part.

I have also read that East Friesians need more care and feed. I have Icelandics, as I wanted mllk, meat and wool (and because I am in a group that studies and re-creates history in the Middle Ages (SCA), and Icelandics have been around for centuries). I also like their smaller size, the fact they browse as much as graze, and now that I have had them, I like their personality, too. If breed didn't matter as much, and I was looking for milking sheep, I'd probably check into crosses like mysunwolf mentioned.
 

Mike CHS

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I avoided Facebook for the longest time but it is now one of my favorite sources of contacts. Another resource is county and state fairs and shows as well as check out your state Universities. University of Tennessee (UT) has things going all year and one thing I found out early is that sheep people love to talk sheep and I have gotten several invitations out to look around. We have herding dogs that have opened up a lot of doors for us. We are getting our sheep from the same folks that helped us train our dogs and they also host a Herding Trial every year. We have made many new friends and a major source of support in the last couple of years.

But like mentioned above, the University in your state can be a major help. We arranged to meet the local extension agent when we first started our place and he brought in an expert with sheep from quite aways from us since he wasn't knowledgeable enough.
 

NH homesteader

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@Bruce goats and sheep are both particularly susceptible to worms. In fact I read recently that keeping alpacas with sheep and/or goats can cause problems with worms for the alpacas. Primarily because the alpacas use a communal pile but the others do not, so they have more worm problems from grazing. Never thought of that.

Anyway, I think striving for organic is fantastic. But like others have said, it isn't always possible to raise animals completely organically. There are people I know who use only organic practices with their goats (and don't breed for parasite resistance) who have goats with a lot of worm and other issues. Sometimes it's important to break with organics and do what you need to do in order to have a healthy herd.

I am also looking into getting sheep in the spring. I want to go with Katahdins or Katahdin /dorper crosses. I'm interested in hearing what you learn as you do more research!
 

Southern by choice

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But like mentioned above, the University in your state can be a major help. We arranged to meet the local extension agent when we first started our place and he brought in an expert with sheep from quite aways from us since he wasn't knowledgeable enough.

Very true!
I just got home from our quarterly meeting. I am on the advisory committee for our county's extension service. (Dairy goat rep & poultry). I know our agent is awesome!
Often an extension agent can really help with pasture planting, evaluation, soil analysis, nutritional values. They often have workshops. We did an udder care workshop for the extension services. They may have workshops on parasite management, marketing, nutrition.

Those ponds are going to be problematic.

We also prefer to do as much as possible to mimic a natural environment however things like vaccines are very important, having on hand certain things will be imperative. Glad to hear you will do what is best for the animal.
 

Baymule

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I am new to sheep too. We bought 4 bred ewes, Katahdin/Dorper crosses. I would suggest buying inexpensive sheep to start with, so if you kill one with inexperience, it won't be such a financial loss. While it would break my heart to lose one, it would hurt a lot more if we paid $800-$900 for one instead of the $220 we did pay. Start slow and low $$
 

TAH

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I am new to sheep too. We bought 4 bred ewes, Katahdin/Dorper crosses. I would suggest buying inexpensive sheep to start with, so if you kill one with inexperience, it won't be such a financial loss. While it would break my heart to lose one, it would hurt a lot more if we paid $800-$900 for one instead of the $220 we did pay. Start slow and low $$
We got ours for $90 each.
 

Green Acres Farm

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I am new to sheep too. We bought 4 bred ewes, Katahdin/Dorper crosses. I would suggest buying inexpensive sheep to start with, so if you kill one with inexperience, it won't be such a financial loss. While it would break my heart to lose one, it would hurt a lot more if we paid $800-$900 for one instead of the $220 we did pay. Start slow and low $$
Yes, but pay for clean animals. Pay to get them tested for common diseases. You want to start out with a biosecure herd.
 
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