Barbados Blackbelly Cold Tolerance

TurtleCrossingRanch

Exploring the pasture
Joined
Feb 2, 2019
Messages
8
Reaction score
11
Points
24
Location
Georgetown CA
I have been doing tons of reading regarding temperature tolerances of sheep. I have a small flock of barbados blackbellies that were given to me by a friend (6 sheep and just got 2 new lambs the other day as a surprise!) In general, sheep do well in the 40s to 70s F range (as per what I have been reading on various sources), but how long will sheep tolerate subfreezing temperatures, specifically the barbados?

We don't normally freeze where I am at in the CA mountains, but it can dip down that low at night, and it projected to stay low for several days now.

The lambs and ewe are safely protected in the shed/barn seperate from everyone else right now. They are shut in because she tended to lead them to lay down in puddles and everyone else is shut out because I dont want the lambs stepped or laid upon and squished. There are plenty of trees in the pasture area and I have a canvas tarp shelter for them to get out of the rain.
 

Mike CHS

Herd Master
Joined
Mar 18, 2013
Messages
10,407
Reaction score
37,366
Points
793
Location
Southern Middle TN
I only know of one farm that has some Barbados in with Katahdins and Dorpers and they lamb in the fields but have wind breaks and shelters available. We have Katahdins and just had a bunch of lambs during the time the weather was down in the 20's. We have heat lamps and shelters available but they stayed outside.
 

promiseacres

Herd Master
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
4,796
Reaction score
9,711
Points
563
Location
NW Indiana
My painted desert which had a lot of Barbados in them did fine in northern Indiana winters. Even Lambed outside in the snow. We just a lean to shelter for them
 
Top