Big Shelter?

Moses Starr

Chillin' with the herd
Joined
Oct 2, 2018
Messages
25
Reaction score
16
Points
46
Location
Washington
I was thinking of getting sheep and I was wondering how a shelter for 3 sheep should be? and a fence?
 

Latestarter

Novice; "Practicing" Animal Husbandry
Golden Herd Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2014
Messages
11,384
Reaction score
17,481
Points
623
Location
NE Texas
You can make the "dry lot" (fenced in sheep pen) as large as you want. They'll have it down to dirt in no time at all. Advantage is with dirt, less problems with parasites. Disadvantage... you must provide all their feed needs. Oh, and if you're in the wet part of the state, mud... 25'x25' should be more than adequate. I'd go with 32'x16' simply because I can do that with 6 cattle panels, or 32'x32' with 8. You can cut one of the panels with bolt cutters @ about 4' and use that 4' section as a/to make a gate. As for their shelter, an 8'x8' shed would probably do. Again, bigger is always better, especially since livestock has a way of multiplying....
 

Ridgetop

Herd Master
Joined
Mar 13, 2015
Messages
6,572
Reaction score
22,291
Points
693
Location
Shadow Hills, CA
Where do you live in Washington? Are you on the east side where it is drier but colder, or on the west side where it rains most of the time but is milder? Don't forget that you will have to have a covered area to store the hay, grain and other supplies. It is much easier and more enjoyable to feed the sheep when the feed is located near the pen or inside the barn. Wet hay and feed molds and the mold is toxic.

Are you planning to breed these sheep? If so, you need to build your shelter large enough for when they lamb. If you are raising the lambs for meat you might want to build a second pen as a creep where the lambs can eat without their moms eating all the good stuff. Ewes will do this. A creep helps to push the lambs growth, getting them to market sooner and saving money on hay. The creep will take even more space. Also, as the lambs grow larger they and their moms will take up more room, including more room at the feeders. For each ewe plan on 2 lambs so 3 ewes = 9 sheep until the labs go to the butcher.

What kind of sheep are you getting? If these are hair sheep you might want to arrange to have shelter for them at all times. Wool sheep won't feel the rain on their fleece and the grease in the fleece, but lambs don't have much wool when born and you will want to have dry space for the ewes to lamb in since you won't enjoy working with your ewes in a downpour. Also, wool sheep wearing a year's growth of wool are about twice as wide as newly shorn or hair sheep. It is true, they take up more space inside the barn. LOL

Personally I would build a larger barn or shelter so you have room for hay, feed, and expansion. If you are on the western side where the blackberries are a scourge and pestilence, the sheep will eat them but sheep are grazers, not browsers. Even if you have good pasture, it stops growing during the winter and you will have to feed hay during the winter. Winter hay feeding requires hay storage. I would increase the size of the shelter to allow room for hay storage. That way you can get in your hay during the summer when it is cheaper, and even if your sheep are grazing all summer it will keep until you need it in the winter. You will probably feed 1-2 bales (100 lb.) per week, depending on whether the ewes are pregnant or are lactating. The amount fed will increase if you are feeding lambs. The best feed for lactating ewes is good pasture with a small amount of grain at night to bring them into the barn. Even if you are going to bring a few bales of hay home every week, you will need room to store the hay bales and feed in the shelter for easy access.

We have a hayshed and small shelter in the night time pen for the summer and dry times. We are in southern California so we are dry most of the time. We only use the barn for lambing, and wet weather. We store hay in the barn and also on the field in the hayshed. We have 4 ewes and a ram in the 5 acre field that we run into the nighttime pen at night to make it easer for our LGDs to protect them. We have a ewe lamb and ram lamb in separate pens in the barn at the moment. The LGDs have access to the entire property for protection.

IMO always go much bigger than you think you will need. By the time you have finished building the shelter, you will wish you had. Enjoy your sheep!
 

greybeard

Herd Master
Joined
Oct 23, 2011
Messages
5,940
Reaction score
10,803
Points
553
Location
East Texas
I think im going to do a 32ft by 16ft for the pen and 11.5 by 8ft for the shelter

Both, will shrink by the week. IF you put something to feed in, maybe a little hay rack, and something for water in the shelter, there won't be much room left for the animals...
For reference, there is a picture or 2 of a 3 sided shelter in Fred Desantis' journal that looks to be about 12' x12' .
 

Ridgetop

Herd Master
Joined
Mar 13, 2015
Messages
6,572
Reaction score
22,291
Points
693
Location
Shadow Hills, CA
Like Greybeard says, once you have a feeder and large water container in there, there will less space for the animals. Get some marking spray paint (used for marking lines on the ground for roads, etc.) from the hardware store and mark it out. Then prop stuff up to simulate walls. You will be surprised how small it actually is. Now think about having to walk from your garage or other storage shed with feed every morning in the rain (snow) and you will see why it is better to make the shelter large enough to accommodate some hay and grain storage. Also tools for cleaning the inside pen, also DriStall, lime or shavings for the barn floor when it gets mucky, halters or handling equipment, etc.

We have a 12'x12' 3 sided shelter in our old goat pen. It was not really large enough for more than 6 goats crowded in there, and they were half the size of our sheep when they are wearing winter wool coats. Only about 4 could lie down comfortably. If your weather is bad and you have to house them inside for any length of time, you really should have something larger. The difference for us was that the goat shelter was attached to the old 10'x20' milkshed. We had a 10'x20' hay, feed, and tool storage area adjacent to their pen.

It will be cheaper to built a larger shelter now than to build a second one later after you experience all the inconvenience. All livestock is larger than you think. What type of sheep are you considering getting? My ewes are not large but are between 3' and 4' long and 18" to 24" wide with wool on. Ignore the minimum square footage as regulated by the USDA and recommended in livestock books. That minimum sf requirement is for animals in confinement conditions and has stringent regulated waste containment and cleaning requirements which are not doable by family backyard flock keepers. You will have more fun with your animals by building the larger shelter, and be more comfortable taking care of them.
 
Top