Common milkweed and hair sheep....

[Beekissed]

I've got a large stand of common milkweed in the pasture my hair sheep are in and they will soon reach that stand in their rotation. They LOVE the milkweed when they find it here and there in each paddock and they've had no ill effects, but I don't know about letting them into such a large stand of it...I've cut down most of it, but my both my brush cutters are down and I couldn't finish the job.

What's been your experience with sheep and common milkweed? Greg Judy says his hair sheep do fine on it and never had a problem but not sure if his sheep have quite this much in one place.

 

[Alaskan]

What did you decide to do?

 

[Beekissed]

What did you decide to do?

After talking to some old timers with sheep who said their sheep did fine on it, I let them into that paddock....they are eating it now. They have ate most of the milkweed in three days and had some level of milkweed in their last paddock as well, with no ill effects. So, no more cutting down the milkweed...that should make the butterflies and bees happy!

 

[Alaskan]

After talking to some old timers with sheep who said their sheep did fine on it, I let them into that paddock....they are eating it now. They have ate most of the milkweed in three days and had some level of milkweed in their last paddock as well, with no ill effects. So, no more cutting down the milkweed...that should make the butterflies and bees happy!

Good to know!

 

[Cotton*wood]

I'm new to sheep this year, and I was surprised at how much my hair sheep loved milkweed. It's the first thing they go after whenever they're let into a new paddock, and I have detected no ill effects. They go for it first, despite lush brome grass, and a bunch of other forbs, and I have to assume they know what they're doing.