One of my new ewes has a bit of limp and strained gait. I've never checked hooves before and have no clue what to be looking for. I think I'll know if it looks normal, but any tips for hoof checks please. She is a skittish gal and have already annoyed her wrangling and putting wonderdust on a wound. Again, first time with sheep. We've had them a week. Just what do I need to know about hooves?

Hey all,

Please be kind, I'm quite new to this but more than willing to learn.

We have a 2500m² (little more than half acre) land that we'd like to use as pasture for sheeps next year. I understand that this is not a big enough place for a flock, so I'd like to have ~2-3 ewes & a ram (as we'd keep them for meat produce, and as "bio lawnmovers" mainly). The land is not very great due to the lack of rainfall in the past few years, so I plan to enrichen the soil with manure and prepare it with grass seed mixture for sheep pastures.
We would like to separate this into 3 parts to allow rotation.

Is this number of sheep rational for this area, or should I rethink it in some way?

I'm prepared to spend more on feeding to make sure they receive all they need, but I also don't want them to be alone & 1 ewe + 1 ram sounds exhausting for the ewe.

Our idea is to start with cameroon sheep, due to the lack of shearing needs, the exceptional meat taste and the independency of the breed.

Thanks for all kind answers!

Basic/repetitive pics but whatevs :)

Has anyone ever had a sheep get stuck on their side for an extended period of time and when you help them up their front legs from their knees would not bend?

This was taken the first day of breeding season 🤣

I was feeling extremely depressed so went for a walk on the moors and I came across this fella, straight away i noticed something wrong considering it didnt even lift its head when I approached. It was just staring into nothing, ears down looking really sad. I approached abit closer, it stood up walked a few feet away and stood there for about 5 minutes until laying back down. It made me really upset seeing a sheep all alone, clearly in a bad way. I sat on a rock next to it, I ate some food, I cried and talked to it for a few hours. It showed no signs of stress or being scared of my presence, it acknowledged me and looked at me every now and then. I really would like to believe I gave it some sort of comfort. We was both lonely, both sad and I hope I didnt make it uncomfortable. I felt this overwhelming sadness as I walked away from it, leaving it completely alone, most likely suffering and in the dark.

I returned the next day and it was dead, in the same spot. I dont know much about sheep's but I hope to god my presence gave it some slight comfort on its last day on earth.

Even sheep's are loyal full

We are looking at getting some lambs next year. The issue that I have is in deciding how much of a pasture to give them. I know that "it all depends" but was wondering if anyone would be able to give an estimate of how much grazing land would be needed? My Assumptions:

1. We have average grass growth - Live in Alberta Canada and right now we have 5 horses from our neighbor on the land eating the grass.
   1. Normally we need to mow this about 3 times a year to keep it manageable.
2. We would be looking at getting 6 lambs in the spring after they have been weaned
   1. We would be looking at butchering or selling them come winter time.
3. Not sure on breed, but likely it would be a dorper or maybe katahdin (if we can get them).
4. We have 2.5 acres to be able to split into pens
   1. would like to do some kind of rotational grazing on a weekly schedule

How big should the pens be approximately for an average lamp to be rotated weekly?

TIA

Always a pleasure to see them just lay there and eat.

My sheep have been “home” for about a month and a half now, and they’ve really started to settle in.

Thanks especially to one of them, the others have become much more comfortable around people too and quite cuddly!
There is one that dont like me after I put the digital fence around her neck, but she likes the neighbours so its just me 😅
It’s been really fun getting to know them, as they all have such distinct personalities.
The leader Ronny always come to say hello, then goes and do her management thing.
I have come to the realisation that they will die of old age and contrary to how I sold it in, there wont be any pinnekjøtt for christmas or lamb for easter.

Here are a few photos of them with Bergen in the background

And I’ve found it…

Second morning with the sheep and I noticed a bloody patch on one of my gals. She's the only one. The LGD is clean and they are letting him get closer than me, so I know he's in the clear. She doesn't seem to be in any distress, she just won't let me close enough to fully inspect. They do like to walk into the bird house and they broke the door off and there were a few exposed nails, but no blood on anything. Am I doing the right thing just watching her closely and see how she's doing? Or should we be trying to wrangle and force an inspection of the area? This is my first time with sheep so every single tip will be helpful.

Thank you in advance!

We had twins born yesterday morning.

This is the boy with one black ear

Vet is coming this week just want to see if anyone has had somethin similiar

Hi everyone,

I currently have access to used woven HDPE woolpacks located in New Zealand and am looking for buyers or businesses interested in reuse.

These packs were previously used in the wool industry.

Basic details:

• Main woven fabric: HDPE
• Approx. size: 700 × 700 × 980 mm
• Approx. weight: 1.5 kg each
• Previously used for wool
• Stored indoors
• Commercial quantities may be available, subject to grading and final availability

They may be suitable for reuse in agriculture, farm storage, green waste, wool/textile handling, recycling collection or other general non-food applications.

I’m interested in connecting with wool handlers, sheep farmers, agricultural suppliers, traders, distributors or other commercial buyers that may have a use for this type of pack.

Photos and videos are available.

If interested, please feel free to DM me for more details.

He's pretty satisfied with himself, I was working on removing a burdock plant and he decided to join me in chopping the plant down, so I stepped back to let him have some fun, he did need to be cleaned up a bit, but I swear sometimes they really do get themselves in trouble

I've had to trim all these invasive thorny plants since he's gotten caught in one, even blackberry brambles are troublesome. Once as he was walking through the woods, he stepped on a branch which smacked him in the butt so he turned, and started to headbutting the tree.....so what's the biggest plant battle your ram has gotten into?

Hi! New to sheep, just put them in the pasture today. The pasture used to be used for cows and there's giant patches of Alfalfa growing. There's conflicting things on the Internet, is fresh alfalfa as toxic to sheep as the Internet is saying? Or will they be fine? The pasture ground cover is completely grass, but big patches here and there of the alfalfa.

These two are the best things I’ve ever bought, really good natured and fun to have around! Left is a ewe lamb and on the right the ram lamb

Checking on my sheep this morning and I see this gash / cut / wound on our ram. He's the only ram right now so I know it's not the result of ram / ram fighting, nor have any coyotes or other predators been in. What is it? What do I need to do?

I'll get him to a vet if that's what needs done, but I know the crowdsourced wisdom of Reddit has seen a lot.

ETA

I took our Vetericyn and sheep spray out and got him cleaned up, but it was much worse than a gash: The entire area above what I thought was a simple gash was dead skin and under it was filled with maggots. So I dropped the rest of the day's activities and plans and rushed him to the vet.

It turned out to be a pretty nasty case of fly strike. Vet cut off all the dead skin (all the matted area that looks different), cleaned out the wound, gave him 2 antibacterial shots, and sent us home. I asked if there was anything I did wrong or could have done differently or better and he pretty much said no, it's kinda random and nothing better we could have done. Which is great... except I wish there were something we could do!

So now we're keeping it clean, keeping Vetericyn on it, and giving him another shot of antibacterial in a few days. Thanks all, animal husbandry is no joke.

Can’t resist sharing my sweet girl!
She’s the start of my purebred Valais Blacknose breeding