new to this need advice

vermin99

Well lads, we have a 4or 5 acre field and acces to another 2 acres and so far we are buying 2 heifers in march and fattening until september, however there is loads of grass in ut and im considering buying say 9 or 12 sheep to keep me busy and make a few quid.thining of getting maybe suffolk, charlois or texel sheep.main problem is im 16 and I dont know the ins and outs of sheep farming.what kind of money per ewe are we talking for dosing, shearing foot bathing and all .what type of dosing would need doing like fluke, worms fluke etc.my fathers a butcher and will buy lambs off me.as regards wintering we have a straw shed would fodder beet be the way to go ?
Also what would be the cheapest way of starting a small flock.pet lambs, ewe lambs or in lamb ewes ? Thanks

Youngshepherd

I'm 16 myself and have a small flock of thirty sheep that I run on my granddads land along with his horses to be honest I'd stay away from charrollais in terms of ewes because there very poor milkers charollais Rams on the other hand are really good terminal sires they put on good lean meat fairly fast which I'm sure your dad would like! The only problem I've really heard of with Suffolk is they can get fairly dirty behind and that'll lead to maggots texel are good though nice strong milky ewes but my preference would be a cheviot ewe and cross them with a texel ram they have good strong lively lambs with a good will to live and with the texxel in them they make good meaty lambs. The only dosing I get would be heptavac p the worm and fluke dose only comes in big packs that would do up to fifty sheep so I usually just get some off of farmers around my area I don't foot bath at all with such a small number I just use blue spray whenever I see a lame ewe works perfect. With foot shearing I just do then once a year if they need it. In winter I leave my ewes on the grass and when it gets bare I throw good quality silage out and 6 weeks before lambing I put a mineral lick and start feeding ewe nuts never really used beat because it can be hard on there teeth unless it's chopped up and that takes a good bit of effort! 2 weeks before the first lamb is due I bring them in and keep feeding silage and nuts it's only about a tener a bag for nuts and I'd say around 4 bags would do nine sheep. The cheapest way to start I would say is buy a few ewe lambs and breed off them once they turn a year old start with an easy lambed ram ie.charrollais,vendeen,cheviot. Your looking at about 100-120 for good ewe lambs. Good luck!

sea12

Youngshepherd wrote: »

I'm 16 myself and have a small flock of thirty sheep that I run on my granddads land along with his horses to be honest I'd stay away from charrollais in terms of ewes because there very poor milkers charollais Rams on the other hand are really good terminal sires they put on good lean meat fairly fast which I'm sure your dad would like! The only problem I've really heard of with Suffolk is they can get fairly dirty behind and that'll lead to maggots texel are good though nice strong milky ewes but my preference would be a cheviot ewe and cross them with a texel ram they have good strong lively lambs with a good will to live and with the texxel in them they make good meaty lambs. The only dosing I get would be heptavac p the worm and fluke dose only comes in big packs that would do up to fifty sheep so I usually just get some off of farmers around my area I don't foot bath at all with such a small number I just use blue spray whenever I see a lame ewe works perfect. With foot shearing I just do then once a year if they need it. In winter I leave my ewes on the grass and when it gets bare I throw good quality silage out and 6 weeks before lambing I put a mineral lick and start feeding ewe nuts never really used beat because it can be hard on there teeth unless it's chopped up and that takes a good bit of effort! 2 weeks before the first lamb is due I bring them in and keep feeding silage and nuts it's only about a tener a bag for nuts and I'd say around 4 bags would do nine sheep. The cheapest way to start I would say is buy a few ewe lambs and breed off them once they turn a year old start with an easy lambed ram ie.charrollais,vendeen,cheviot. Your looking at about 100-120 for good ewe lambs. Good luck!

Good post young Shepard.
Out of curiosity how do u manage silage with only 30 sheep. Does the bale not go off in a few days before they have eaten it.

Youngshepherd

My grandad has around 20 horses that are stabled during winter and he cuts his own silage so when a bales opened I just take out what I need for the sheep everyday and put it in the feeder for them it's fairly handy!