3 THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE BUYING SHEEP | Sheep Farming for Beginners

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BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO RAISING SHEEP on PASTURE SMALL SCALE

IN THIS VIDEO I am going to give you the 3 things you will need to consider as a beginner looking to get start with sheep. I am going to share with you the difficulty we had as a result of being under-prepared for these 3 things when sheep landed at our farm 5 years ago. Spoiler alert: we lost 1/2 of our initial flock.

I am going to call on the sheep owners watching this: Drop in the comments what breed you are running and give one piece of advice based on what you have experienced with sheep so far. I asked this question on my last video about sheep vs. goats and you guys left a GOLD MINE of information for viewers, so I hope you will share your knowledge in the same way on this video!

If you are just jumping into sheep farming I have a free 1 hour class that I highly recommend you take advantage of. It is going to take a deep dive into raising and grazing sheep. I have linked that free resource for you below.

Parasites are #1 on the list of challenges as a beginner sheep farmer.
When you bring a healthy sheep to your farm, you will probably not have a whole lot of trouble with parasites initially. Beginner sheep farmers typically have a 1-3 year grace period before a land base reaches a saturation point. What this means is that your land is initially a clean slate and untainted by sheep manure, and subsequently the parasites that hatch out and multiply through that manure. As your sheep graze across your land base, parasite loads will slowly build. Unless you are proactive with the right strategy up front, you will hit a tipping point and begin experiencing an increase in Parasite problems, even if you are running a “parasite resistant” breed.

Here are 3 ways to be proactive about parasites:

1: Put rotational grazing practices in place at the start. For parasite management it is ideal to move your sheep to fresh pasture every two days, but at minimum try to move to a new paddock once a week. I do this by using electric poly-tape to section off my 30 acres into 40-90 different grazing paddocks (one at a time, of course). Resting a paddock for 45 days will cause a majority of the parasites that are left behind in the manure to die off naturally.

2: Try to avoid penning your sheep up at night, but if you do make sure it is a dry lot and there is no way they can nibble on grass while they wait for you to lead them back to pasture. The parasites from the manure build up in that pen poses a serious threat to your sheep. I keep my sheep on pasture 24/7 as much as possible. This even means at night. I do not use a shed unless it is an emergency, or predator pressure is heavy. When I do house the sheep in a shed, I make sure it a dry lot where they cannot graze.

3 Probably most importantly: if you are going to use dewormer, be aware of correct dosage rates. The rate provided on the package is a maintenance dose and not a treatment dose. Maintenance dose is about 1/2 of what is necessary to kill all of the parasites within an infected sheep. What will happen is that you will use the maintenance dose on the package which kill the weakest worms, and leave your sheep full of blood-sucking super bugs. I am going to link the CORRECT DOSAGE RATE for dewormer down below. This chart is put out by Clemson university and backed up by Rhode Island State University and guides on proper usage for all types of dewormer available in the United States.

How did we get it wrong when our sheep were dropped at our farm 5 years ago and what happened?
We had no rotational grazing system in place.
We housed the sheep in a shed.
And we had no clue about proper dosage rates when it came time to deworm.

What happened: 18 months into sheep farming we hit that saturation point I mentioned previously. We faced the devastating loss if 1/2 of our adult ewes and most of the lambs from our first year. We finally got it under control and brought our death rate from way above industry standard to way below industry standard through good grazing and good deworming practices

I was very recently reminded of how critical that rotational grazing management is for sheep. This year I took a 6 week break from my grazing program in peak parasite season. In the 6 weeks that followed I lost 9 lambs… more than we have lost in one season since launching our rotational grazing program in 2020. While I’m not proud to admit that, I want it to resonate on how important it is to move your flock to fresh pasture as frequently as possible… I have a dozen videos about grazing sheep, and I will link the playlist below so you can binge watch once you are done with this video :).

Containment is #2:
Sheep are difficult to contain. Not as bad as goats, but way worse than cows. 5-strand barbed wire is not effective for containing sheep. At our farm we overlayed our existing 5-strand cattle fencing with 6” woven Wire field fencing as a perimeter fence. We bought this field fencing at our local farm store on 330 foot rolls. And Within this perimeter fence I use polytape to create the small grazing paddocks for my daily rotational grazing program.

If you cannot afford this expensive perimeter fencing upfront, don’t let it to keep you from getting started with sheep, but I would strongly advise the use of portable electric netting over electric poly tape or poly wire.

When I give this advice, I have Greg Judy followers call out the fact that he runs his sheep on a single strand of electric fencing. However what needs to be kept in mind, is the fact that Greg Judy is working on hundreds of acres in a relatively unpopulated pastoral area. In such a setting, a sheep will jump out of the paddock and enjoy 50-100 acres of grass before becoming a nuisance to anyone.

When farming on small acreage with neighbors close by, your sheep will likely jump out of that paddock into either the neighbors yard, or onto the highway. Best case scenario: you are driving your neighbors nuts, worst case scenario you get the sheriff up your driveway because your sheep are on the highway (don’t ask me how I know that, but it’s true).

Keep that in mind and make your own decisions accordingly.

How did we get it wrong 5 years ago?

We thought 5-strand barbed wire was enough. And it was for about 30 days, until the grass was greener on the other side. Which happened to be our neighbor Debbie’s yard. My apologies Debbie.

Our sheep were perpetually in her yard or on the highway causing us major embarrassment within the community.

We also had a lot of predator losses because coyote and wild dog could slip in and out of the barbed wire.

We ultimately upgraded our fencing to the field fencing I showed you. We did it in small sections as our budget allowed. Perimeter fencing was the biggest and best investment we made for our small scale sheep farm. If it is maintained it will last for 50 years or more.

Predators are #3 on the list of things to have a strategy for before you buy sheep.

Predator pressure is going to vary from farm to farm: but it will be an issue. Whether from wild predators, or the neighbors German shepherd.

Livestock guardian dogs are the gold standard for flock defense.

That said: I myself do not. Have a livestock guardian dog. I mentioned the perimeter fence. Once we installed the tight fencing, our losses abated. We have two large pet dogs that roam the perimeter of our property and bark at anything that approaches the fence line. We have only had one predator loss since we installed the fencing, and it was due to a hole in the fencing.

Predators are pretty serious, so have a defense plan in place.

Watch this video next where I walk you through the 15 things you need to start a sheep farm with cost for each: