I have a 16k sq ft healthy yard that I would like to raise sheep on for meat. I was thinking about the most effective method to raise ewe's and lambs on the small space I have. I don't have experience so I thought I could explain it here and have someone tell me I am crazy or foolish or if maybe it may work.
Generation 1, buy 3 weaned lambs with 1 being a ram lamb. Once the ewe's are pregnant (9 months or so) we can slaughter/sell the ram lamb because he's done his job and I want to save the grass for the pregnant ewe's.
Generation 2, after Gen 1 ewes have lambed (let's say yield of 3 lambs for the 2 ewes) let the lambs grow 4 months with Mom's or until weaned and then slaughter/sell Gen 1 Ewe's.
To get to Generation 3, buy another ram lamb (for genetic diversity) and sell/slaughter the ram lambs born in generation 2. Let the ewe lambs get pregnant (max 2) and then sell/slaughter the ram/lamb after pregant.
This appeals to me because my net input is minimized to the purchase of the initial 3 lambs and then after an purchase can be offset by a sale. It also appeals to me such that I can at peak demand for grass I will have 2 Ewe's and 4x4 month lambs on the grass. If I plan well maybe that can even be in spring/summer when grass grows the fastest.
So give it to me straight, is this type of breading schedule smart, possible or crazy?
We started in February of this year with hair sheep, 3 ewes (3 to 5 yr old) and a year old ram. We know nothing about sheep or forage. The ewes should have been bred to a different ram but 5 months later no lambs. We have been moving them every 10 days, to avoid parasites, with electric netting and a solar charger. We have learned that we need a perimeter fence so we do not need to chase sheep. Sheep eat lot of forage quickly. Our yard/pasture is really substandard so we are supplementing with hay this year. We are working to improve our soil using spent hay and straw and the sheep.
Any track that includes animals is a good one. You will learn. Remember that continuing to bring new animals on to your property brings their farm's issues on to yours. We enjoy watching the sheep in the yard.
And we are doing our best to keep them alive.
Thanks everyone for the advice. I will definitely start small, and if the first 3 or 4 months don't go well there will not be any babies.
However I am still intrigued by whether or not this type of yearly replacement is viable. If it is not I don't think the economics work any other way - and thus I would rather focus my efforts elsewhere. Buying new sheep/lambs every year just doesn't make economic sense unless you are producing offspring to offset the cost. I have enough pets already.
What are your thoughts on selling/slaughtering the dam's just after weaning and the lamb rams just after impregnation, are there any drawbacks to that?
Also I've never tasted yearling mutton, is it considerably stronger flavor than lamb?
Last year I got 3 lambs in June, and kept them to October and then butchered them myself. It was a GREAT learning experience. I highly recommend you get 2-3 lambs (gender doesn't matter) and keep them until the fall sometime (about when you run out of forage for them to eat is good time to slaughter - if you prefer grain fed meat, buy grain when forage runs out and keep them an extra month or two on the grain).
Next year, when you have the knowledge and a better understanding of what your land will actually support, then look for breeding stock.
16k sq feet is only 0.37 acres. Well developed pasture in most places can support about 5 sheep (plus lambs) per acre. So that size pasture would nominally support 1.84 sheep. But you likely don't have well developed pasture, so to start with you're probably looking at being able to support 1 sheep on that land. More than that means bringing in a lot of hay and grain to keep them fed. It also means you need a plan to deal with the manure. That small lot won't be able to absorb the poo from more than 1-2 sheep.
So, you can definitely have 3 adult sheep, and their lambs on that lot, but you need to plan ahead for keeping them fed, and dealing with their poo so they stay clean and healthy.
Your theory seems like a good one. Agree supporting more than 1 or two animals would need supplemental feed and some grain or Alfalfa (or other) pellets are options although adds significant cost. With little space, parasites, worms, etc will need to be addressed regularly probably with medicine, and then there are predators (coyotes), a barn for lambing and shelter, and if you do hold ewes over more than one year it is common to shear the wool annually. All things to learn so buying a couple of weened lambs to see how it goes with that space would be a good start.
Jae Jones wrote:Your theory seems like a good one. Agree supporting more than 1 or two animals would need supplemental feed and some grain or Alfalfa (or other) pellets are options although adds significant cost. With little space, parasites, worms, etc will need to be addressed regularly probably with medicine, and then there are predators (coyotes), a barn for lambing and shelter, and if you do hold ewes over more than one year it is common to shear the wool annually. All things to learn so buying a couple of weened lambs to see how it goes with that space would be a good start.
Yes, meant to mention parasite issues that are common in overstocked land. Thanks for adding that. Whether you have to use medicine, or some herbal remedy depends on your personal tolerance for pharmaceuticals in your livestock. Though, if you are only going to keep a couple lambs for 3-5 months you might not need to worm them at all. Especially if the seller worms them shortly before you take them. If there hasn't been any livestock on the land for a couple years there's not likely to be much of a parasite load to begin with. Good chance that by the time you'd need to consider worming them they'll be off to freezer camp anyway.
Regarding shearing, you can avoid that by getting hair sheep. They shed annually, so no need to shear them. I know some folks like the meat characteristics of woolies better, but to my mind at least it's a small trade-off to avoid the necessity of shearing. Wool generally costs more to shear than it is worth, and at least here in the PNW where we have the invasive Himalayan Blackberries, a woolie can be about as inviting to hold on to as a porcupine.
Great advice again, thanks. I live in south Florida so, for the sake of the sheep will definitely be getting hair sheep. Also the St Augustine grass grows fast for about 10 months a year and is irrigated. I do have another 6000 sqFt that is being used for free range chickens, so if needed I can add that to the rotational grazing to reach the ability to support 2.
Really the homesteading goal is to put 3 in the freezer each year as economically as possible. Bonus 1 is getting to teach my kids about livestock and letting them experience a natural birth. Bonus 2 is not having to mow or fertilize that space.
Ideally lambs would be born sometime around March, be weaned by July. So that during the winter months where grass grows slower I am only supporting 2 pregnant ewe's and no other lambs or livestock.
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