Small scale rotational grazing barbados sheep.

As title suggests I am considering adding sheep to my property. I currently keep chickens, geese, and Muscovy ducks. The chickens have a coop they share with Muscovy ducks. My geese are rotated around lawn using electric netting. I’ve been practicing rotating a medium sized flock of about 20 geese depending on time of year (I keep 7 adult breeders).

The geese cannot eat all the forage / grass on their own and I detest spending money mowing grass. I found Barbados sheep nearby-ish and have been reading on their qualities (prolific, parasite resistant, both sexes polled, hair sheep, rams tend to be wary of human interaction).

My only concern is if I add two or three, will I run out of forage for them? I’m on 4.7 acres in southern Indiana. We get good rainfall and grass grows abundantly.
If I quit mowing I envisioned the sheep grazing grass down short enough to be appealing to geese who could rotate with or after them. I envisioned using a one or maybe two of 164’ netting and making paddocks that I can leapfrog when it’s rotation time. Probably every day or maybe at most every theee days in the wooded areas.

In the winter I may get a few round bales from a neighbor to get them through when there’s snow on ground. I plan on ranging them outdoors completely, Greg Judy style- but ok much smaller scale. The chicken shed/barn has the ability to convert into a stall using some framing boards and pallets if we’re getting horrible conditions.

I attached some photos of the property from above and took some of the “wooded” areas on foot. There is tons of undergrowth in the form of autumn olive, honeysuckle, black locust, and invasive bramble shrubs / vines. I have been copacing / trimming the larger shrubs to make them grow back at a grazing level smaller sheep could reach.

Am I insane to attempt this? And input from sheep people would be wonderful. Scrutinize away!

If you do rotational grazing, you'll probably be fine with two or three sheep. I will warn you that you'll need to have a plan in place for lambs (assuming you get a breeding trio, or get ewes  find a ram nearby). They multiply fairy fast, and it can be super easy to forget your goal number and end up with tons of sheep (speaking from experience), so make sure you're willing to butcher or sell any sheep that go over your max. Goats may do better with your pasture, but sheep will probably do pretty well. They will eat any and all trees, so if you want to keep your trees living, only run the sheep with the trees that are big enough that the branches won't be eaten. If your grass grows quickly, you may even be able to run five or six, if you managed it well. I'd run the geese with the sheep, if I were you. We've tried running our chickens (before we got geese) with, after, and before the flock of sheep, goats, cows, and alpacas, and running with was definitely the best. If you run them before, they will eat too much for the sheep to have any, and they will contaminate everything else. Running them afterwards means the sheep will have eaten the best grasses, and the geese won't want to eat the rest. If you run them together, then they will balance each other out. The 164 fences are nice because they're so long, but I wouldn't recommend the ones with stiff inner poles. The inner poles themselves were great, but the fences were too hard to tension and the gaps in the netting itself were to big. We've only ever lost two sheep to the net fence, and they were both to a 164 footer. Maybe do two 100 footers to make a fifty by fifty foot paddock? There are also 50 footers, but they fall apart super easily and are actually longer than fifty feet. I will note that with sheep you need to be super careful to balance how much they need to eat out of the pasture, and how much they want to eat out of the pasture. If you push them too long and force them to eat too much off of it, they will learn to break out of the netting (sounds impossible, but believe me when I tell you it isn't, lol). On the other hand, they will often think they're done when they've eaten their favorite bits and nothing else, so make sure that you know the right balance.
All in all, I think your plan sounds pretty good!

Elena Sparks wrote:If you do rotational grazing, you'll probably be fine with two or three sheep. I will warn you that you'll need to have a plan in place for lambs (assuming you get a breeding trio, or get ewes  find a ram nearby). They multiply fairy fast, and it can be super easy to forget your goal number and end up with tons of sheep (speaking from experience), so make sure you're willing to butcher or sell any sheep that go over your max. Goats may do better with your pasture, but sheep will probably do pretty well. They will eat any and all trees, so if you want to keep your trees living, only run the sheep with the trees that are big enough that the branches won't be eaten. If your grass grows quickly, you may even be able to run five or six, if you managed it well. I'd run the geese with the sheep, if I were you. We've tried running our chickens (before we got geese) with, after, and before the flock of sheep, goats, cows, and alpacas, and running with was definitely the best. If you run them before, they will eat too much for the sheep to have any, and they will contaminate everything else. Running them afterwards means the sheep will have eaten the best grasses, and the geese won't want to eat the rest. If you run them together, then they will balance each other out. The 164 fences are nice because they're so long, but I wouldn't recommend the ones with stiff inner poles. The inner poles themselves were great, but the fences were too hard to tension and the gaps in the netting itself were to big. We've only ever lost two sheep to the net fence, and they were both to a 164 footer. Maybe do two 100 footers to make a fifty by fifty foot paddock? There are also 50 footers, but they fall apart super easily and are actually longer than fifty feet. I will note that with sheep you need to be super careful to balance how much they need to eat out of the pasture, and how much they want to eat out of the pasture. If you push them too long and force them to eat too much off of it, they will learn to break out of the netting (sounds impossible, but believe me when I tell you it isn't, lol). On the other hand, they will often think they're done when they've eaten their favorite bits and nothing else, so make sure that you know the right balance.
All in all, I think your plan sounds pretty good!

Thank you for your input! You raise some good points regarding the netting. I have some of the 80 foot nets I can use but no 50 footers. I think grazing the geese alongside the sheep will work fine, I just hope the geese aren’t too mean. They can be a bit cantankerous…

I expect there will be a learning curve as I’ve never raised ruminant animals. I do plan on getting two ewes and an unrelated ram. I was going to try and use the ram aprons to keep breedings scheduled (perhaps it’s wishful thinking). I hope the apron actually works and I can keep them from breeding till November/December. If it fails I do have a large garage and a chicken shed that can be modified to be a lambing stall LOL

I do plan on raising the lambs produced for meat. Barbados are not very big so I doubt I’ll be setting any carcass records but I think they make up for it in their parasite resistance and durability.

I was doing math and taking measurements of the property and I can have something like 41 paddocks depending on how I set up the netting. I don’t think I will need to rest longer than that between moves. I have accepted that 24-48 hrs maximum will be spent on each paddock.

As for the trees I would like a few cedar to stay and be windbreaks and privacy between my neighbors property and mine but everything else I wouldn’t mind if they ate completely gone. I though maybe goats would be better, but I’m just not big fan of goats for some reason. I’ve heard they’re even harder to contain than sheep and they will graze standing up on hind legs. They just seemed wilder. I’ve also never ate goat meat. I find lamb/ some mutton to be delicious

J. T. Everett wrote: I think grazing the geese alongside the sheep will work fine, I just hope the geese aren’t too mean. They can be a bit cantankerous…

I expect there will be a learning curve as I’ve never raised ruminant animals. I do plan on getting two ewes and an unrelated ram. I was going to try and use the ram aprons to keep breedings scheduled (perhaps it’s wishful thinking). I hope the apron actually works and I can keep them from breeding till November/December. If it fails I do have a large garage and a chicken shed that can be modified to be a lambing stall LOL

I do plan on raising the lambs produced for meat. Barbados are not very big so I doubt I’ll be setting any carcass records but I think they make up for it in their parasite resistance and durability.

I was doing math and taking measurements of the property and I can have something like 41 paddocks depending on how I set up the netting. I don’t think I will need to rest longer than that between moves. I have accepted that 24-48 hrs maximum will be spent on each paddock.

As for the trees I would like a few cedar to stay and be windbreaks and privacy between my neighbors property and mine but everything else I wouldn’t mind if they ate completely gone. I though maybe goats would be better, but I’m just not big fan of goats for some reason. I’ve heard they’re even harder to contain than sheep and they will graze standing up on hind legs. They just seemed wilder. I’ve also never eaten goat meat. I find lamb/some mutton to be delicious

They can be, that's for sure! We haven't tried our geese in with the main "flerd," but we've had two billies with them for a while now and they're doing fine. They didn't like each other at first, but they settled in after a bit and have a "you eat here, I'll eat there, and we'll all get along" relationship."
Grazing mammals are different, but you shouldn't have too many issues since you've already been rotating pastures. Do you have a shelter plan? I don't know if you've got something for your geese, but something for the sheep would be nice. It doesn't need to be crazy intense, but shade and shelter from wind is pretty important (at least out here). The only issue I can see with running the geese and sheep together is probably water. If you have a high enough waterer that the geese can't swim in it, then it'll probably be alright though. Our geese think that swimming water is always better in all the tanks besides theirs, lol!
As for lambing, have you looked into any of the seasonal breeding sheep? I haven't tried the breeding apron because we have Icelandics, which only breed in the fall. If you want to stick with the Barbados then the apron will probably work... they may get stuck on branches and bushes while they graze though. They can be pretty determined, so keeping the garage and coop as optional lambing pens is definitely  a good idea! The phrase "when there's a will, there's a way" is definitely true for breeding time!
Sounds great! In my opinion, taste matters more than quantity. The Icelandics are pretty small sheep, and yet their meat is incredibly good! Plus, they are unique in that their lamb meat tastes the same (as in really good) as the older meat does, so that's a plus for butchering older breeding rams and retired ewes! So smaller size is definitely not an issue because they make up for it in so many other ways. The Barbados sheep do sounds pretty cool, so definitely worth the smaller size!
Some paddocks may last longer, depending on the density of the pasture, but overall that sounds like a pretty good plan.
My mom isn't either, so I totally get the not a fan of goats thing! They do graze standing on their hind legs sometimes, but that's mostly an issue if they're in with trees you don't want eaten. Believe it or not, our sheep are more prone to escaping than the goats. Both kinds of meat are great, but sheep would probably be an easier place to start your journey into four legged grazers.
What predators do you have in your area?

You bring up some good points I hadn’t really thought all the way through yet… the water issue. Right now I use food grade barrels and I cut diamond-shaped holes in the sides just above the 15 gallon mark. It allows geese to stick their head and neck in and drink/clear their bills, but they can’t get in the water and poop. I don’t think a sheep head would fit. I may end up having to do a taller and larger hole for them so that the geese don’t bother their barrel. Geese are always coming back with dirt in their mouth and after a few days there’s silt on the bottom.

As for shelter, I’ve not provided the geese anything. I do try and rotate them into paddocks with shade trees in the heat of summer. The Embdens and Tolouse get heat stress more easily than my Africans or Buffs. I do have a 24Lx 12D lean-to that has an unused half available. There’s a chicken composing system in the other side, so they’d be roommates if they used it but it may work.

Sheep breeds that are seasonal breeders? I didn’t really know that that was a thing lol I figured that they’d do it, well all the time if they were together. My neighbor keeps a large flock of blue faced leicesters and I really like them. He says that have issues with barber pole worms and they need shearing too. Seemed like a bit more to handle for a rookie to sheep like myself… which is why I was leaning Barbados. Parasite loads probably won’t be as bad with the. And there’s no shearing! Those blue faced that he has are very big also, some of those ewes look like they’re 150lbs even when shorn. I’m sure they eat a good bit more than a tiny Barbados would.

We have all kinds of predators here. I see foxes regularly. Racoons, minks, opossums are around often. I hear coyotes every night but haven’t had any in my yard (that I know of). On the side of my property with the neighbors they have all those sheep running with some real nasty llamas that allegedly kick coyotes to death… so I’m good coming from that side bit we are also up against a good bit of woodlands where they could stalk the sheep from. I’ve been really working on clearing the brush the last few days to make sure that the electric netting can be a hot enough perimeter for them. I use a 2joule intellishock and I’ve not had a predator take any of my fowl. Hopefully I can continue that success with the sheep.

I love seasonal breeding sheep! It means that you can run the ewes and rams together if you want to (we don't, but that's for management ease) for the majority of the year, and you never have to worry about lambs being born randomly. Although I will warn you that sheep tend to lamb in the middle of storms, for whatever reason, so be prepared for late nights in the middle of snow storms!
I totally get your concern about large sheep, specifically if they have health issues. The Icelandics are also pretty small, and it's way easier to handle them besides them eating less food. The other thing you can think about is sheep breeds that roo (get a natural break in their wool and shed it in the spring). You still have to take their fleece off, but it sheds, so you don't have to shear.
The Barbados sheep may not need the shelter as badly as some other breeds, depending on your climate, but it would be good to check before getting them. Our summer shelters are for shade and shelter from rain and hail storms, but that's because we don't have a ton of tree cover for most of our pastures. If you've based your grazing strategy around having them in with trees for most of it, it'll probably be fine, but having a secondary shelter plan in place is good. Them being shelter mates with the chickens sounds like a good idea.
Running the fence hot is a good solution, although because you aren't grazing on as much space you may consider pulling the sheep in at night. It isn't unheard of to have fences randomly break or snag on things and completely short out, so you can't plan on them being there 100% of the time. We have guard dogs in with the sheep 24/7, so that's our second area of defense. In your situation, the fences paired with the neighbors dogs might be enough, specifically if you have geese. We haven't had any birds of prey challenge our poultry since getting the geese, so it may be that you don't have any issues. Just be aware of the holes in your protection, in case you start feeling more pressure. Coyotes can get pretty pushy when they're hungry, and shooting them off isn't going to solve any issues. When we first looked into protection methods, we researched everything from llamas to donkeys before settling on electric fencing and guard dogs. In our research, we learned about "educating" your predators. If you shoot off the coyotes every time they come close, and kill anything that gets in the pen, you don't stop the issue. You just open your flock up to a new pack to move in and repeat the process. If you get dogs, you train the coyotes to stay away. They learn quickly that they shouldn't come near your pen, which leads them to train their young to stay away. Because you keep the same family around, they teach each other, and keep off new packs that don't know. I don't know if that helps, but I figured it'd be useful information to have no matter what you choose.

Just to chime in about smaller carcasses here, I think it’s a very permie thing to rediscover the lost art of ‘nose to tail eating’. That is to say, learning to prepare organ meats, bones, and other uncommon/waste cuts for consumption. They’re full of vitamins and minerals that are lacking in our modern diets, along with protein of a different amino acid structure than muscle meat that most people nowadays have to supplement or are deficient in. Not to mention, they can be pretty tasty!

Here’s an example book, and a website that has a lot of recipes too. Great way to make a carcass go beyond the standard meat cuts, and boost your health too.

https://www.amazon.com/Whole-Beast-Nose-Tail-Eating/dp/0060585366

https://honest-food.net/

I don't think sheep would be willing to stick their heads into a barrel to drink. They are very skittish in general, and don't like a dark confined space.

You've got enough property for 4-6 sheep, maybe more if you supplement with hay in winter. They will like the trees and brush. They'll eat smaller trees and strip the bark off if left too long around larger ones. You won't run out of forage in spring but winter can be a little more tricky depending on what kinds of forage you have available.

Sheep will prefer being under trees for shade, but I provide mine with a moveable shelter to protect against the rain, and I have a permanent barn I can temporarily move them into in case of a severe storm. The moveable shelter is just a basic lumber frame with two cattle panels and a tarp stretched over. I hang hay in there for them also to give them the option of dry matter in addition to their fresh grass (they need some dry matter for proper digestion). And in winter I put a tarp across the back to block the wind. They do frequently use their shelter, though it took some time for them to get used to the sound of the tarp rattling in the wind.

Sheep will NOT keep your grass short and neat. They pick and choose what they like - some stuff they'll eat right down to the ground and some stuff they won't touch even though it looks like perfectly good grass to you. Sometimes they'll just bite the top off a plant or strip the leaves and leave the stem. They won't eat anything that's unpalatable - they love orchard grass in summer but refuse to touch it in winter because it gets too tough, and vice versa for winter wheat. They won't eat grasses that have gone to seed or that are preparing to go to seed. But they will surprise you by eating things other grazing animals wouldn't touch, like brambles, thistles, and spurge. It's good to have a variety of forage for them - a few legumes, a little orchard grass and fescue, some forbs. I regularly mow my pasture to knock the tall stuff down to a manageable level and let it put out new fresh growth which they prefer. (I only have 3 sheep currently on about five acres, so I have lots of lush spring grass right now to spare.)

Figure out your fence situation before you get any sheep. I did not do this and I regret it. I am using electric netting with a solar charger, and it works fine for a few sheep but I have to move them 2 to 3 times each week, even on days when I'm exhausted (I work full time), or when it's pouring rain or hot and humid. I have 2 sections of 100' sheep netting, four sections of 100' poultry netting, and 2 sections of 50' poultry netting, all of which I got from Premier One. (I already had the poultry netting to start with so I used what I had, though I'm going to phase out the poultry netting as sheep netting is lighter and easier to move.) I basically use two to three sections to make a rectangular-ish paddock and then piggyback the next one onto the end of the previous. That way I just keep moving them back and forth across the field without having to run them from one paddock to the next, I just open the connecting fence and they move through. The netting is bulky and tangles easily, so it requires time and patience. Now that I've got a routine down pat I can move them in an hour, but it took a lot longer when I started and kept getting everything tangled up! I wish I had put in high tensile fences, but I was just 'trying sheep out' so I didn't want to go to that trouble until I knew for sure I would keep them. But fence is a major expense (even the temporary netting isn't cheap - my netting and charger cost $2000 altogether) and it's an important one. Don't skimp on fencing, especially if you have coyotes in your area. Also make sure your fence is highly visible or the sheep will run right through it, especially when you first let them into a new pasture.

You'll want to find a farm vet and have a good relationship with them before you ever need them. You WILL need them, and farm vets are getting hard to find in some places. It's rough trying to call around and find one in an emergency. If you can, find a vet that specializes in ruminants - pet vets may say they treat sheep but they really don't know all the ins and outs. You'll also want to know beforehand how far you're willing to go and how much you're willing to spend at the vet - are these pets or livestock, and how does that affect your attitude in regards to veterinary care?

I really like having sheep and they are a great addition to a homestead BUT there is a huge learning curve, especially if you've not had ruminants before. I would start with four ewes, either lambs the same age or mother-daughter pairs, to help with social bonding - four is better because they are more comfortable and less stressed in a larger group than they would be if you had just two. Don't worry about breeding for at least the first year. You'll want to get them used to being around you and letting you handle them (give them a handful of grain now and then as a treat and they will learn to look forward to seeing you). You'll want to practice trimming hooves and checking their eyes (FAMACHA) and body condition on the regular. And you'll need to learn to recognize their 'tells' so you know when you've got a problem. In my first year I lost my favorite ewe to parasites because I didn't know the signs to look for, and they were very subtle until the situation was already dire. Sheep don't like to stand out from the flock so they will pretend to be fine until they can't anymore - even going so far as to walk around with their heads down to pretend they're eating when they're really not. Interact with them every day, learn their typical behaviors, and if you see anything that seems unusual jump on it because it's probably the first small sign of a big problem.

You have great forage plants.  Autumn olive can be as high as 27%  protein in the leaves, honeysuckle between 13 and 16%, and brambles 17.  Compare to alfalfa at about 17%.   The brambles also have a good bit of calcium and other minerals.  Black locust can have 24% protein.  I can’t understand why so many people are hung up on alfalfa hay when we could be making tree hay or grazing stock on coppiced or pollarded trees.