Thinking about getting sheep

[Cascadian]

I did a search here and didn't find much about sheep here. A coworker is decreasing their flock. When they say they are not I'll or a problem otherwise I have no reason to disbelieve them. Specifically they are selling 2 ewes a couple years old and 4 lambs at least 1 is a ram for $800. They say they eat berry bushes etc like goats but better behaved. They are the sheerless Katahdin sheep. We don't plan to use them for milk more for the lambs as a food source. Are there others here with experience in this area?
https://petkeen.com/katahdin-sheep/

 

[Pearl]

I did a search here and didn't find much about sheep here. A coworker is decreasing their flock. When they say they are not I'll or a problem otherwise I have no reason to disbelieve them. Specifically they are selling 2 ewes a couple years old and 4 lambs at least 1 is a ram for $800. They say they eat berry bushes etc like goats but better behaved. They are the sheerless Katahdin sheep. We don't plan to use them for milk more for the lambs as a food source. Are there others here with experience in this area?

Talk to Sonya123!!

 

[LadyLocust]

I did a search here and didn't find much about sheep here. A coworker is decreasing their flock. When they say they are not I'll or a problem otherwise I have no reason to disbelieve them. Specifically they are selling 2 ewes a couple years old and 4 lambs at least 1 is a ram for $800. They say they eat berry bushes etc like goats but better behaved. They are the sheerless Katahdin sheep. We don't plan to use them for milk more for the lambs as a food source. Are there others here with experience in this area?
https://petkeen.com/katahdin-sheep/

I raised suffolks for quite a few years but years ago. I enjoyed them. The fleeceless makes it that much easier. Lamb is delicious. I would make sure you have secure fences prior to getting them. They are good weedeaters.

 

[Mountain trapper]

My niece and her husband raise several thousand sheep in the Willamette Valley. They also raise a few hundred acres of Filberts and grass seed. I guess that sheep can pay a good return.
We've talked about getting some sheep here but the fencing, predators and the deep snow have prevented us from buying any.

 

[Cascadian]

I raised suffolks for quite a few years but years ago. I enjoyed them. The fleeceless makes it that much easier. Lamb is delicious. I would make sure you have secure fences prior to getting them. They are good weedeaters.

We do have field fence with a hot wire to keep the heifer in. I didn't think to ask if cows and sheep get along.

 

[Cascadian]

My niece and her husband raise several thousand sheep in the Willamette Valley. They also raise a few hundred acres of Filberts and grass seed. I guess that sheep can pay a good return.
We've talked about getting some sheep here but the fencing, predators and the deep snow have prevented us from buying any.

I am in the Willamette Valley also. I would guess they have regular wooly sheep with that many.

 

[Cascadian]

@sonya123 are sheep an area of expertise? Sorry I can't help using the emojis that keep popping up .

 

[FarmOR]

I did a search here and didn't find much about sheep here. A coworker is decreasing their flock. When they say they are not I'll or a problem otherwise I have no reason to disbelieve them. Specifically they are selling 2 ewes a couple years old and 4 lambs at least 1 is a ram for $800. They say they eat berry bushes etc like goats but better behaved. They are the sheerless Katahdin sheep. We don't plan to use them for milk more for the lambs as a food source. Are there others here with experience in this area?
https://petkeen.com/katahdin-sheep/

When I started my homestead back in 05, sheep were just a side gig. As I grew up on a cattle ranch, my plan A was to start a ranch. I was still working full time (+over time) so I started with steers. I bought a dozen sheeps just to control the grass in the 30 tree orchard. Of those first three years with cattle, I lost money two years, but I noticed the sheep were always profitable. Got rid of the cows and doubled the sheep.

We raised woolys for years that were a cross Hampshire and Suffolk. They made great club lambs and my daughter loved the notoriety from 4h and FFA projects. But when I started learning about dorpers, I knew that I wanted to make the switch. Everything that I learned about them seemed too good to be true. But I've had them now going four years and would never think about going back. For my operation, all those positives have proven to be true...

 

[Mountain trapper]

I am in the Willamette Valley also. I would guess they have regular wooly sheep with that many.

I think so. I don't know much about sheep, but the wife has always wanted some. Her brother is trying to buy a place down in Malheur County. It's mostly irrigated and flat and would be easy to put in sheep fencing. It would be much more suitable for sheep than our place is.

 

[LadyLocust]

We do have field fence with a hot wire to keep the heifer in. I didn't think to ask if cows and sheep get along.

They get along fine, but sheep will graze closer to the ground leaving less for the cow. If you have plenty, that shouldn't be an issue, but if it's tight, the sheep will get the grass. If they are fleeceless, the wires would work. Fleeced sheep, they often don't due to the wool as an insulator when they want to pass through it

 

[FarmOR]

A brief and nondescript history of hybrids:

Dorpers and Kathadhin are both imperfect hybrids of wooly and hairy sheeps.
Dorper is a combination of words. Dorsette + Persian= dor per.

Dorpers were developed decades ago in South Africa. Kathadin was kinda the same project more recently in Maine. The differences between them is splitting hairs. Pun intended.

My lifelong experience in animal husbandry has convinced me of the greatest significant advantages of hybrid vigor. I'm not a purist. I'm more an optimizer?

I had to fight the dam spell checker like Hell writing this. Hope it is of some benefit?

 

[joel]

Yes sheep costly, never bought any, but people on line are proud of their sheep.
That sounds lie a deal, I remember a young, proving Ram going for $800.00 a few years back.
Do not remember the type or blood line.
There is a web site on sheep & goats, but I do not have a link anymore.

 

[Cascadian]

So we went and looked at them. On the way we realized we would need to fence off about 300 feet of pasture. There is a hotwire that keeps the cows from eating our baby trees. The sheep would just walk under. Also were told they would need small shelter. With the added expenses and work we decided now is not the time. But maybe in the future.

 

[Tim Horton]

I guess I have a sort of love, hate attitude toward sheep...
As a kid we ranched a LOT of sheep as they made more money than cattle at that time and place.. But got very tired of the work... We had wool sheep and occasionally had a hair sheep to eat.. Much better tasting meat than wool sheep.. When we did our final sell off, it was at about 8,000 head...

When I lived in the frozen north, I had a neighbor that kept a small flock of sheep and made good money selling meat to the foreign (mostly Muslim) immigrants.. Also this flock was closer to the big river than I was and there flock was a virtual ...bear magnet... This keeping many bears from making it down the creek to my place... I still had my share of problems, however... Between sheep up stream, and honey bees down stream from me that stopped a lot of bear traffic from getting to my place... Good luck...