Be Brave in Your Decision to Raise Sheep

People have different reasons for wanting to raise sheep. Some people I have spoken with about purchasing sheep, just love to have cute lambs around during the year, but do not want to raise sheep as an income, the sheep are pets. There are the serious sheep farmers, such as myself, that in our genetic make up or as some would say, “in the blood” to be working in agriculture as an income. More often I am meeting people who have purchased a little bit of land to become self-sustaining. They want some sheep, as there are several videos about having sheep on a small homestead. There are benefits but the sheep are work.

Anytime a person wants to buy an animal from me, I want to know what is their intended purpose for the animal. What type of lifestyle to they enjoy? People have different ideas of what they want to do in life. The fact that having animals limit their ability to just go away for a weekend is one fact I point out to anyone buying my sheep for pets or a homestead. The serious sheep farmer adding new bloodlines to improve their flock, already knows that in order to leave the farm, someone has to be brought in to take care of the animals.

When making a choice to purchase sheep, be brave in looking at what your future plans are for your life.

If purchasing the sheep as pets and for cute little lambs, be realistic in knowing that lambs are cute for only a few months, they grow up. Lambs look like sheep in about four to six months. A short time for cuteness. One person who had a couple of sheep for lambs and cuteness, lost all her desire for owning the cuteness when the two ewes with lambs found a way into her yard and ate all the roses and other ornamental plants down to stems.

I do think homesteads are a good place to have sheep. The whole purpose of having a self-sustaining homestead is to raise the food you eat. I have had a few people wanting sheep, but have never eaten lamb. How do they know they will enjoy eating the lamb they are raising? Sheep are easier to handle than cattle. More sheep can be grazed on the same area than cattle. There can be enough lambs raised to feed a family, and have a few to sale in order to pay for winter feed.

I have a friend and their spouse were thinking about getting sheep to raise for food. My first question was do you like eating lamb? My friend did, but their spouse had not had lamb. I sold them a few packages of lamb meat from my freezer to try. No use in raising something to eat, that you do not like eating. Shortly, they purchased a little starter flock of three ewes and a ram. This spring they had their first lambs. They enjoy the cuteness of the lambs, the spouse does not get to name any of the ram lambs as they will be put in the freezer, or sold. This summer, they made the decision to seriously raise sheep, and purchased some registered stock from me.

Whenever someone is a first time sheep buyer, I suggest they prepare a place for the sheep, before they every purchase the sheep. To keep sheep contained, there need to be good fences for keeping sheep in. Sheep need a shelter from the weather, shade from the sun.

One time at the sale barn, I met a lady who was very upset, with tears. I asked if they were ok? She started telling me the story of how they had purchased some land, she had purchased a starter flock and now was being forced to sell all her sheep after owning them for a year. The reason she told me was the sheep kept getting out onto the neighbors’ garden and orchard and eating everything causing quite a bit of damage. The neighbor had taken the situation to court, and the judgement was she had to get rid of her sheep. Of course my next question as there was a solution – why not build better fence to keep the sheep in? They did not have the money to build a better fence, they spent the money on purchasing the sheep.

Be brave to look at yourself, what you want five years or ten years into the future. Be brave to budget the money needed to prepare a place for the sheep, purchase feed for winter, and purchasing the sheep. Do not be afraid to start out small with a few sheep and build your flock. Be brave in being realistic about the sheep and work involved with raising sheep.

Be brave in the beginning, so your experience does not end in the feeling of failure or sadness.

Granny