How to properly raise sheep at home?

Sheep breeding in Russia has its own long-standing traditions. These domestic animals are bred in all regions of the country where there are pastures. Animals are unpretentious, but very sensitive to high humidity. This is taken into account when choosing pastures and setting up a home sheepfold. Existing sheep breeds are selected for meat, milk or animal wool. Large farms are specialized. For home breeding, universal breeds are used.

How to raise sheep

Animal wool is used to make fabrics, warm things are knitted from it and felted shoes are made. Sheep cheese is prepared from milk, and lamb meat is a dietary product. The life expectancy of sheep at home can range from 20 to 25 years. For so long no one has kept them in peasant farmsteads. Animals intended for meat production are fattened up to a year or 1.5 years, and queens for breeding offspring are used for breeding purposes up to 10 years.

Sheep farm

Keeping sheep is profitable and interesting

The best sheep breeds for home breeding

Meat and wool breeds are the most widespread in domestic sheep breeding in Russia. The most popular of them is Romanov. It is versatile. Such animals are able to give a person meat, milk and wool.

Tribal Romanov sheep

Other versatile breeds are also well suited for domestic breeding. Among them are balabas, Tushinskaya, Karachaevskaya. In total, 39 main breeds of animals suitable for domestic breeding are cultivated in the country.

Balbas sheep breed

Sheep breeding, sheep breeds

To obtain lard, meat and wool, which goes to felt, fat-tailed breeds are bred. The most popular of them is Hissar.

Hissar sheep

They buy animals for growing and breeding in breeding farms that exist in various regions of the country. Today there are 175 of them in the country. Of these, 98 are breeding fine-wool breeds, 28 - semi-fine-wool, 45 - coarse-wool, 4 - semi-coarse-wool and 2 - meat.

Each region of the country is focused on breeding certain sheep breeds. This is due to local climatic conditions. The main regions where domestic sheep breeding are widely developed are the North Caucasus, the South FD, the Volga region, the Central Black Earth belt of Russia and the South Urals. Sheep are also raised in other parts of the country, but this is not widespread.

Table 1. The most common sheep breeds in peasant farms in various regions of the country

Middle lane	Romanovskaya, Tsigai, Volgograd, Kuibyshev
South of Russia	Tashlinskaya, corridor, North Caucasian, Romanovskaya
North Caucasus	Karachaevskaya, Tushinskaya, Ossetian
Desert areas and steppe areas	Edilbaevskaya, Romanovskaya
Siberia and South Ural	Tuvinian fat-tailed, Tsigai, Gorkovskaya, Lincoln, Kulundinskaya, northern short-tailed, Siberian short-fat-tailed, Edilbaevskaya

Kuibyshev breed of sheep

Tashlin breed of sheep

When buying sheep of any breed, you must carefully examine the animals. A healthy sheep or ram should have a good physique, dense skin and a thick, shiny coat. The hooves of a healthy animal are shiny, do not have cracks, and the teeth do not wobble. You should not buy an animal that has mucosal inflammation, epidermal formations and growths.

Building a home sheepfold

Sheepfold frame and awning

Sheepfolds are built to keep sheep in the cold period. They should be warm enough, light and dry. The temperature in the lamb room should not be allowed to fall below + 10 ° C and for adult animals + 7 ° C. Wood or brick is used as material for the construction of the walls of the sheepfold. The choice depends on the breeding location of the animals and its climatic conditions.

Sheepfold made of white brick

House for adult sheep

For repair lights and rams, floor area (in square meters)

Good illumination of the room is achieved by installing windows in it. They should occupy an average of 1/15 of the total wall area. They are located at a height of at least 1.2 meters from the floor surface. At night, the sheepfold is illuminated by lamps placed under the ceiling.

A huge role in keeping sheep is played by the sex and size of the space intended for keeping one animal. For the normal development of lambs in the sheepfold, 0.7-0.8 sq. meters for each. An adult ram needs at least 3 square meters. meters. Up to 3-4 months, the lamb is next to the mother. For their maintenance, a separate corner is fenced in the sheepfold. The normative area for keeping animals includes a place for placing a feeder and a nursery.

Sheep with two lambs after lambing

Signs of lambing

The main requirement for the floors of a sheepfold is hardness. They can be of various types. The most common are adobe floors. They are made of clay, on top of which there is wood flooring and straw. The floor of the sheepfold should be 20-30 cm higher than the surface of the ground. The straw bedding should be changed periodically. Dampness of the premises can lead to illness and death of animals. For litter per animal, up to 150 kg of straw is required. Ventilation is installed in the sheepfold room. With its help, supply and exhaust air circulation is provided, which allows you to get rid of the accumulation of excess moisture and unpleasant odors in the sheepfold room.

Cubic capacity of air in a sheepfold (based on one head of a usable herd)

In large sheepfolds, two types of gates are installed. Large double-leaf gates with a wicket are installed at the entrance. Their width can be 2.5-3.0 meters, and their height is 2.0-2.5 m. The width of internal doors rarely exceeds 1.5 meters. They are installed in the opening that delimits the shepherd's vestibule from the animal room. The optimal size of the vestibule is 1.2 * 3.5 meters. For small sheepfolds, one door 1.5 meters wide is enough, which can be closed with tarpaulin or other material as insulation.

A base (yard for sheep) is arranged near the sheepfold, always placing it on the leeward side

The sheepfold should be close to the watering hole

How to feed the sheep?

Sheep farm

The diet of sheep consists of plant foods. In the summertime, animals are driven out to pastures. They feed on grass, which during this period of time grows everywhere in sufficient quantity. The sheep eat all grasses, including weeds and thorns. Water meadows and marshlands are not used for grazing. Do not drive sheep to pastures in the dew and after heavy rain. Pastures for them are selected only in arid places.

The best food for feeding animals in the pen is considered to be small grass and leguminous hay, as well as straw made from such grains as: oats, millet and barley. They are best absorbed by animals and contribute to their good growth and development. They will diversify the diet of sheep with root crops. Sheep eat well pumpkin, potatoes, beets, carrots and zucchini. At the end of summer, there comes a period when the herb begins to lose its beneficial properties. At this time, it is necessary to start feeding the animals. Their diet includes cereal greens specially grown for these purposes. It can be oats or rye. Corn, alfalfa and peas are added to the diet.

The diet of sheep is approximate

Approximate structure of the diet

Silage mixed with roughage or legume hay perfectly increases the meat and milk productivity of animals. Daily it can be fed to a sheep from 3 to 4 kg. The nutritional value of hay depends on the conditions of its storage and the composition of the herbs included in it. The best hay for sheep is harvested from contains a lot of vitamins, sugars and protein. They are all very important for the growth of animals.

Features of feeding sheep

Of the root crops, sheep love fodder beets, pumpkins, squash and carrots the most. Beets and carrots are especially important as they improve the digestion processes in the animal's body. These vegetables contain a lot of coarse fiber, vitamins and other trace elements necessary for the growth of sheep. Melon crops are necessarily included in the diet of suagging and lactating females. This contributes to an increase in milk production in the animal and the bearing of healthy offspring by the uterus. Improves such food and the quality of their wool. The cut is significantly increased. A sheep can be given no more than 4 kg of such vegetables per day.

Feeding the sheep

Concentrated feed plays a special role in the nutrition of sheep. They represent a balanced diet and are prepared from barley, oats, wheat, beans, peas, corn, as well as oilcake and bran. They are high in nutrients, starch, protein, fat and minerals. Concentrated feed is indispensable in the nutrition of highly productive sheep breeds, but the high cost limits the possibilities of its use.

Table 2. Seasonal diet of sheep

Winter	Mineral salt, apples, vegetables, melons, mixed feed, silage, hay
Spring	Rock or mineral salt, grass, hay
Summer	Mineral salt, grass, hay, concentrate
Autumn	Mineral salt, grass in the pasture, vegetables, root crops, hay

Feeding diet of queens

Feeding the uterus and newborn lambs

Females are fed only high quality, balanced feed. In the four weeks before lambing, the amount of hay consumed by the animals is reduced in the diet. It is replaced with compound feed. The daily diet consists of cereal hay, which is given to the uterus in an amount of up to 500 g, legumes - 300 g and straw - 500 g. Hay and straw are supplemented with 3.0-3.5 kg of vegetables or juicy feed. concentrates and 12-15 g of mineral salt. After lambing, the amount of hay in the sheep's diet can be increased to 1 kg, vegetables to 4 kg, and concentrate to 500 g.

Young cattle feeding ration

Lambs eat concentrated feed

For the first five days after birth, lambs feed on colostrum from the uterus. If for some reason such feeding is impossible, then the lambs are fed during this period with special mixtures or cow's milk. Milk feeding continues until the lambs are two months old. By this time, they should switch to a two-time feeding regimen. Until the lambs reach the age of one month, they are given 50 g of concentrated feed as bait every day, after two months this rate increases to 150 g per day.

What do sheep get sick with?

How to recognize a sick sheep in time

Dampness and draft can cause animals pneumonia... The cause of this disease is often the gases of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, which accumulate in the premises of the sheepfold. The disease can be identified by its characteristic features. With pneumonia, the animal coughs, loses its appetite, has difficulty breathing, and its temperature rises. Sometimes the disease is accompanied by a purulent rhinitis.

The main way to prevent pneumonia is to ventilate the premises of the sheepfold and maintain a dry and warm microclimate in it. Treat the disease with antibiotics such as:

• benzylpenicillin;
• bicillin-3;
• streptomycin;
• neomycin;
• oxytetracycline;
• biovit-80.

Give drugs to the animal along with food and drink. At the time of the animal's illness, it is better to isolate it from the herd.

Death of sheep from infectious diseases

Very often, sheep carry a non-communicable disease such as rumen flatulence... It is associated with poor stomach function and is the result of improper feeding of the animal.

Symptoms of the disease:

• bloating;
• loss of appetite;
• increased anxiety.

In order to alleviate the suffering of the animal and improve its well-being, a special gas tube is inserted into the mouth. If this does not help, then they make a puncture of the scar. It is better to entrust such treatment to a veterinarian.

Eating poisonous grasses on pastures causes sheep poisoning, which is accompanied by diarrhea, loss of appetite, vomiting and stoppage of the stomach. They cleanse the sheep's body of poisons by washing the stomach with vegetable oil and Glauber's salt. They are mixed with warm water. For 0.5 liters of water, 100 g of oil and 50-100 g of salt are taken.

During periods when the sheep lacks food, it begins to eat its own wool. This leads to bezoar disease... The essence of the disease is that the gastrointestinal tract of the animal is clogged with a ball of wool. Very often, such a disease can be found in small lambs, whose uterus has poor milk production.

The hooves of animals can infect purulent bacteria that cause pulp inflammation... This makes it difficult for the animal to move and can cause lameness. The rot formed on the hoof must be cut off.

It is very important to monitor the composition of trace elements in the diet of animals. A lack of vitamin E in it, as well as some other trace elements, can cause dystrophy of the muscles of the skeleton of an animal. A very effective means of preventing this disease is a vitamin complex, which is introduced into the diet of an ewe. Small lambs should also be given vitamin E.

Ontagic pustular dermatitis of sheep

The most dangerous for animals are infectious diseases... They are the most difficult to deal with and are very quickly transmitted from one sheep to another.

The worst infection for sheep is listeriosis... It is caused by bacteria that are very resistant to environmental influences. The nervous form of this disease causes 100% mortality in animals. This disease is practically untreated.

No less dangerous bradzot... It is a general poisoning of the body. This disease leads to 100% death of livestock. As a prevention of this disease, animals are vaccinated and do not allow them to be walked on wet pastures.

Pulmonary adenomatosis or hyperplasia Causes coughs, frothy nasal discharge and breathing difficulties in animals. When a disease is detected, the animal is immediately removed from the herd, liquidated, and the case of the disease is registered.

Another infectious disease unpleasant for an animal is mastitis. With this disease, the udder of the animal becomes inflamed and pus may be released from it. The most common cause of this disease in sheep is improper housing and inadequate care. The disease can be treated, but it is necessary to start fighting mastitis immediately after its detection.

Timely vaccination is an effective prevention of infectious animal diseases such as smallpox and enterotoxemia.

Varch examines a sick sheep and takes tests

Fight against parasites

Along with feed or on pasture, sheep very often "pick up" parasites, which can cause them various diseases. Viral infections are caused by a tick bite in an animal. Symptoms: high fever, fever and weakness. The death of an animal can occur from such a bite within a few days, but it is not 100% the outcome of the disease. Many animals successfully tolerate such bites and recover.

The wingless fly causes melophagosis in sheep. This skin condition is accompanied by severe itching, which causes the animal to tear its fur. The disease can cause intestinal upset and a rapid drop in animal weight and milk production.

Improper care of sheep can lead to the appearance of worms in their body. The disease is treated with medication. The dosage and type of drugs for the animal is determined by the veterinarian.

Book: Diseases of Sheep and Goats. You can download the file here.

Diseases of sheep and goats

Useful tips for novice sheep breeders

Proper maintenance of sheep

1. To prevent scabies in animals, they should be bathed 2-3 weeks after spring cutting in a solution containing disinfectants.
2. Lambs for breeding do not need to be taken younger than 4 months. At this age, they need special care and milk feeding.
3. After 5 months, lambs and daisies cannot be kept together. During this period, puberty begins. Closely related mating, which can occur between animals, leads to infertility and the birth of weak, non-viable offspring.
4. It is better to mating animals when they reach the age of one to 1.5 years.

Shearing

Video - Sheep Shearing and Clippers

Video - How to properly keep sheep

Video - Maternity ward for sheep

Video - How to properly raise sheep

Sheep have been raised as domestic farm animals for thousands of years. At the same time, depending on the breed, sheep breeding is carried out in order to obtain meat, milk, sheepskin and warm high-quality wool.

In the conditions of a personal backyard, keeping sheep will not be difficult. Hardy, unpretentious animals rarely get sick, are quite fertile and, in comparison with cattle, are extremely early maturing. At the same time, no capital built premises are required for sheep:

1. In the summer they are content with paddocks and grazing areas.
2. In winter, they are kept in sheepfolds, where the temperature is slightly above zero.

Animals grow well on feed, which is clearly not enough for other species to meet physiological needs. Sheep, on the other hand, have enough vegetation to grow, give wool and gain weight.

With due attention to animals, raising sheep at home and for novice sheep breeders will not seem like a difficult burdensome task. Good care, adherence to the rules of keeping and feeding will necessarily result in high meat productivity in the first year, obtaining tasty fatty milk and homemade wool.

Biological characteristics of sheep

Modern sheep breeds for growing at home can show high productivity in terms of meat, milk and wool. Most often, the attention of sheep breeders is attracted by varieties with high fertility, rapid weight gain, pronounced unpretentiousness and good health. But in order for the animals to show the expected results, it is necessary to take into account their needs and the biological characteristics of the sheep.

Among the animals in the barnyard, sheep are famous for their herd and forgetfulness. Often sheep breeders are faced with the fact that the livestock left for grazing cannot find their home. Therefore, sheep and rams are brought out to the walking areas together with clever goats or cows. In this case, it is worth one sheep to go after the "leader", and the whole flock will reach for it.

The average life of a sheep is 20 years.However, when keeping sheep in a private backyard, only producers and thoroughbred queens can live up to 8 years. Young animals raised for meat are slaughtered until the age of one year, and individuals of the wool orientation are kept on the farm a little longer.

One of the indicators by which the merits of a breed or an individual are judged is the number of lambing per year and the number of lambs brought.

Most often, sheep in breeding produce offspring once a year at the end of winter or in the first days of spring. Gestation lasts about five months, with most breeds having one lamb is the norm. But there are also exceptions.

For example, the Romanov breed of sheep, popular among Russian sheep breeders due to the frequent birth of several lambs at once and the ability to kitten twice a year. This feature of the breed and the early maturity of the species as a whole allows you to develop a completely successful, quickly payback business plan for breeding sheep.

What conditions do animals need? How to arrange their feeding? How to start breeding sheep at home for beginners?

Raising sheep at home in summer

Sheep grazing is the basis of their high productivity. By depriving animals of the opportunity to go out for a walk, a sheep breeder can seriously reduce his profit. In this case, costs increase:

• for feed, the collection and preparation of which is now a human concern;
• for the equipment of premises and shelters for sheep.

If there are no suitable pastures near the courtyard, the sheep are arranged with walking areas, enclosing the plots with shields. After the depletion of the grass cover, the flock is transferred to the neighboring territory. Since sheep can bite off the grass lower than goats or cows, even in the most scarce places, they find enough favorite food for themselves. In addition, the transfer of grazing to another part of the pasture helps to prevent the infection of animals with helminths.

At home, when raising sheep without walking, animals are given mowed pasture grasses.

It is also advisable to arrange small runs for the flock, driving them out of the confined space for a walk. It is possible to keep the sheep on a leash with regular transfer to a new site.

Sheep are released to the pasture with the arrival of spring and the appearance of the first vegetation with a height of about 8 cm. If it is cool outside, the animals need to be protected from excessive moisture, be it rain or dew. Wet wool does not dry out and causes various diseases of animals. The same rule is followed with the onset of autumn coolness. In hot summertime, on the other hand, going out early to the meadow will help the sheep find the most succulent vegetation.

Despite the pasture maintenance, the sheep are always offered water. Drinking bowls are replenished twice daily, and in a particularly hot season - three times a day.

This measure will help protect animals from dehydration and weakening. For the same purpose, sheds are equipped, where the flock can wait out the most sultry hours. Here, not only drinkers and feeders are placed for the sheep, but also pieces of lick salt.

Pasture grass is the most desirable and useful food for sheep. However, sheep breeding provides for their maintenance in the cold season. Therefore, the sheep breeder needs to prepare hay on time, and in the autumn, fallen leaves will become a good help with a shortage of grass.

In summer, sheep can suffer from blood-sucking insects, which not only use the sheep as a food source, but also lay eggs on damaged skin. In order to avoid the diseases associated with this and to make life easier for the wards, the animals are examined, cleaned and disinfected, and the weakened sheep are under special supervision.

Keeping sheep in the cold season

The arrival of autumn for the sheep breeder means that the flock will soon be relocated to winter sheepfolds and sheep pens. It is extremely important to protect wards from drafts, excess moisture and crowded content. Therefore:

1. The premises are equipped with ventilation.
2. Arrange dry deep bedding for the animals.
3. One individual is allocated from 2.5 to 3 meters of area.
4. The inside of the sheepfold is kept at a temperature of 6–8 ° C during the stall period. This is quite enough for healthy strong animals to feel good, and with a well-chosen diet and grow.
5. During the most crucial period in sheep breeding - during lambing, the air in the sheepfold should be warmed up to 15 ° C.

In winter, the sheep ration consists of silage hay harvested in the summer, chopped root crops and a small amount of concentrated feed. For 500 kg of grass hay and the same amount of root crops, there should be only 100 kg of compound feed. This rate is sufficient for feeding one adult during the stall period.

In the cold season, it is best to feed livestock outdoors in an open shelter for sheep. In bad weather, feed is given under a canopy. Do this 3-4 times a day. The sheep get hay first. For weight gain and growth, it is beneficial to provide hay from grains and forage legumes.

Then the sheep are offered succulent food. This can be a mixture of chopped root vegetables such as beets, carrots, turnips, bran potatoes. Another option is silage. After such a meal, the herd is given a drink, and then it is the turn of concentrated and roughage. Sheep, when raised at home, quickly get used to the same feed distribution schedule. In the evening, hay and brooms prepared in the summer are laid in the feeders.

Sheep - video

Raising sheep at home is considered a lucrative business. These animals are hardy, healthy and highly productive. They are able to provide the owner not only with meat, but also with high quality milk, fat and wool.

Each breed has its own characteristics. A novice farmer needs to decide what is of higher priority for him: obtaining meat, lard, milk or wool.

• IMPORTANT TO KNOW! Do not cut "fungal" nails! Nail fungus is eliminated as follows: treat the nails with the usual ...

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1 Best Sheep Breeds for Home Breeding

Versatile meat and wool varieties are very popular with farmers:

• Romanovskaya. Perfect for home growing. Animals of the Romanov breed are distinguished by fast growth rates and are resistant to many diseases, they provide the owner with meat, milk and wool.
• Kuibyshevskaya. Long-haired breed of sheep. Produce quality meat and wool.
• Latvian. They are short-haired sheep that grow quickly. It is not difficult to breed them, and the meat is considered one of the most delicious.
• Tushinskaya. These animals have good indicators of meat, wool and milk.
• Karachaevskaya. Sheep have strong immunity, they are able to withstand frost and rain.

If the farmer's goal is to obtain meat, lard and wool, which will be used for felt, then he should get a fat-tailed sheep breed. The most common are:

• Gissar. These are hardy large animals weighing about 200 kilograms.
• Edilbaevskaya. An unpretentious breed that can live in arid and windy conditions. These animals, even with poor-quality nutrition, are able to gorge on fat tail fat.

Breeds of fat-tailed rams and sheep: description and rules of maintenance

2 Arrangement of the sheepfold

It is recommended to build a corral for livestock from brick or wood. The room should be spacious, warm, free of drafts and excessive moisture. It requires natural light to penetrate into it, and the required temperature is about 10 degrees Celsius. Sheepfold windows should be installed at a sufficient distance from the floor so that animals cannot reach them. It is necessary to pay attention to ventilation, it must rid the sheepfold of unpleasant odors and excess moisture. Floors should be firm and covered with straw.It is worth changing it from time to time and making sure it is dry. The room needs regular ventilation and cleaning.

One animal should have about 10 square meters. If individuals live in close quarters, this can provoke a number of diseases.

Characteristics and breeding of the Hissar sheep breed

3 Sheep feeding

In summer, animals spend most of the day in the pasture and feed on grass. You can feed them with corn silage and hay. As additives you should use:

• chalk, which is a source of calcium;
• salt (per day, 10 grams of the product should fall on an adult, and 5 grams for lambs);
• bone flour.

In the cold season, in addition to hay, the following foods should be included in the diet of animals:

• wheat bran;
• vegetables (carrots, beets);
• beans;
• cereals;
• sunflower cake.

Animals need abundant nutrition in order for them to gain weight faster and be healthy. The queens need high-quality fortified feed. 30 days before lambing, you should not give hay, but compound feed. Lambs in the first month of life can only feed on mother's milk. Then concentrated mixtures are gradually introduced into their diet. Rams must be provided with coarse food, which must contain a large amount of protein.

Keeping and breeding ducks at home: recommendations for beginners

4 Common diseases

Sheep have strong immunity, but if they are not properly cared for, they are affected by diseases.

1. 1. Dampness causes pneumonia in animals. Symptoms include:

• increased body temperature;
• cough;
• labored breathing;
• loss of appetite.

It is recommended to treat the ram with antibiotics. In order to prevent disease, it is necessary to keep animals warm and dry, and also not to graze them in rainy weather.

2. 2. Scar flatulence occurs due to improper feeding. Symptoms of this common condition include:

• bloating;
• refusal to eat;
• nervousness.

Sheep are treated by puncturing the rumen.

3. 3. Poisoning occurs when an animal has eaten a poisonous plant. Its features are:

• unwillingness to eat;
• diarrhea;
• vomit.

In case of poisoning, the stomach of the animal should be rinsed.

4. 4. On the hooves of sheep and rams, purulent growths appear, which lead to lameness. To avoid this, feed the animals nutritiously and keep them in a clean and warm environment.
5. 5. Bezoar disease is a condition in which a sheep begins to eat its wool, which clogs the animal's gastrointestinal tract. The reason is inadequate feeding.
6. 6. The infectious disease listeriosis is caused by bacteria, is practically untreated and can kill all sheep.

5 Features of lambing

Sheep are highly fertile, large breeds bring five lambs at a time. The offspring quickly adapts to housing conditions and does not require additional care. Females have a maternal instinct, so the owner does not have to care for young animals.

It is advisable that a veterinarian be present at the birth of the lambs. This will avoid possible complications and preserve the offspring.

The lambs should receive their first milk no later than half an hour after birth. If the mother is weak and cannot feed the offspring, the owner must milk and give it to the young.

During this period, sheep bring up to 150 liters of milk. Some farmers get rid of the newborns and sell them to cheese dairies.

Sheep milk has a high fat content, but it contains less nutrients than cow or goat milk.

6 Sheep shearing

In coarse-haired and semi-coarse-haired breeds, the fleece should be removed in early spring. It is important to choose the right time, as in the summer the animals begin to molt. Re-sampling of wool should be carried out in the fall.

It is not necessary to shear fine-wooled sheep early; in summer they practically do not shed. It is enough to take off their fur once a year.

Lambs, which were born in spring, are sheared after a year, and winter offspring - in the fall.

It is important that the fur of the animal is not wet during clipping. Two weeks after removing the cover, the sheep are washed with disinfectants to avoid diseases.

7 Recommendations for novice farmers

To raise sheep to become a profitable and profitable business, you must follow some rules:

1. 1. Lambs should be purchased at the age of four months.
2. 2. From five months, the sheep and the ram must be kept separately.
3. 3. The room in which the animals will be kept must be spacious, clean and warm.
4. 4. Feeders and drinkers should be washed out in a timely manner.
5. 5. The sheep should be abundantly fed, including nutritional supplements in their diet.
6. 6. The occurrence of individuals is recommended when they reach the age of one year.

Content:

• Where to begin
• Feeding features
• Breeding for meat
• Shearing
• How to properly care for sheep
• Lambing features
• Useful Tips

Breeding sheep and rams is a good chance for a novice farmer to find their niche in the livestock business. These animals are hardy, have excellent health and are able to demonstrate high levels of productivity even with poor feeding.

In addition, this type of livestock is versatile. Breeding is bright allows you to get meat, wool and milk equally. In this article we will try to answer all your questions. How to start a business, how to feed and care for these amazing animals.

Where to begin

Any experienced farmer on the question "where to start raising sheep?" without hesitation, he will answer, of course, with the preparation of a business plan. This will help you better think about the financial costs of acquiring animals, building a sheepfold and places for pasture. In addition, you can calculate the projected profit from the sale of products, thereby knowing the profitability of your business.

Then you need to select a pasture where the animals will spend most of the year and build a sheepfold for winter keeping.

The choice of pasture directly depends on the number of flocks. For comfortable grazing of one sheep and lambs, you need about one hectare of land per year.

In addition, sheep grazing is best done in the immediate vicinity of a water body. One adult individual consumes about 10 liters of water per day.

For winter maintenance, it is necessary to build a sheepfold. To keep a dozen females with lambs, it is quite possible to limit yourself to a room of about 40 square meters.

Despite the fact that sheep are immune to temperature extremes, the room should be at least 9 degrees Celsius. In addition, you need to take care of ventilation and the absence of drafts.

Having dealt with the conditions of keeping the flocks, you can proceed to the acquisition of animals. You can buy sheep from farms. Many farmers recommend buying a bright Romanov breed for a start.

Feeding features

It is also worth thinking about feed. As already mentioned, animals are very unpretentious in food. Therefore, raising sheep at home is economically profitable.

From early spring to late autumn, the flock is quite capable of feeding on the pasture. In the winter season, sheep eat root crops and hay with pleasure. Therefore, it is advisable to equip a small vegetable garden in conjunction with a livestock farm.

Breeding for meat

Breeding sheep for meat at home is not a big deal. Animals gain weight very well. Mostly young lambs are used for meat.

This is usually done this way. One or two of the most active males are left (they will be producers), and the rest of the rams are heavily fed in the summer, and slaughtered in the fall.

In addition to green food, it is recommended to give cake, root crops, grain crops. For faster weight gain, you can use a combination feed.

Advice. Before fattening, you can trim the animals selected for slaughter. It has been noticed that sheared sheep have a significantly increased appetite, respectively, the gain in live weight will be much better.

If breeding these animals at home means getting high-quality and tasty meat for you, you should pay attention to the meat-sucking variety of these pets. They are also called fat-tailed.

Shearing

Don't forget that raising sheep means getting not only meat, but also wool. Thus, there is a double benefit.

The wool of these animals is highly valued in production. Gloves, socks, sweaters, carpets, blankets are made from it.

It is recommended to shear the sheep twice a year, before the start of grazing and in late autumn, before the onset of frost. For these purposes, it is best to purchase a special electric typewriter. This will allow you to process the entire flock with minimal effort.

Advice. Before you start shearing animals, you must leave them without water and food for about 14 hours.

How to properly care for sheep

Caring for sheep at home, although troublesome, is not problematic. The main thing is to follow a few basic rules.

Caring for your flock begins with the mandatory vaccination of the entire herd. This will reduce the risk of infections.

It is worth noting that the vaccine usually lasts for about six months, so do not forget to repeat this event regularly.
Do not forget to regularly invite a veterinarian to check your patients.

The fact is that some diseases that are fatal for sheep do not have pronounced symptoms at the initial stage. Therefore, only an experienced specialist can determine the disease.

Despite the fact that sheep can endure low temperatures, they also have a weak point. These are hooves. Therefore, the floor in the sheepfold must be planked and covered with straw bedding. In addition, the hooves need to be cleaned and trimmed regularly, otherwise joint problems can begin.

It is useful to include salt in the daily diet. In addition, tree twigs can be given to the sheep as a source of vitamins.

Remember not to try to bring the sheep into submission by beating and grabbing wool. This can stress the animals and negatively affect productivity.

Lambing features

Sheep are very prolific animals. Some breeds are capable of producing up to five lambs at a time.

It is worth noting the fact that the survival rate of young animals is very high, about 100%. Lambs do not need special conditions of keeping or additional care. Females have a very developed maternal instinct, so they usually take care of their offspring on their own.

Lambing usually goes away without complications, but it is recommended to invite a veterinarian to be on the safe side. Human participation in the birth of lambs is usually reduced to freeing the baby from the amniotic fluid and removing mucus from the respiratory tract.

Remember that in the first 2-3 hours after birth, the lamb must be fed with mother's milk. If the female is unable to feed her cub on her own, the farmer needs to milk her and give her lamb milk.

It is worth noting the fact that almost all varieties of domestic sheep during lactation can feed two or three babies without problems.

Each female is capable of giving about 150 liters of milk during the feeding period. Therefore, some farmers slaughter newborn lambs (their skins are very valuable), and they donate sheep's milk to a cheese dairy.

Although this type of business takes place, it does not bring big profits.The fact is that, despite the fat content, sheep milk in its composition is much inferior to cow and goat milk. Therefore, if you decide to build your business on the delivery of smushki (fleece of a newborn lamb) and milk, it makes sense to decide in advance on the sales market.

Useful Tips

We hope that all of the above information will help you decide where to start raising sheep and how to care for animals in the future. Instead of a conclusion, we want to give you some useful tips for keeping sheep at home:

1. Choose a pasture away from busy freeways. The fact is that sheep are herd and cowardly animals. The flock will instantly scatter from the sharp and loud sounds. Moreover, animals are also frankly stupid, they are not able to find their way to a grazing place or a sheepfold on their own.
2. For a more comfortable keeping of sheep in the pasture, you should think about purchasing an electric fence. This device will protect your charges from predators and save on staff costs.
3. It often happens that the flock does not have a leader, so the sheep graze on their own. To keep them in subjection, you can have guard dogs or graze the flock with the goats.
4. In order to control the mating of animals, it is recommended to keep the breeding rams separately.