Sheep Chat Thread

[Drache]

Why not buy dairy breed ewes and breed them to a Suffolk ram? You would have your milkers and could raise some nice speckle-faced market lambs to sell or put in your own freezer.

That is a fantastic idea. Which dairy breed would you recommend for a venture like this?

 

[WallabyOfChaos]

That is a fantastic idea. Which dairy breed would you recommend for a venture like this?

I have no experience with dairy sheep, but I have a feeling your limiting factor on breed choice is going to be availability. From what I have seen for sale on the internet it seems that the East Friesians may be the most popular. I don't know if you have read this yet, but here is a link about the breed: http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep/friesianmilk/index.htm
Apparently the Friesians are considered to be the most productive dairy breed sheep around. It says the fullbloods don't handle hot weather very well, but crosses are more adaptable. Something to consider since your location shows you are near Houston, TX.

Another breed you may consider is the Royal White, also known as Dorp-Croixs (http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep/royalwhite/index.htm). They are a breed of "hair sheep" which means you will not need to shear them and tail docking is optional. They are very heavy milkers compared to other commercial meat and/or hair breeds. This breed is a cross between White Dorpers and St. Croixs (a.k.a. Virgin Island Whites). They are very heat tolerant and you will not need to crossbreed to produce very marketable or very tasty lambs.

The OK State website that the links above came from is a good one. You can browse through all the sheep breeds listed and figure out what you think may be the best fit for your place, and then go sheep shopping.

 

[TwinWillowAcres]

Another good website to check out is http://sheepusa.org/directory_of_breeds - has only US breeds recognized by the American Sheep Industry Association.

 

[chooks4life]

Thanks for the info. I know it's possible to keep more than one breed, but I am not sure that I will have the space for extra animals, so I wanted to get the most bang for my buck, so to speak. Given the choice (due to space issues) between having sheep that will produce the milk I want, and having some that I love looking at (the black-face breeds), I'll probably just suck it up and get the milk breed. I was just hoping to have my cake and eat it too. ;P

You can always have your cake and eat it too, as long as you do your homework first.

 

[ladyrsanti]

Anybody have any tricks to getting a halter on a flighty horned (Jacob) sheep? I've got one of the leather types. Getting the thing over the horns is near impossible. And if I do get it over, they fling it off before I can get the lead hooked on. If I start with the lead on, I can't get it over their horns.

Figures that the one ewe I have without horns lets me put it on without protest. The other two won't have any of it.

 

[WallabyOfChaos]

Anybody have any tricks to getting a halter on a flighty horned (Jacob) sheep? I've got one of the leather types. Getting the thing over the horns is near impossible. And if I do get it over, they fling it off before I can get the lead hooked on. If I start with the lead on, I can't get it over their horns.

Figures that the one ewe I have without horns lets me put it on without protest. The other two won't have any of it.

It sounds like you need one that buckles or ties rather than the slip-on style, at least until they calm down a bit and get used to the idea of having something on their heads.

 

[ladyrsanti]

Thanks. I will have to check at TSC and see if they carry anything that might work, or maybe my feed store. Sounds like I'll have to tackle the buggers regardless. My wether is STRONG. I'm grateful he's not a ram but still... I'm a small person. Anyone else out there not much bigger than their sheep? I have a small breed but dang, they can take it out of me.

 

[WallabyOfChaos]

Thanks. I will have to check at TSC and see if they carry anything that might work, or maybe my feed store. Sounds like I'll have to tackle the buggers regardless. My wether is STRONG. I'm grateful he's not a ram but still... I'm a small person. Anyone else out there not much bigger than their sheep? I have a small breed but dang, they can take it out of me.

We have a nylon web llama halter that works fairly well. Our ewes are very small, so I had to punch a few extra holes in the crown. It's not a "show ring" fit, but it gets the job done when we need to tie something up.

Here's a goat one: http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=e73dff15-14f1-4794-96d7-4257b4b37fb7&gas=goat halter

 

[ladyrsanti]

I'll definitely look into it.

Found this ->http://www.farmersjournal.ie/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-goat-and-a-sheep-156405/

 

[chooks4life]

I'll definitely look into it.

Found this ->http://www.farmersjournal.ie/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-goat-and-a-sheep-156405/

Me and WallabyOfChaos recently went over this subject and the mods deleted the results, but yes, goats and sheep do produce offspring sometimes, and even sometimes fertile offspring.

I had some links I provided that proved it but it's not like it's hard to google for information, everyone can do it, even children.

Best wishes.