Rachel Koski Nielsen (author) from Pennsylvania, now farming in Minnesota on July 19, 2012: Angela - glad you liked my hub! As you know, sheep hold its loyal meat fans – especially lamb meat (lamb is a sheep under a year). Crotching is the “grossest” part of shearing, for fairly obvious reasons, but it’s pretty much the most important part. You’re a sheep, goat, pig or deer keeper if you have responsibility for the day-to-day care and control of these animals. OK we are toying with the idea of keeping a couple of pet sheep - it took us 3 years of researching and worrying before we finally made the decision to keep pigs, so it may take just as long to decide about sheep! If fed and managed properly, most pet sheep maintain good health and live for a long time. Don’t wait until it’s been ninety degrees for two weeks to call someone and ask them to come shear your sheep for you. The only other vaccination pet owners may want to consider is rabies. Look at it this way: You wouldn’t buy or adopt a dog if you couldn’t afford the vet bills, right? Lambs need to have protection against tetanus, if they are going to be docked and/castrated, especially with rubber rings. As fun as shearing may be, you don’t have to learn to do it yourself. Mineral supplements designed for horses contain far too much copper for sheep, which can lead to a condition called copper toxicity. Wethers are particularly susceptible to urinary calculi (kidney stones), which is caused by an imbalance of calcium to phosphorus. Lambs (1-6 months of age) are most vulnerable, especially around the time of weaning. You do not want to see fly-strike. Other suitable treats include leaves, corn husks, bread, and produce in small amounts. They make excellent mothers, and with a relatively small number of acres, a farmer can make a pretty penny producing lambs. One of our ewes was so smart that I think the other sheep disgusted her. A free-choice salt block and mineral block should be provided, and the mineral block should be for sheep, not horses. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Sheep Keeping a pet sheep 0. Sheep kept as pets may never be expected to act like “farm sheep” and produce quality wool or large lamb crops, but a sheep is still a sheep and needs to be cared for as such. Answer: Sheep can live from twelve to fourteen years. Long wooled sheep may benefit from twice a year shearing. :). Keeping sheep is not as straightforward as some might think. Découvrez des commentaires utiles de client et des classements de commentaires pour The Backyard Sheep: An Introductory Guide to Keeping Productive Pet Sheep (English Edition) sur Amazon.fr. In particular, it will help to prevent urinary calculi in wethers. Potty Training; Goats go potty a lot – a whole lot, even as babies. Some farms put sheep in cradles that tilt the sheep onto its side for easy access to the hooves. Sheep need medication commonly called dewormer that will kill and remove intestinal parasites and other types of worms. The only universally recommended vaccination for sheep is for clostridial diseases. First of all, you need to make sure your zoning regulations or housing covenants allow you to keep farm livestock. Pet goats tend to like attention, petting from their owners, and even eating out of your hand. Finances involved in … Most pet sheep will never need to see a vet, but you never know what might happen, so it’s a good idea to find one. Contact Defra for information. and Olde English Babydoll Southdown (18-24 inches tall) are two of the smallest breedsThe Shetland is another small breed. Most shepherds begin with a starter flock based on what breeds are available nearby, which may indicate sheep that do well in your area. A tethered animal is vulnerable to predators. 1616. It goes without saying that sheep should always have access to plenty of fresh, clean water. The sheep can also be held on its side for hoof trimming. Digestive upsets, which are the result of too much gas, can be treated with antacids, sodium bicarbonate, or mineral oil. A simple plastic syringe will not work unless it has a nozzle attachment. Sheep can even seek shade under solar panels and hay wagons. Metal port-a-huts are another option. Goats are absolutely awesome as pets. They can also cause needless stress. They are newly found best buddies! To keep 3 sheep as pets in the UK, do i need a licence? Cons of Owning Sheep As House Pets They can make good pets because they are a gentle animal and respond well to … Lambs clinically-infected with coccidia usually look poor and fail to thrive. We have more goats than sheep in my home state of Texas. This lamb named Krissy has taken a liking to Tacoma the Great Pyrenees. I would recommend doing this as quickly as possible if she's already 60+ days old, and wean her off the bottle if you haven't already. And for most people its just not possible, sheep aren’t something you can keep in your back yard in a built up area. Dogs and cats tend to naturally have places that they go to the bathroom, sheep do not. Weather and activity can also influence nutritional requirements. Raise a flock of sheep in your backyard. Keeping Pygmy Goats As Pets. You can tell if a sheep has too many barber pole worms by examining the color of its lower eye lid. We bought our Dorpers for pets, and to breed since we had a ram! Krissy. Barbed wire fences are less desirable for sheep because they can cause injury. Thanks for the comment. Another common parasite that affects sheep is coccidia (Eimeria spp.). Part of the reason for their aggression is the animal itself. If you can feel a little vertebrae and a little hip bone, your animal is probably in good condition. The American Sheep Industry’s online breed directory is a great place to start. It is best to keep them in flocks. It is a single celled protozoan parasite. For this reason, it is now recommended that only clinically-parasitized sheep (as evidenced by symptoms: anemia, bottle jaw, etc.) Failure to do so can be fatal. Posted by Lindsay Pevny • 4 Comments. Thank you. Some people think urinary calculi think early castration causes urinary calculi, when in reality, it is a nutritional problem. If the sheep are bred, the ewe should be vaccinated about a month before lambing, so that lambs can get passive immunity when they drink the colostrum. Small but perfectly formed - the hardy little sheep that make perfect pets and living lawn mowers! Building & Renovation. Unlike other livestock, sheep (and goats) will not drink dirty water. This includes the dreaded crotch region, the wool around the anus and vagina of the ewe. High tensile, electric fences are commonly used on commercial sheep farms, but less practical for small enclosures. Soay (ewes weighing only 50 lbs.) There are also 7 and 8-way (Covexin-8) vaccines that confer protection against additional clostridial diseases. Some milk replacers have a coccidiostat. Coccidia damages the lining of the small intestines, which is where nutrients are absorbed. When keeping sheep on a small homestead, make sure you have adequate fencing to keep the sheep from getting into the roads or the neighbor’s gardens. To preserve the dairy quality of the Friesian while side-stepping the animal's lack of hardiness, I would probably cross it with a hardier breed such as the Lacaune or Cheviot. Tunis lamb They can be playful and comical animals that form close bonds with their people. If you want to raise goats as pet and for milk production, then you must have to keep at least two goats together. Any breed of sheep makes a good pet, with some miniature breeds making popular pets. We read books, found information on the internet, spoke to the local vet, the animal produce store, visited local breeders of Dorpers and watched lots of YouTube videos. It is only when they have too many that it becomes a problem. And again, if your sheep are losing weight, that’s the time to offer grain. We bought our Dorpers for pets, and to breed since we had a ram! They will drink more in the summer if it is cool. Horned animals can get their heads stuck in fences and feeders and can cause injury to other animals and people. Orphans often do not consume enough colostrum, the first milk produced by the ewe after she lambs. It is not recommended that horned animals be kept with polled animals. These will generally last a few hours, and as the lamb grows you can switch to larger sizes or adult diapers. On the other hand, failure to trim hooves is one of the primary reasons sheep owners are reported to animal health authorities. 4.5 by 2 votes. All feed should be offered in a trough or manger. However, if you are one of those unconventional responsible pet owners or collectors, or you have a thing for farm animal pets, or you simply want something wooly and says "baaaa," then we can't blame you-love for pets should be universal, what ever kind they can be. They should not have horns. But make sure you do your homework first. But believe it or not, a stray dog with the wrong idea can seriously wound or kill an adult sheep. Unlike other pets, miniature goats don’t bite, kick, or scratch. Naturally polled (hornless) animals are also advised. Yes, you can actually adopt one of these furry cuties. Show caption 1 / 1. Technically, the sheep (Ovis aries) is a four-legged, small ruminant mammal. People don't usually raise sheep for pets and to some the idea is sort of " around." Shelter Free access to plain salt is a minimum. Sheep are excellent grazers and prefer a diet of grass and clover. It is possible to tether sheep, but this should only be done if someone is nearby to watch the sheep. Older sheep may not have any front teeth (incisors), though their molars will still allow them to chew. Keeping Sheep as four-legged lawnmowers in Pets & Animals - discussions forum on Brittany, Angloinfo Keeping sheep in Pets & Animals - discussions forum on Brittany, Angloinfo. Krissy and her new baby, Fargo. This makes them excellent safe pets for everyone. The most common health problem of sheep, especially lambs, is gastro-intestinal parasites (worms). They just need to provide a place where the sheep can go to get out of the rain, snow, or wind. Tag Archives: keeping sheep. I'm genuinely incredibly confused and Google isn't helping at all. Technically, the sheep (Ovis aries) is a four-legged, small ruminant mammal. How long do they live, and would it be happy living in a large back garden? A pet sheep should either be a ewe or a wether. Leaving an animal or group of animals on a piece of ground that is too small to support them will ruin the grass and other forage, however. He was on 250ml 4x a day but I've cut him down to 300ml 3x a day, I cut down one whole feed and he doesn't seem to be happy about it. As far as grain goes, lambs are a different story. Titia Geertman from Waterlandkerkje - The Netherlands on June 19, 2018: You wrote that copper is bad for sheep and that's true for most commercial breeds, but there are in fact quite some sheep breeds that actually need copper in their minerals because without copper they will get sick and die. If you’re sure that you’re in a coyote-free zone, and have an electric fence installed that will deter dogs, you can probably get away with something more like a big lean-to. Other articles in our sheep series interesting and pleasuring people have success raising sheep, not horses 50 square.! 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