Havenât owned any Shetland sheep, though we had a couple in the 4-H club that the kids had for pets. They are BITTY little animals. They were good natured, FELT SO NICE to pet with such soft wool. However the kids all had to get down on their knees to place feet, or be bent with head lower than waist, to show them in the prescribed âsheep holdâ used in the ring.
Your fence would need to be pretty solid at the low areas to retain sheep, but tall enough to keep dogs out. You could also get a donkey protector, and not a mini sized one. Jenny donkey works best, gelding and Jacks are often hard on sheep. Some donkeys will kill sheep who get into their food, but those all seem to be male. BLM donkeys are hard workers, energetic enough to go after dogs. Locally, a number of sheep owners have BLM donkeys with their flocks. You may have to totally sedate the donkey for his yearly trim, so he doesnât injure the farrier. Do NOT accept âpretty sedatedâ from the Vet. One place I know, Farrier said âNo he is not outâ and Vet then got kicked as he went to pick up the front hoof to prove donkey had enough. Vet needed stitches in his head from that swipe. Make sure the farrier knows how to tie his hooves up for safety during trim, if donkey is not into trimming. Donkey standing can kick from his muzzle, down his side, to way out behind in one swipe, hurt someone badly.
Not sure how much money you want to get into this with, but they sell sheep/goat electric netting fence. You could line the rail fence with the netting, for both containing them and protection from free ranging dogs. Netting appears pretty portable, so you could move it around the farm to get fresh grazing.
We have market lambs, shear them on a sheep stand. Head is contained on the stand, and you can work standing mostly, to shear the body. We have tried the sitting method, but our sheep didnât read that book and were not cooperative. Hard on the back leaning over and sometimes the legs start flailing and hurt you. So MUCH easier to use the stand.
Oddly enough, the show sheep folks wash sheep first, blow off water with the vac on exhaust, towel dry them, and THEN clip them damp. Rather like the folks who are body clipping wet horses, bragging on how nice the clip turns out.
We have a shearing head on the big Osters, blades are SHARP. However we have always had a hard time clipping them with the shearing head, they get cut if fighting you. You run into clots in wool, hard to get thru. This year DD tried the shearing head, was having a really bad time with the first cutting on lambs. She gave up, waited a day, then washed lambs and sheared them damp like for a show. Used the horse Osters with regular # 10 blades. The clippers and blades worked just fine, wool came right off, leaving the lambs smooth and no cuts at all. We trimmed them damp after bathing them, using the horse clippers all summer. They looked nice finished, clipping went quickly each time.
So an option for keeping your Shetlands sheared each year. I donât see why it wouldnât work on them too. Washed clean, wool doesnât dull the blades fast with dirt, and for some reason damp wool cuts fine with our big horse clippers. I canât cut anything on the sheep when wool is dry using our horse clippers. I strongly recommend using a sheep stand, goat stand, to raise the sheep up high enough so you are comfortable working. You can build one yourself, like a goat milking stand. Donât make it very wide, you have to lean forward as animal moves sideways, out of reach. Real hard on the back, leaning and reaching for periods of time.
I am not a goat person, they get into too much mischief. The âlong haired sheepâ photo is actually an Angora Goat, not sheep at all. A quick method to tell sheep and goats apart, is goats carry tails upright all the time. I feel sorry for the sheep who never gets sheared, they can get skin problems, maggots in wounds caused by things caught in the wool and covered. Breeding sheep need to have shearing so they donât have fluids and birthing material caught in wool to cause infections or actually prevent breeding or lambs finding the udder. Crotching or Crutching, means to shear away wool from the udders and rearend of the ewes before they lamb. Might be too early to totally shear them yet.
As Thomas said, commercial sheep bred for meat, tend to have multiples. The US goal is for every bred ewe to replace herself and the extra lamb/s is the bonus money animal. Sheep are bred for multiple births, you make more money on them then. But they do need watching, help if things go wrong. Our friends just finished lambing, sleeping out in the âman caveâ attached to the sheep shed so they could check each hour. Has TV, fridge, nice beds, LOUD alarm clocks. I think they have 40+ ewes, mostly show sheep. They got many multiples, lost only 2 lambs who had defects. They managed to get the extra lambs, triplets, ignored twin or runt twin, to bond with single lamb ewes. So NO BOTTLE BABIES this year!! Pretty intensive care for over a month as the lambs arrived, to be this successful in numbers. Family members rotate watching day and nights, though they are all kind of groggy this time of year!! Ha Ha.
I would love some Shetlands, but have to be realistic. I do not spin or knit, so wool would be wasted. Finished lambs at a year old, are hardly big enough to bother putting in the freezer. Lamb chops are size of a quarter, with tiny roasts less than half pound. The 9month lambs at 4-H were about 15 inches tall, TINY things. All POOF with long wool, not much body. If you breed the ewes, then eventually there are too many animals and some have to go someplace else.
My market meat lambs are just better for family eating here. Between 130-150 pounds when they go, gained mostly from grazing. Returns about 70-90+ pounds of meat for the freezer. Both types eat grass, but market lambs eat more, so I have less trimming of field to keep production of grass up. Tiny sheep would require different fencing, ours is designed for larger animals. Thick, heavy wool coats can make electric wire strands ineffective, I donât care how hot the charger is. One of the reasons we keep the market lambâs wool trimmed so short, is so they FEEL the fence bite! The netting electric has small holes, no place to push thru without zapping noses and ears. Folks say netting is effective, keeps out dogs and coyotes.
The Khatadin sheep I know, are not wooly at all. They also do not look like the photos of Khatadin sheep. Maybe some cross not mentioned. They have actual hair, kind of like deer hair, fawn color. My friend sells her Khatadin lambs at the Farmerâs Market for lamb roasts. She has customers who want them whole. Selling at the Market she is making a profit, lambs are moved on. Her Khatadins are nice and friendly, extremely easy to handle, easy lambing of single lambs and no shearing. She enjoys them except when fixing fence. Says the whole flock follows her all around, supervising. Khatadins would be a nice option for just keeping things grazed down, being pets. Smart enough to come when called, not creative like goats for getting into trouble. Sheep are not very bright, but they can learn with routine handling.
I donât think there is anything cuter than a baby lamb either.
Figures Iâd get the retarded ones.