I live in an area with many vineyards, and some of them use mini-sheep to keep the grass mowed between vines. They don’t browse like goats, and reduce the horse of. Ow if, spraying and weed shaking needed.
Has anyone successfully used sheep (I’m interested in either minis or Katahdins) to help maintain hard to mow areas? I am planning to have aisles between pastures to prevent horses getting hung up on hot tape, but I’m not thrilled with having to mow those aisles. I’m thinking a few (tame and loved) sheep of the correct breed may do the trick.
Thoughts?
I had a few ancient sheepies at a farm previously, and enjoyed them. One of my ponies took to chasing them for fun, so we had to seperste them, and they became responsible for keeping the grass mowed in the orchard area. The shearing was problematic because they were huge and feral…hence My interest in little guys or ones that don’t need to be sheered.
Sorry about the poor editing! They reduce the need for weed whacking and mowing in vineyards.
I had some sheep, and they are excellent lawn mowers BUT they have no respect for electric fence and they have to be shorn. They will go through your fence and wreck it. Also, they will eat other things like all of Grandpa’s beans and other garden items he has been diligently weeding. But they are incredibly fun and sweet if you can deal with the other things.
Sure sheep can be used in that way. But to ensure they graze down your areas of interest they will need to be contained in those areas - your horse fencing may or may not do this. If not, you will need fence or electronet to do the job. Also hair sheep such as the Katahdins may not need shearing, but they can shed a LOT of hair in springtime and it can make for an unattractive mess on the property. Personally I prefer wool sheep to avoid this.
I e been told that electric at the correct (eye) level will keep sheep in. Not true?
Horses hate to graze after sheep.
Sheep often damage grass because eat right down to the crown of the plants. It’s why they are so good at killing weeds.
Sheep also don’t (at least mine didn’t) graze evenly—they’re actually quite picky, so you get some areas where they graze down to the dirt, and other places they don’t touch. You’re still going to have to mow the area because now you’ll have big uneven patches of high and low grass everywhere.
And a strand of electric at eye level won’t keep out predators. Heck, it probably won’t even contain wool sheep because they don’t seem to feel the shock on their fuzzy backs! Mine were escape artists who were convinced the grass was always greener outside their pasture, and would either climb the no-climb wire, or stick their heads under the bottom until they bent the wire enough to go under. Little buggers!
used sheep for a while to mow the fence lines (had horse fence, gap, old stone wall, gap, horse fence) used temporary electric fence jumpered off the horse fence. Worked great until the neighbour set off fireworks and they learnt they could run through the electric.
Mowers and weed whackers can be put away when the job is finished and require very little if anything until needed again. I don’t think the same can be said for sheep.
All sheep are not sheepish. We had to have ours put down after she attacked the vet, shoer, and my saddle horse. She had no teeth or horns, but 70 pounds of sheep coming at you can do a lot of damage. She knocked my horse down and he’s 1200 pounds! But it was the “attack of the farrier” that made her a lamb of God. Good farriers are hard to find. Sheep, well, not so much.
and you can sell the poop to your neighbors for their gardens. 
(at least that’s how it works around here.)
I use sheep and goats for mowing around pond in woodsy areas and general lawn that does not need to be super pretty all the time.
They eat the grass and weeds down well but not 100% of everything. I can spot treat areas as needed - sometimes just 10 plants to an acre vs. an acre. Works well for me. I have had a pony and horses out to graze along with the sheep and goats when there is too much grass for them to keep up with - no problems, all ate well. Pony certainly did not loose weight.
They are best in consistent areas - once they “home in” on an area, they are more likely to stay put then if moved frequently. They mostly come back if they do get out, although some neighbors object to wooly visitors (quite suburban around me). I have had not such great luck with electric only fence for sheep - they don’t seem to feel it, especially the wooly ones.
Overall, there seems to be a lot of individual variation as to how motivated a particular critter is to get out. The motivated ones are a PITA, the dull ones are pretty easy. Goats are more creative at getting out, but smarter about coming/staying home.
I have had wooly breeds and now Katahdins as well as wooly. Not having to shear is a plus for me, they do look motheaten for a week or two before getting nice summer coats.
The sheep mowed lawn areas look good enough for a wedding party after 2-3 weeks rest and a brush hog mow plus a finish mow a few days before event.
A nice critter overall to have around, low maintenance, good “return on investment”
Sheep can be rotated around with electric. I use net fencing. Hard because I have some Jacobs and horned Dorsets who like to get horns caught in the fence.
If they get out I just put a handful of rocks in a five gallon bucket. They come running back even though they never get grain.
Have to watch out they don’t have access to horse grain or minerals, too much copper will kill sheep.
They will need their hooves trimmed but it is something you can do yourself just learn to sit them.
Katahdins are my favorite. I wouldn’t say sheep access re low maintenance but if you want to become a sheep farmer I think they would do the job you’d like!
I hate to add to those saying the sheep grazing is not going to work well, but they are telling you the truth. You need good fences for livestock, sheep, cattle or goats, and most movable fencing is not it. We kept our sheep in their fields because I have GOOD fences and the market lambs got sheared once a month to help weight gain. The cattle, feeder size, tested the hot wires of fence DAILY. Both sheep and calves were put in the barn at night for protection from wandering pet dogs at night.
I can’t think what a nightmare moving fences too, would be to my workload. I would rather mow! I already put in a lot of mowing time, keeping the grass “coming along” for enough production to feed the horses. We don’t need to feed hay in summer because I have very good grass for our (presently) 7 horses.
The calves and sheep were 4-H projects for the kids, also grazed instead of grain fed to keep production costs down, profits up. While the calves and lambs liked the grassy barnyard best, it was never overgrazed. They took themselves out into the large paddock for other grazing time. If sheep or cattle are eating the crowns of grass plants, the land is overgrazed so get the animals off and let it recover.
In my experience ALL the animals like the new grasses growing in, over long stemmy old grasses. I had no dirt spots though, and rotated the lambs and calves in after the horses left a field, to trim what they liked. One heifer LOVED the stemmy grass under fences before I could weed whack if. She kept the fences clean for me, but none of the other cattle did that for me.
I think you would be a lot better off with a nice mower, just keeping the greenery trimmed with machinery instead of livestock. You are going to be really busy trying to keep sheep contained, and cattle are much worse on fences. Predators in the form of loose dogs will kill sheep, put calves (usually hornless) thru the fences so they have no respect for fence at all. You may have damages to pay for with loose animals or if someone hits it on the road.
Not sure how rough your ground is, but you might want to use the brush hog on your pathways first to take any hard knocks from fallen branches, holes in the ground, rough spots from wildlife in those pathways. I got my ground in good shape with the brush hog and now use a finish mower that throws grass off to the side (no windrow effect with cut grasses), has legs with tires able to be set to a uniform height, both tall or short. The finish mower has “floating arms” as part of the 3pt hitch, so the mower operates apart from the tractor. The mower keeps its constant setting of height, making for a really nice job when done.
I truly think the mowing animals will be a huge headache, requiring more time to work with, chase, reset fences, than you will have with just mowing pathways. Mowers don’t require feeding, though they do need some upkeep in sharpening blades, cleaning after use, keeping the gearbox greased, maybe belts tightened or kept free of grass trimmings after using it.
You do get plus points for trying to “think green”!! Just not always going to work well in all situations.
Well, sounds like I will hold off on sheepie-mowers, as much as I’d like to try. I have some rough areas which will be hard to manage, but I don’t think it’s worth installing the requisite fence to contain the fuzzies.
Thank you again, COTHers for being a fantastic well of information!
I like sheep, but my daughter has them for her own reasons. Everything people said about them having needs and the time to move fencing is true. On the other hand, they are IME very good mowers.
Your ideal, if you don’t have a yen for sheep personally, would be to find someone around who has sheep who would bring them over to guest-graze for you, or lend a couple for you to try out.
We have the electronet fencing. It works well for them. It’s “easy” to move but that’s still an hour of time that has to be found. It’s hard to move in summer when the ground is hard. Sometimes buying hay is less work than moving fence.
They are more vulnerable to predators than horses, which may be an issue for you, depending on your property.
They can be very hard on anything within their area - they will shove hard on barriers in a way that horses usually won’t, and they may in fact try to eat trees and vines. (In fact, I actually am pleased with the way ours prune off the lower branches.) One of ours has eaten a hole in the barn…sigh. Another one was very pleased with herself when she removed the barn door. Admittedly, it wasn’t the most sturdy thing, and she approves of the new one.
I raise icelandic sheep on our horse farm. We raise them primarily for meat, but greatly enjoy the side benefits of reduced mowing and weed eating, and simplified pasture management.
Sheep and horses share grazing land beautifully. The sheep love the “roughs” where the horses poop and won’t graze and they also love a lot of plants that horses aren’t interested in. They won’t eat things like thistles and buttercups, but other than that they tend to love “weedy” plants. So, not only is there less mowing, but also less spraying for weeds (except the @#$ buttercups!!).
Some types of sheep do graze very closely, but primitive types like Icelandics are browsers and are very gentle on the grasses. Their cloven feet do not leave hoof prints and dig up fields. They are very efficient about grazing fence lines and things that like to grow in fence lines. They WILL eat baby trees, so if you are planting saplings on purpose, you will need to protect them. Also, FWIW, sheep do not share parasites with horses, so it is a beneficial grazing relationship where each species sanitizes the pasture for the other.
However, keeping sheep involves the responsibility of keeping another type of livestock that requires some specific knowledge and care. Sheep require slightly different fencing than horses. I’m able to keep my sheep moderately well contained with four board horse fence, but I also have a perimeter that is 100% fenced in v-mesh so it’s not a disaster if a couple of them sneak out for a few hours. I wouldn’t trust just an electric fence to keep sheep in without some other kind of perimeter fence. Sheep also can be vulnerable to predators such as stray dogs or coyotes. I have a guard llama and two livestock guardian dogs for our flock. Shearing is a PITA and has to be done 1-2 x per year. Sheep also need periodic deworming.
I have gravel around my waterers, so I don’t trim feet–ever. Feed is not an issue–Icelandics do very well on pasture and I’ve never had one steal more than crumbs of grain from a horse. I use cracked corn or some sheep feed to lure sheep from pasture to pasture, takes about five minutes to move them around. Overall, I would say that once you are set up for sheep and get the hang of keeping them, they aren’t too much trouble. I think fencing and predator protection are the two biggest logistical issues.
I’m a little surprised by the comments against sheep in this thread as my years of sheep / horse cohabitation experience has been quite pleasant. We have a small flock that does an excellent job maintaining fence lines and vine / weed control. In VA that’s a never-ending job, lol.
Ours have their own pen and run-in that they are locked into at night, but during the day are turned out with our horses via connecting paddocks. Our horses have their own sacrifice paddock and barn that’s separate from the sheep. Our flock keeps our woods vine-free and cleans up any hay dropped from feeders. They eat poison ivy!! They also help keep our fields reasonably mowed (it’d be asking too much for a handful of sheep to keep acres of pasture perfectly short) and leaf-free in the fall. Our fencing is board around the paddocks and property and board with mesh around the sheep pen. They stay put and we find them grazing muzzle to muzzle with our horses, often following them around to different paddocks. We do feed them in their pen each night and kept them locked up for the first couple of weeks until they knew it was home.
Ours are all wool breeds and we’ve found them to be sweet, friendly, calm, and easy pets. They were all about a year old when we brought them home from different breeders. A professional shearer stops by and trims them up once a year. They’re inexpensive eaters, benefit our property, and our horses seem to like having them around.
I have had horses and sheep for 30+ years. The sheep and horses rotate pastures so we are able to keep the pastures at grass height that the feed lasts longer into the summer. I like that the sheep aertate the soil as they spread manure. WE live in an area with Tansey ragweed. Sheep do great job controlling that toxic weed. Big bonus since I have 4 ewes that lamb in the spring I able sell lambs before the worst of winter sets in.
My horses totally enjoy chasing the sheep…bad ponies
My DH was thrilled with the job my sheep did. Our front pasture looked like a golf course. They lived there most of the time, but I let them graze all sections of our land. I used the electric netting and didn’t have any issues keeping them contained. We had Katahdin and they are easy to raise (and delicious). One big thing if you are going to move them a lot is it helps to have a good dog. We have two Border Collies that were happy to help.
