Please know that bracken fern is poisonous to sheep, too. If you want sheep, get sheep. They are lovely, endearing creatures to have, but they are also a lot of work and there’s a lot to know to keep them healthy.
Oh dear, looks like I’m late to the party, 
update, this will be aired tonight on TBS …Sarah Silverman Stupid Pet Tricks… it was only taped two and half years ago… the girls with their goats, they took four goats out Hollywood for the taping. At first the show producers were wanting to fly the goats out there but ended up paying all expenses to have them trucked out and back with overnight rest stops at arranged locations. All arrangements were top quality.
my bo has a herd of sheep. she bought them mostly for herding competitions and also will rotate pastures so sheep eat down the stuff the horses won’t. but sheep and horses will never be together. it’s labor intensive. she had to add 6 ft wire fencing to all pastures where sheep are. She has 3 dogs guarding them 24/7-anatolian shepherds. we have cameras and all night long coyotes pace in front of their field. the horses are terrified of the sheep. they seem like an awful lot of extra work.
Well, 'em are some handsome Ovines, anyway :-).
We’ve had a small flock (8) of sheep share pastures with our horses for years. We find them very easy, peaceful co-habitators who do a good job keeping weeds and vines down in the paddocks. We lock them up in a separate paddock and standalone barn each night (more of an enclosed run-in). They eat very little (we feed a pelleted sheep feed and hay) and aren’t messy. They require the least amount of work of any of our animals.
Ours do need to be shorn each year, but we have someone who comes to do it, and she charges $15 (!!!) per sheep and trims their hooves at the same time. It takes her about 10 minutes per head.
One of our ewes thinks she’s a horse and will spend time grazing nose to nose with them. The rest move around in a group near but not within the horses. The horses mostly leave them alone–we have a young horse who liked to run through them as a yearling.
While I wouldn’t call them as friendly as dogs, ours are pretty cool with us in their space. Some even come up to have their heads scratched or to beg for a peppermint treat. When we need to catch them, we enclose them in a space and create a little chute. Anyone who can hold onto a big dog or a moving horse will have zero trouble with sheep. They’re strong, but not any more than, say, a German Shepherd that wants to move. Wool provides an excellent hand hold. Once they are sitting (how shearers hold them) or laying down, they generally stay pretty still. Most shearers can single-handedly catch, hold, and shear a sheep with little effort.
We haven’t had an escapee on 3-board fencing, although we do have additional no-climb wire on their primary field’s perimeter. They seem content to stay in the pastures. Unlike goats, sheep do not chew on everything in sight, nor do they try to climb. They’re non-destructive and very easy to work around. They’re cute, angelic versions of goats, lol.
our coyotes are part wolf, we are pretty sure. 60-70 lbs, hunt in packs. aggressive and don’t back down.
In terms of weed control, I think your best bet is spraying. It’s just a practical reality of maintaining pastures. No, I don’t love it, but it will take care of your problem.
Keeping sheep is like keeping any other type of livestock. You need to learn about them and be prepared to care for them. The hardiness of sheep depends widely by breed of sheep, location, and local predators. Some breeds of sheep are close grazers while other breeds are more “browsers.” Browsers will definitely eat down the rough areas where your horses poop and pee and will eat quite a few types of weeds (not the toxic ones).
Sheep require a more secure perimeter fencing than horses, but are not typically escape artists. Re-doing or supplementing your fencing might prove an expensive investment. Sheep do require protection from predators. That generally means a livestock guardian dog. That’s a whole other animal that needs to be raised, trained and cared for (and contained–without proper training many will be prone to roam).
It’s difficult to find a vet that will work on sheep, so you need be prepared to do your own vet work. Obviously they need vaccinations, deworming, and periodic foot care like any other hooved animal. It’s not always so easy to pen up and restrain a bunch of sheep, with or without a chute setup–depends on your sheep.
Whatever the books say, many hair sheep do in fact need to be sheared. Other people’s opinions may vary, but IMO sheep shearing is a pain.
I have never known a horse to be afraid of sheep, but some horses will kick sheep which can be deadly for them.
All things considered, spraying would be a lot less expense and headache.
bo peep?
Guess which one of these animals ate the blackberries. Hint, it was NOT the sheep.
That said, I loved my Katahdin sheep. They kept a lovely pasture, nice even and fully grazed.
My aunt has about a dozen Jacob sheep. She also has a mini mule, a donkey, her horse, a mini horse, and two pot belly pigs in addition to my horse. The sheep and pigs are in the same field. The mini has her own no grass area. The donks (mini mule is called a donk most days) and the horses are together. The farm is set up so we can open gates and move everyone around very easily. The sheep do a great job of clearing out what the horses and donks don’t touch. The pigs, especially the one, do a great job of overturning the fields at least once a year.
We have many predators so the pigs and mini go in stalls at night. The sheep get closed in the barnyard area. The others have access to shelter but are out. My aunt has found a dead fox in the field and thinks the donkey killed it. He’s very protective of his home when strange animals come into the fields.
The sheep do get their wool sheared off yearly but my aunt uses their wool for many things.
All the critters get along and can all go out together if needed. The fencing is nothing special. There is electric fence low enough for the sheep and pigs. No one seems to bother the fence.
Sometimes when I ride I have sheep or a pig stroll across the ring😂
We live in Northern CA, and keeping weeds under control is very important. We have had a couple of goats for years, but they are pretty useless, and when turned loose will eat all the trees and shrubs, leaving the weeds. They will also butt and climb on cars. This year, after two wet winters and really impressive weeds, we got four hair sheep, and honestly, they have worked out well. They eat everything. Yes, if I let them get into my roses they would eat them, but I don’t let them do that. They mowed nicely everything, including mustard grass and things the goats wouldn’t dream of touching. We got Kathadin hair sheep, which are also parasite resistant, in addition to not needing to be sheared. The horses are fine with them, fortunately, so they can go out together if necessary. We bought a temporary, inexpensive moveable fence and at one point used it so they could eat the growth of a river bank, and none of them tested the fence. A goat wouldn’t have stayed in the area for more than 10 minutes. I’m very pleased with them.
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