Questioon about sheep and border collies

[sros990]

When I retire in a few years I’d like to raise 5-7 sheep in my hobby farm in West Virginia. I’d like to buy the sheep in the spring, put them on pasture and then sell them in the fall. When I discussed my plans with the local extension agent she advised against raising sheep because of coyote predation, and suggested that I would be better off raising 2-3 beef.

 

Before I give up on sheep, do you think I could significantly reduce or entirely eliminate dog and coyote predation if I used an electric fence, and placed the sheep in a barn at night?

 

With reference to border collies, can they serve both as a pet and a working dog? Is it practicable to have a border collie, if I live on the farm for 9 months, and the remaining 3 months (winter) in a condo in the suburbs?

 

Thanks,

Steve

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

To the first question, and the implied one (is raising a few feeder lambs worth it compared to beef?), I'd say no problem. You might want to consider going up to about a dozen if you've got the acreage/pasture that will support it, to really make it worthwhile. A friend of mine gets one to two dozen weanling lambs from me every year, essentially puts them out on grass, and sells them a few months later after doing almost nothing to them. She sells them right off the farm so it's a good deal for her. Your mileage may vary of course.

 

Now, as to the predators - with tight fences (and yes, electric is good), most people do fine with sheep even without elaborate precautions such as guard animals or night shelters. If it's a serious problem, you might look into possibly getting a guard donkey, which you could board somewhere the three months you were in town.

 

Your dog would have a fine life. You just have to have a plan to keep him or her amused during the town months - especially if you will be gone for long periods during the day. If you are around all day, most working dogs are content to take some time off and just enjoy being your buddy. Ask the folks who live where there is deep snow in the winter, or those who live where it gets too hot to work!

[Bill Fosher]

Hi Steve,

 

If you have the grass to support two or three beef animals, you have the grass to support 20 or 30 sheep. Putting out a drastically smaller number might mean that you have more grass than they can keep up with, which would allow it to get rank, which would mean low nutrition. If you don't mind mowing to keep the grass vegetative, fewer sheep wouldn't be a problem.

 

Portable electrified netting, such as Premier's Electronet is as close to a predator-proof fence as you're going to get. I've been using it for nearly 20 years and have never lost an lamb or adult sheep to coyotes inside it. (Except one freak accident when we fenced a coyote den into the pen.)

 

Sheep generally require higher maintenance than beef cattle, but will yield more per acre both in terms of pounds of growth and dollars, all other things being equal. Which they never are.

[gail]

Hi Steve,

 

Another option would be both sheep and cattle. Would help with your pasture productivity and parasite control & also give you both lamb & beef to eat over the winter!

 

Only problem would be that the electronet that Bill referenced for sheep may not work so well for the cattle. But there are other options for fencing for them also. Running a couple strands of hot wire off the same charger as the electronet would be an easy enough solution. Would just require 2 different kinds of fencing.

 

And I agree, the electronet is an adequate coyote deterent in most cases. You don't need to barn them at night if they are in electronet as long as you keep as good charge on the fence.

 

And yes, your border collie can be both a pet and a working dog.

 

Gail