Renting acreage for sheep

[sea4th]

I'm looking for practical advice. I have the opportunity to rent a few acres about an hour from home to keep some sheep on. Nothing is in writing yet.

 

I know a couple of folks on this board have done this.

 

What are the pros & cons of maintaining a small (very small) flock of about 10 sheep, a distance from where you actually live.

 

Those that have done it---how did you do it? Give me all the realistic & common & uncommon scenarios.

 

Thanks.

 

Vicki

[cgt]

Interesting question. I look forward to hearing the various opinions. Practical advice has never been my strong point, I'm afraid. But...

 

I have some friends who pooled their resources, bought 10 acres and dumped a little bunch of sheep on it. Some of them live 15 minutes or so away. Some of them live an hour away. They take turns doing the various chores. It seems to me that for one reason or another somebody has to go out there just about every day during many parts of the year. For some portion of the year (e.g. winter, peak summer during a drought, etc.) they have to feed the sheep. I am not sure what it's like in Ohio, and of course I don't know the pasture you are considering. But 10 sheep can polish off a few acres of grass pretty handily. I believe my friends must supply water as well. Do you have water on site that the sheep can get to without your help?. Then there is lambing season. It's always something. Are you up for driving out there a lot during certain times of the year? If you can figure out a suitable feeding/watering system, and if the fences are impregnable, it might be reasonable. I keep some sheep in a couple of acres here at home. I feel like I am constantly tending to the little buggers. But then practical stuff was never my strong suit, and I kind of enjoy it, especially when I need to use The Dogs.

 

charlie

[workindogs]

Will predators be a problem??? If so, how do you plan on managing the situation?

[Smokjbc]

Hi,

 

I do something like this, although I have my sheep on a dry lot (all the lots are dry in Las Vegas LOL) so I supply the hay, they supply the water. Its pricey but worth it when you don't have any other options. They do the feeding, so the distance is not too much of a problem- I kinda miss feeding my own livestock, but since the only suitable place I could find is 30 min away from home, I can live with out it. Its nice to have someone living on the property though, if something goes wrong, they can call me any time and I'll be up. They can also refer prospective lamb buyers My only problem I've had are with dogs- the property owners dog got in and killed some of my sheep but I was compensated and the dog was removed. The main thing is make sure everything is very clear, respect the property, etc. Also, you may need to go through and sheep proof it if there are alot of fences/pens. I've found that sheep are bound to find whatever protruding wire, rebar, pipe, etc they can to rip themselves open with. As a profitable venture, I can't begin to count how much money I lose, even with an occasional batch of lambs, I pay by the head (try NOT to have to do that LOL) and I have to sell them by 3 months or forget any semblance of profit (or breaking even on them).

[sea4th]

Predators are one of my concerns as well. A llama could probably deal with a single dog, but what about dog packs or coyotes? That's about all we'd have around here.

 

Vicki

[NancyO]

Hi,

We ended up buying 12 acres about a half hour away from our house because I couldn't find anyone to rent from. Had to put up fence, I had a major concern as part of the property borders a major highway.

 

Originally had 15 sheep, now up to about 34.

 

I was worried about local dogs, but so far have not had a problem, knock on wood.

 

Originally carried water from the house to the field which was OK until winter came and the water froze. When it wasn't too cold, I would carry water in 5 gallon cans and dump it into a 35 gallon container at the field that then drained into the water feeder that had a float valve attached. Could miss a day going down to the field and still know that the sheep had enough water.

 

We ended up putting in electric and a well with an automatic waterer. But since we own the land it was an "investment"

 

Feeding the sheep was not a problem, in the winter I feed large bales of hay, just in case I was not able to get down to them because of the weather. This only happened once when we had 24" of snow. The big bales were the way to go and with about 30 sheep they lasted about 3 weeks.

 

I normally go down everyday because I work the dogs, if I am away, my husband checks on them

(with extensive written instructions at his request and pre-measured food packets if he has to feed lambs ), I've also had a friend check on them for me, thank you Darleen. We do have neighbors down the lane and they have our phone number if anything major should happen, and we keep on friendly terms with them.

 

Hope this helps.

Nancy O

[brookcove]

We had about 40 ewes on 20 acres a couple years ago. It was over 30 min away and I was the only one maintaining things so it was a royal pain. I set it up with automatic waterers and big bales so that I only had to check in every other day. They were behind high tensile electric fence and for part of the time there was a guard dog in with them. Still, I worried constantly and brought them back to my place when they got close to lambing - and I never took them back. I ended up culling the combined ewe flock down to what my place could handle. Not as many, but worth my while to feel like I was more on top of things. Yes, I'm a control freak. (c;

[concrete]

I live in east central Ohio. I use 15 acres that belong to another farmer. In Ohio we get a big property tax break on our land in agricultual use. The land I use I get for free because I'm doing him a favor keeping his taxes down.Don't let them charge you too much to rent the land in other words.

Water is always a problem. Especially in the winter. Coyotes are a problem in Ohio too. The closer you are to a metropolitan area the more problems you'll have with coyote and dogs. There is not as much game and the sheep start looking good. Actually most coyotes around here won't take on a mature ewe but they will eat lambs. Dogs will kill your ewes.If you get a llama remeber you have to chain it up to work your dogs.

I would think water and feed would be the biggest problem. In the winter you'll have to hay them. If you can get round bales and have some way to move them that's the way to go there. Water will be frozen so if you are hauling water it caan get to be very problematic.

Good luck,

 

Kevin Brannon

[Eileen Stein]

I did it for years -- first on land with no water or electricity and then on land with both. Pre-running water, I brought water from home in large covered buckets I begged from a swimming pool maintenance company (they originally held chlorine sticks). In winter I brought hot water, which melted the ice in the water tubs and kept it liquid for a while. I fed a higher grain-to-hay ratio than ideal, because grain is so much more compact and easy to handle and store. I did my own fencing -- t-posts and woven wire -- and never had a problem with predators, but we've been lucky predator-wise in this area.

 

The only real downside is that you have to go there every day or get someone else to, at least in winter. (I rarely needed to feed in summer, only when there was bad drought.)

 

There are some little articles on this subject you might find helpful at http://www.littlehats.net/nadel02.html .

[Daniel King]

Hi,

 

I have a several family run/commercial sheep farms within a few miles of my house. I wondered if any readers of this board ever used a situation like this for their training and how they did it? Are these types of farms generally amicable to letting you rent acreage and/or using their sheep for a fee? These places have several fields with woven wire and water sources. In a dream scenario it seems like one could avoid a lot of the previously mentioned everyday hassles of sheep husbandry? Thanks for any input/suggestions.

 

Dan

[Pam Wolf]

How about a take from the other side? I let someone keep about a dozen sheep here a couple years back. At first it wasn't too bad. She paid for the sheep and their care plus a little for my efforts when she wasn't around to feed etc. But over time it became much harder to get her to pay for things (hay, deworming, grain etc) and if she did help with any of the fencing etc it was always with complaints. Eventually I had to force her to take the sheep away (with an ultimatium that I was getting rid of them one way or another the next week!) The number of sheep had increased, yet payments had essentially stopped. Would I do it again, I doubt it. So, if you are looking for a place to keep your sheep, PLEASE be kind to the landowner, especially if that is the person you have to rely on when you can't do the chores. I think one bad person can sour things for many.

 

Pam

[Bill Fosher]

Personally, I think sheep should be seen to every day. Fences should be checked, condition should be checked, and any problems should be dealt with.

 

I have sheep pastured over an hour from where I live in places where I'm getting paid to graze, but I have people who are paid to look after them on the days that I can't get there, and we have a regular schedule for when they are on duty and when I am on duty.

 

If I were simply keeping sheep to train dogs, I would want them a lot closer to home to make husbandry a lot simpler.

[Margaret M Wheeler]

Pam,

 

Your story blows my mind. God, when I leave the sheep that I have been ever so kindly allowed to practice on, I am in a cold sweat worrying about their health and welfare, the gates, did I leave them in the right place....

 

I have driven back several times because I get it in my mind that I have forgotten a chain or whatever. I am tempted to get a little pad like the charcter in the movie Momento to write down all the chains I have fastened and so on...

 

Thanks to one generous benefactor I found the other generous benefactor who shares her sheep with me for a teeny weeny charge. This charge doesn't come close to making up for all the time and trouble my visits must cause her. It just seems incredibly foolish (not to mention all the other character flaws involved) to take advantage of that rare person who will go out of their way for you when it comes to getting sheep to practice on.

[Eileen Stein]

In 12 years or so of keeping sheep in a location away from where I live, there was only one time, or possibly two, when daily checking on the sheep might have made a difference in a sheep's fate. But I may have been lucky. Except for lambing (and during lambing I would be there much of the time, including sleeping in the barn at night when appropriate), I did not have a serious sheep injury or sheep death for the first eight or nine years. Of course, if you're in a place with real predator problems, your experience could be very different.

 

Even so, it's pretty rare that I don't go to the sheep every day. For one thing, I want to work my dogs, and for another thing -- well, I think most people who get sheep come to like taking care of sheep. Many times I've told myself I'll just go up and take a quick look to see if everything's okay, and then I find myself looking around for things to fix or tinker with, or even just sitting for a little bit and looking out over the sheep grazing. But too, my sheep have never been more than 15 minutes away, so that makes it much easier than if they were an hour away. I'm assuming you aren't planning to breed these sheep, but even so, a two-hour round trip every time you go to the sheep is a formidable prospect. It might be good to try to find a local farm kid who would like to earn a little money by checking on your sheep each day, and taking care of small stuff.

 

As for Dan's question about commercial sheep farms letting you use their sheep or keep sheep there, the first thing you'd need to know is whether they use dogs themselves in their operation. In my experience, folks who don't use sheepdogs tend to have a horror of dogs anywhere near their sheep, and would probably say no right off the bat. Those who do use sheepdogs would probably be more receptive, and in that case it would be worth a try. If they do agree, I think any sensible person in your position would knock himself out to make the landowners happy, because they are doing you a big favor. But with the right people, it could work out great for both sides.