how much land do you need?

[kelpiegirl]

hi folks:

I have decided (if I can swing it) to have my sheep live with me, that is, move! How much land is needed for a small herd of sheep?

Thanks

Julie

[Keegan's Mom]

Julie - My hubby and I are looking at 10 acres but we don't want very many sheep and not for a little while down the road...we are just looking at the land.

 

We would have about 4-6 acres fenced in as pasture.

 

We will see what happens in January with that though.

[northborderrookie]

Where I live (Manitoba, Canada) Number of livestock allowed is based on animal units (how much waste is generated) So I have 2.5 acres and my zoning allows 1 animal unit per 2 acres and 5 sheep were equal to 1 animal unit. I would be allowed 5 sheep. But as my zoning is RR (rural residential) and for "private Stable only" I can only have a (1) horse. I need to be zoned A (agricultural) to have other livestock. Which is why I board my sheep elsewhere (10 min from my house) Not sure how things work where you are located. You may want to check how the area you are looking at is zoned.

 

Kara & the BC brats

[Keegan's Mom]

Kara - that is interesting...and this is why we wait a while to have sheep...I didn't know that you could be limited to the amount of animals on a certain amount of acreage. I guess it makes sense though.

 

I know that 10 acres is all we can afford and manage so the sheep will come later...I will have to check all these things out!!!

 

Thanks for the info.

[Deacon Dog]

Julie, there are too many variables to say. Factors such as climate, types and quality of forage growth, how much and how often you're planning to lamb, size of breed, whether you want a grass based versus intensive grazing system, etc. I'd start out with 2 or maybe 3 ewes per acre if the pasture's good and stock more as you see how things go.

 

Rachel, I'm not aware of any NC laws limiting number of livestock on land zoned for agricultural use. There are regulations governing concentrated animal operations, but they don't apply to livestock grazing on pasture or rangeland.

[Bill Fosher]

As Tony has said, stocking rates vary greatly. Here in New England, we can often run six ewes plus lambs to the acre. Some very fertile farms can go as high as 10 to the acre. There are places out west where you might need 10 acres for single ewe and lamb.

 

Climate -- rainfall, temperatures, etc. -- is a major factor, and so is your farm management scheme. In areas where grass growth stops for several months of the year, the longer grazing season you want, the lighter you need to stock your ground so you can stockpile grass for the lean times.

 

Kara -- I'm curious about the AU figure you used. I've always thought that 1 AU was 1000 lbs of liveweight. But lately I've heard it described as a cow-calf pair. By either definition, five sheep seems like a very small animal unit. Do you know how the AU was defined?

[Deacon Dog]

Bill, can't remember where exactly, but I've read a few times that an AU is the equivalent of one 1000-lb, non-lactating cow.

[northborderrookie]

Hi Bill I'm not sure how it was defined but I will call and see what I can find out.

 

Kara

[Bill Fosher]

Maybe in Canada they have a metric AU. Or very big sheep. Or very small cows.

 

Most likely, the legal definition of an animal unit was influenced by cattlemen who wanted to be able to run more liveweight of cattle per acre than sheep, thus putting sheep producers at a competitive disadvantage.

 

Here in the US, AU measurement usually only comes into play on BLM land. Leases are often charged by the AU-month -- that is how many animal units you have on a piece of ground for how many months. This is also a good way to think about stocking rates elsewhere. Essentially 20 animals for four months is the same as 80 animals for one month.

 

The fewer animals you have, the longer they can graze a certain piece of ground. You run into limits at the extremes -- too low a stocking rate and the grass goes reproductive and loses a great deal of its feed value. Too high a stocking rate and the grasses might not ever get enough leaf area to preserve their roots.

[Alicia]

Are a few sheep hard to keep healthy in a small situation on hay and such? I'm considering getting a few sheep in the near future but they'd be in paddocks and stalls wiht my horses and my 2 goats, will this ruin them or is it just not the ideal?

[trailrider]

In the Canadian farm magazines I`ve seen reference that 7 sheep are listed as an animal unit as compared to one head of cattle. I think it should be more like 10 sheep.

[PennyT]

I always heard 5-7 sheep equal one cow.

 

Penny

[Bill Fosher]

In Australia where sheep are the norm and cattle the exception, they measure animal units based on sheep. One dry cow is considered to be eight DSE -- dry sheep equivalents. Even though eight dry sheep at 150 lbs is 1,200 lbs of liveweight and the mythical dry beef cow is 1,000, sheep leave a smaller footprint on the ground -- both literally and figuratively.

 

For one thing, sheep don't leave pies that inhibit grass growth beneath them and grazing around them. Sheep are also less damaging to stream banks and watercourses than cattle.

 

You can sort of think of grazing land as a bridge. It's a lot easier for a bridge to take 8 loads that weigh 150 lbs than one that weighs 1,000.

 

This stocking rate advantage is one of the things that helps sheep produce more pounds of meat per acre than cattle. They also produce more pounds of meat per unit of liveweight as well. Makes cattlemen nuts, and they often try to get regulations fudged so that grazing sheep is not profitable via forced understocking, thus leaving more grazing for the cattle operations.

 

Enough fun facts about sheep. Off to bed now.

[Alicia]

So no one knows if sheep can easily be kept healthy and happy in a group of 3 or so on hay, no grazing just FC hay in a paddock with horses and goats?

 

I'd like to get a few ewes to work Dally on someday in the near future but I board my horses and goats together. If they can easily be kept in that sort of a situation...

[Bill Fosher]

I guess I don't know what you mean by "hard to keep healthy" in your original question. They will need the same sort of care that goats do as far as vaccination, foot trimming, etc. In addition, they'd need to be shorn yearly. Goats are a little more susceptible to internal parasites than sheep, but sheep are still very susceptible compare to cattle. Sheep and goats share the same parasites, so you'd want to develop an effective deworming strategy that would work for both species.

 

They'll need good quality hay, and in my opinion should be fed separately from the horses, as the horses would have a major advantage if they decided to compete for the feed. Same would be true if the goats are much larger or much smaller than your sheep.

 

To me, keeping any livestock on hay year round sounds hard -- at least on the bank balance -- but I'll bet your hay doesn't cost you $265 a ton at the producer's farm and more like $300 a ton delivered.

[Alicia]

Thanks Bill As I dont know anything about sheep I wasnt sure if they, like goats, are easy to keep on hay or if thye are better and easier on pasture.

 

They sound to be similar to goats. My 2 get a CDT yearly, wormed bimonthly, have free-choice hay and are also fed a 1/4-1/2can of a Dry COB and Sunflower Seeds mix. I have yet to have any competeing for feed for a few reasons. I feed Free choice so they eat all day long and so when one is finished the other will go at it but they typically all share fine. My horses love the goats they let them eat their grain even lol silly horses ;D

 

Hay isnt near that expensive and as I feed both my 2 horses and my 2 goats F/C Grass hay I hardly even notice my goats consumption. They hardly eat a thing compared to my horses lol. Hay here costs about half that a ton so it's not near as hard on the pocket book

 

Thanks for answering my question Bill. I think I'd be able to swing a few dog broke sheep in the next 4-6 months to use my pup on as I'm having a hard time finding a trainer close enough to get to for training.