Mixing sheep etc!

[Thurston Garden]

A friend keeps North Ronaldsays (I think!) and is looking for additional grazing in the spring. I have an acre of grass doing nothing and have offered it to her is it would help her grazing problem. I had hoped for some lamb in return but she is a keen veggie and is only producing breeding stock. So...

Could I source a pair of wee Blackface lambs and mix them in with the others or, like pigs, is that asking for trouble?

What sort of meat quantity could I expect if I put the lambs away in the winter? I suppose they may be 7 months old or so.

Lastly only one side of the acre is currently fenced. I need to keep the cost down and already have electric on site - can I keep them safely behind electric and if so, what type or do I need a standard post and wire straned fence?

Ta very muchly!

[red]

I don't think mixing is much of a problem no - but er of course think about keeping ram lambs away from ewes etc.... There is the issue of passing on parasites/foot rot etc. but you can get away with it.
a lamb slaughterd about then...no idea on weight.. and depends on how they eat etc.. but half a lamb is about a carrier bag full... if you are thinking freezer space.. you could let them get bigger and slaughter as mutton... never done this - but the flavour is stronger.. some prefer it.

sheep and electric fencing dont generally work.. they are not used to electric and just blunder through.. all that wool.. they dont feel it... maybe if you used the meshy kind... some breeds are more escapologists than others.. what reputation do your choosen breeds have?

[mybarnconversion]

You shouldn't have too many problems - a bit of bullying whilst the pecking order is re-established, but keep and eye on them until things settle and they should be fine.

I had hoped for some lamb in return but she is a keen veggie and is only producing breeding stock. So...

How does that work ... as wool is practically valueless, are they just being kept as pets? Does she sell young-stock and old ewes on hoping they go to a nice home (rather than to be fattened / into dog food)? - just interested

[Thurston Garden]

mbc - I am not sure how it works at all but she is coming to dinner a week on Saturday (veggie cook books are being thumbed through!) so I will find out all the patter then.

[Alexandra]

I tried an electric fence with my sheep and they ignored it completely - just went through it wherever they wanted. I've tried the thinner wire and the horse tape and neither worked.
With regard to age of lambs, our Suffolk cross Leynn lambs went at 7 months old are were a good size. Didn't weigh what we got back, but it looked good. Only thing I'm not sure about is how the weight of a blackface would compare with a Suffolk cross - I would guess that the Blackie's might be slightly leaner.
I'm rearing the Lleyns to sell on for breeding stock - means that the are purebred Lleyns and the ewes/tups are sold onto other farmers to breed from. Only the best ones can be sold on though. I do have a couple that I'm keeping as pets, but only a couple!

[peerie sheep]

Hello. I am the vegie sheep keeper mentioned above. Basically the sheep are being kept as a hobby (I like working with sheep). They are a endangered Scottish breed and need a helping hand. If I can sell them as breeding stock (they are all pedigree) then that would be great, but although I am vegie I am also a realist and if the ram lambs need to go to slaughter, well they need to go to slaughter. All North Ronoldsay ewes need to be kept to maintain the overall breeding numbers in the uk. They are not pets. I just get a lot of satisfaction watching them flourish and it keeps my hand in with general sheep work.

You are right, fleeces don't go for very much. You were lucky this year if you got 50p per Blackface sheep fleece. North Ron sheep have coloured fleeces so they can be popular with hand spinners and felters. At the Woolfest at Cockermouth in 2007 fleeces were selling between £5-25 depending on what they were. I have sold some complete raw fleeces and bags of 100-200g unwashed raw fleece. Of course, you could make your own products and sell these. I was/am looking into outlets with local wool shops and on the internet. The Americal market is a big market for coloured primitive sheep wool. But as with any type of sheep you can't make money out of it. I have 8 sheep going up to Lewis in a months time (for breeding stock) and hopefully that will cover the cost of the winter feed for the rest of them. Pedigree North Rons do not fetch the prices that say a pedigree texal or suffolk would.

I have found that electric fencing can be used so long as the sheep are trained. You can't drive sheep against it as they will either go through it or over it but as a way of enabling strip grazing or fencing off an area you don't want them in then thats okay. Its general good prcatice not to put horned sheep with netted electric fencing or if you do you need to check them more than once a day. This is what I have been told anyway.

Mixing sheep is also okay so long as they have similar feeding and vetinary (can't spell it) regimes.

Thurston Garden is right- I am trying to find grazing in the Cockburnspath/Innerwick area so if anyone knows of any I would be grateful.

Anyway, this is a long message so I will stop.

Peerie Sheep

[red]

hi there welcome to the forum

[ina]

Hiya Peerie Sheep, and welcome!

Do you have Shetland roots? That's the only place I've come across the word peerie before!

[Thurston Garden]

Hey Peerie! Hope you have recovered from the slide show

Hope to find out about copper in the pig feed today.

[peerie sheep]

Hi. Thanks for the welcome! I used to live and work in Shetland but have been on the Mainland now for 6 years. I miss it alot though. Its a great place. PS

[Thurston Garden]

PS - Rosslyn said the copper element of the pig feed is 2.025mg/kg. I sent you an email with the feed amounts.

Did you get any reply about grazing on FC? We might have a possible farmer with grazing....

[peerie sheep]

Nope not really. A possible but its in Ormiston and next to door to huskies. Ad going up in local shop tmorrow and failing that the local paper in a couple of weeks. They may have blown away by then anyway....

[guyandzoe]

thurston garden you asked about 7 month old blackface and what size they might be.

I suppose it would make a difference where they were brought up and perhaps on their strain but round here they'd be about the size of a hamster at that age. Lowland breeds on good grass will be much much bigger.

We fatten locally bred lambs (in wester ross) for the freezer and would expect 18 month old blackface to give us a 20 to 25 kilo carcass, with a little supplementary feeding through the first winter and some more towards the end of the next October up to slaughter.

[porkchop]

hi folks never kept sheep before but the local farmer uses electric fences to keep his sheep in the neep field they do get out sometimes but never wander far. hope this helps.

[ina]

I suppose it would make a difference where they were brought up and perhaps on their strain but round here they'd be about the size of a hamster at that age. Lowland breeds on good grass will be much much bigger.

That would be an extremely big hamster!

We've had Blackies born at 7kg... OK, that was an exception. They are mostly 3.5 - 4kg.