The 5 Tips on Raising Sheep No One Talks About

Рет қаралды 14,801

Күн бұрын

My friend and nieghbor just bought my last sheep. And even hough he knows more than your average first timer, there was still a lot to share when it came to raising sheep.
Happy homesteading!
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Timestamps:
00:00 It’s Hard To Be A First-Time Shepherd
00:27 My Neighbor Is Starting To Do Sheep
01:08 #1 Start With Rams
02:46 #2 What To Feed Your Sheep
03:54 What Bale Grazing Can Look Like
05:36 Something You Might Not Know About Hay
06:01 #3 Bale Grazing
06:42 The Power of Bale Grazing
7:52 #4 What About Shelter?
09:14 #5 Rotational Grazing to Beat The Parasite Cycle
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- Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep ► amzn.to/3EhO3gO
- The Backyard Sheep: An Introductory Guide to Keeping Productive Pet Sheep ► amzn.to/2Zr8fxi
- Premier1 42" Sheep/Goat Fence (double spike) ► amzn.to/3b9Z1Z4
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- Premier1 Electric Netting Starter Kit ► amzn.to/2XMIqrb
- Sheep Minerals Premix (best for pregnant or overwintered sheep) ► amzn.to/3jDKM3z
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Thank you for the music!
Track: Poolside Radio
Artist: Dyalla
• Poolside Radio
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We practice REGENERATIVE agriculture on a small scale.
better soil | better plants | better animals
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• INSTAGRAM ► / highmountai. .
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ABOUT THE HIGH MOUNTAIN HOMESTEAD
Hi! I’m PJ, and my family loves the homesteading life! It’s something my wife and I have always wanted to do, but we grew up with ZERO HOMESTEADING EXPERIENCE!!!!!
We grew up in beautiful southern California, 15 minutes away from the beach. As amazing as that was, we both dreamed of a life closer to land and animals. After getting married and moving to Utah, our family slowly grew. We had become a family of four living in a townhome with a small backyard filled with potted plants.
In 2019 we dipped out feet into homesteading on 1 ¼ acre lot in Utah. In 18 months we were ready to do this for real. So in 2021 we packed everything up (including our sheep) and moved to North Carolina to 12 acres and we love every inch of our homestead!
We raise Dorper sheep and have big plans for:
• grass-fed lamb
• fullblood Dorper breeding stock
• meat chickens
• laying chickens and ducks
• heritage breed pork
• honey
• row crops
• perennial food forest
• and more
I hope you join us on our journey, subscribe and ring the bell if you haven’t yet.
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DISCLAIMER: This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. But don't worry, it doesn't cost you anything extra!
#sheep #raisingsheep #meatsheep

Пікірлер: 47

@lauraoverholt7840 Жыл бұрын

I just got my first Katahdins last August and the learning curve has been STEEP. I really recommend anyone looking to start with sheep to find a mentor in their area - whether it's an extension agent or someone you're looking to buy from eventually or just someone you know who's already had a flock for a few years. There are so many questions and doubts and concerns that I wish I'd been able to take to someone with some experience, rather than trying to google frantically in the heat of a stressful situation. Also it's good to know what characteristics to look for in a sheep when you go to pick them out, and how to catch and handle them. Also: GET YOUR SHEEP VET LINED UP FIRST before you buy. When your animal needs more medical help than you know how to provide - and they will - you don't want to be calling around and finding out that very few vets in your area are able to treat sheep, and those that do aren't currently taking new clients because they are so busy. I had to haul a sick sheep two hours away to get her treated in an emergency situation, and that was not fabulous.

@homesteadingwithPJ Жыл бұрын

Very good advice! I know first hand what it's like trying to find a vet who will treat sheep. Local mentors beat any other system.

@ulrichspencer Жыл бұрын

Of all the channels I've seen about sheep rearing, I think yours is the best. You make the videos just walking around the land, showing lots of footage of the sheep and the pasture and the land, talking frankly about the issues and strategies of sheep rearing. The concept of bale grazing while bringing up a pasture for the first time is definitely an idea I haven't read elsewhere nor would I necessarily have thought of it on my own. For someone like me who wishes to make a silvopasture with sheep in the future once I've saved up the money for it, your videos are a terrific resource. Two quick questions I have out of curiosity: 1. What kind of wildlife do you see on your silvopasture, and how does it affect/interact with your operations? Birds, rodents, native pollinators, deer, etc. 2. My dream is to grow a number of native fruit and nut trees (e.g., butternuts, paw paws, American persimmons, shagbark hickory, red mulberries) and native trees for other uses (e.g., sugar maple for syrup, honey locust for nitrogen fixation and protein-rich forage from those legume pods they drop). To your knowledge, how does mixing productive trees with silvopasture work? For instance, can the dropped fruits and seeds and nuts reduce the need for external supplementation?

@homesteadingwithPJ Жыл бұрын

You made my day. So sorry it took me almost two weeks to respond. I need to get better at this! 1. Wildlife in silvopasture. We for sure get deer that hop the fence, but I'm happy to share grass with them. Bunnies, some snakes, mice, voles, lots of birds, woodpeckers in the dead trees. We have bees on the property too, but there's loads of natural pollinators that come and go too. 2. Productive trees in a silvopasture set up. I don't know much about this, but I have heard that sheep need to be acclimated to eating fruit. We have a honey locust tree at our last place, and the sheep ate all the pods, no problem. I know that oak leaves in the fall are amazing food sources for sheep, but the acorns and most other nuts will harm them. btw, I love your mindset. Native food = resilient food. I look forward to hearing more about your journey!

@roberttibbsjr4695 10 ай бұрын

We live on an old strip mine in southern WV. We are trying to rebuild the soil and establish a thriving homestead.

@servihomestead4324 Ай бұрын

Very informative video on keeping sheep. I like the idea of starting with a few rams to be sold for meat. Thanks for sharing this.

@homesteadingwithPJ Ай бұрын

Thanks!

@stayinggolden2665 Ай бұрын

I've been on my farm a few years now, I'm getting ewes with their lambs this fall. I'm not buying them though to instantly start breeding, I'm getting them to help work my land. Future breeding and male lambs for meat is just a happy by product. Kind of like laying hens. We sell their eggs they pay for all their food, happy by product. Just got to start slow and steady and enjoy the little wins in my opinion!!

@homesteadingwithPJ Ай бұрын

Sounds like you are doing it right the first time! Ha! Wish I did that 😂

@asktodd2000 8 ай бұрын

Thanks for the reminder that sheep do not need grain. I had all but swallowed the Kool-Aid from other KZbinrs that made me feel that I was starving my sheep by not giving them grain mixtures containing fancy supplements. I went as far as buying one of those cheap cement mixers from Harbor Freight that one KZbinr promoted. I came to my senses and now have an unused cement mixer for sale 😂

@homesteadingwithPJ 8 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing! These kinds of comments make me the happiest! No shame to anyone who grain feeds. Just different strokes for different folks. If your goals are to: 1) honor the animal's role in regenerative agriculture 2) want to save money 3) have the land to rotationally graze 4) are just looking feed your family and maybe a few others ... then there's no reason for constant grain feedings. Congrats on your journey!

@northernozarkhomestead 4 ай бұрын

Do you do concrete work? I could use a pad😂

@ericjpricelawman Жыл бұрын

Like you’ve said in other videos, the #1 thing to come to terms with is that when you decide on sheep, you have decided to be a grass farmer who has sheep to eat it. Grass and soil management / health are everything. My recommendation for anyone starting out with sheep is to spend a year getting the grass and soil right before dropping sheep on it. Would save so much time, money and effort if soil and grass were correct before adding sheep.

@homesteadingwithPJ Жыл бұрын

Where were you BEFORE I started raising sheep! You are 100% right, grass health is EVERYTHING for a sheep farmer.

@andyzumwalt3632 11 ай бұрын

I started with getting fence ready, and a few (3 ewe's and 1 ram). They cleared and improved grass on rotation. I have plans to increase flocks as I get more pasture ready.

@donaldmartin836 Жыл бұрын

Thanks PJ for your awesome videos. They are very informative.

@homesteadingwithPJ 11 ай бұрын

Glad you like them!

@LeoTheYuty Жыл бұрын

Great video, very helpful

@homesteadingwithPJ 11 ай бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

@sheppyoutside5836 Жыл бұрын

on the same vein as moldy hay, ive been feeding haylage to sheep for years no problems, so they can have that, witch is different than "bad hay", also watch out with feeding too much alfalfa pellets to rams, can cause urinary tract blockages

@PetesSnakeBiteKit Жыл бұрын

Sheep walks into a bar and says, “Hey bartender.”😂

@jasonmckay8486 Жыл бұрын

Great video content!! I haven’t ever heard you talk about hooves. What do you do when it comes to trimming hooves?

@spoolsandbobbins Жыл бұрын

We have very soft pastures so our sheep’s hooves grow a bit long and curve under. We’ve trimmed twice in 1 year but now our sheep are too big to catch and flip. We’re looking into building a small catchment with turn table but it seems difficult…. The people we got our sheep from never even look at their hooves, much less trim them so I wonder if we’re overly concerned and shouldn’t worry about it…?

@homesteadingwithPJ Жыл бұрын

Heidi gave some great advice. Soft pastures can cause some long hooves, but I've literally only had it happen with one single sheep... So I've just been lucky I guess (fingers crossed).

@AnnaKincaid Ай бұрын

If one were to grow some hay for the winter time (Oct - April) how much space would you need to grow for 2 baby doll sheep?

@ratterrier6181 Жыл бұрын

Do you also need a mineral block for just two grams or no

@homesteadingwithPJ Жыл бұрын

I prefer loose minerals to a block. But mineral blocks can be fine provided you keep them out of the rain. Some of them will fall apart in the rain, which means wasted money for you.

@willblair5231 7 ай бұрын

Is there a need to castrate rams like with cattle?

@homesteadingwithPJ 7 ай бұрын

Not really. I don't castrate any of my males.

@carolinedwhite 5 ай бұрын

Hi! Where in NC are you located? My husband and I are in NC and we’ve been wanting to get into sheep

@homesteadingwithPJ 5 ай бұрын

I'm near Chapel Hill. Sheep are great!

@carolinedwhite 5 ай бұрын

@@homesteadingwithPJ do you sell any of your flock? If so, we’d like to buy some from you whenever you have some available!

@ShepherdsCreek Жыл бұрын

My ram died a week ago from a urinary blockage. He was grassfed with minerals and vitamins. Occasionally I'd give him a handful of alfalfa pellets but knowing what I know now, don't even do that. Diets high in alfalfa can kill a ram. Keep your pellets for your ewes. In our case, the vet thinks it was just bad luck and not anything we did wrong but still, a lesson to carry forward is to keep your rams to only hay/pasture grass.

@spoolsandbobbins Жыл бұрын

Much appreciated advice and I’m sorry for your loss. Our sheep are strictly on hay and pasture. We’ll give our ewes supplemental pellets 5 weeks prior to lambing. Our ram has recently lost some of his body condition and I’m assuming it’s because we’re keeping him in with the girls so we may remove him if that continues. Any thoughts? We’re all new to this…

@noahriding5780 Жыл бұрын

Sheep can have all kinds of things happen to them. Parasites and sickness are common. Could have been a lot of things. When was the last time you gave them dewormer?

@3boysbees Жыл бұрын

I am in SE TN. Had our first lamb two days ago. Started with 2 ewes. We quickly ran out of fenced pasture so now I walk them daily which helps identify if anybody isn't acting proper. More time in walking them..... But what's time to a sheep

@homesteadingwithPJ Жыл бұрын

Oh no, I'm so sorry to hear that. I can't believe I missed this almost two weeks ago. So sorry for the loss. My vet has said that alfalfa is a problem only for wethers, not intact rams. Good to know it can be both. I've always fed my rams alfalfa hay through the winters and never had an issue.

@ShepherdsCreek Жыл бұрын

@HighMountainHomestead I've done some reading on it and it sounds like alfalfa hay is fine as long as you keep the protein level under 16% of their diet. Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep 5th edition has some really good information on it if you feel like reading it.

@sharrelldavis7617 4 ай бұрын

Is this advice good for Jacob Sheep?

@homesteadingwithPJ 4 ай бұрын

I would assume so. However I've never raised them, but they are similar to my Dorpers in build and features, maybe a little smaller, and more mild in temperament.

@sharrelldavis7617 4 ай бұрын

What about peanut hay?

@homesteadingwithPJ 4 ай бұрын

I've never tried it. But a vet once told me to avoid it for sheep. On the other hand, I have heard that when you cut it with another hay, or you use the hay as just a supplement (starting slow) then it would be fine. Good luck!