Sheep breeding is a profitable business. How to breed rams and sheep, tips, tricks and conditions

19.08.2023

Breeding sheep at home is one of the most profitable and promising areas of agriculture. Mutton and lamb, milk, wool, hide and fat are far from the whole list of products that can be sold on the market at a high price and used for personal purposes, at minimal cost to the farmer.

For small estates and farms, raising and breeding sheep at home is the best solution. A huge advantage of this branch of animal husbandry is that grazing does not require a large area of land, because the animals keep together and are unpretentious in food. The profit from sheep breeding is large, while the costs pay off in the shortest possible time.

What does a beginner need to know?

Breeding sheep at home for beginners is based on the development of a business plan. This will allow you to calculate the financial costs for the purchase of animals, the construction of a sheepfold and the choice of a pasture site. In addition, all risks are taken into account, payback and possible income from activities are calculated. Having determined all the nuances, you will be able to assess the profitability of the business.

After that, you should find a place for grazing sheep and build a sheepfold where it will be possible to keep animals in the cold season. Experts have found that for 10 females with lambs, a room of 40m 2 is enough. It should be borne in mind that during the cold period in the sheepfold it is necessary to maintain a temperature of at least 10 degrees Celsius. Also, the structure must have a ventilation hole and be well protected from drafts. Having determined the conditions for keeping animals, you can proceed to the purchase of sheep. Experienced livestock breeders recommend paying attention to the bright Romanov breed.

Breeding sheep of the Romanov breed at home

The Romanov breed of sheep is very popular. The main reasons for breeding this population are:

The breed is fertile. The offspring of 1 ewe is from 3 to 6 lambs.
The Romanov sheep has thick wool and even during the period of severe frosts, the cost of their maintenance is minimal.
Individuals grow rapidly, so the farmer will receive meat in six months. A one-year-old ram reaches 80 kg.
Raising animals does not require a large amount of feed. Sheep can eat moss, coarse straw, leaves, and withered grass.
By 5 months of age, individuals begin puberty. During the year, the bright is sexually active, as a result, the livestock is rapidly increasing.
Products of the Romanov breed are of high quality. Therefore, breeding sheep at home quickly pays off and brings significant profits.

A farmer who decides to buy this breed should decide what he wants to get from the sheep? When the goal is set, you need to calculate:

How many individuals do you have to buy.
The amount of feed.
The need to build a sheepfold or you will have enough sheds.

Please note that it is better to purchase adult animals, as their appearance will determine compliance with the standards. Of course, you can save money and buy young animals. But in this case, you risk making a mistake with productivity.

Romanovki are the most convenient for the household, since they are easy to maintain. In the cold season, one individual will need 3 m 2 of a closed room and up to 4 m for walking. The walking area should contain a canopy and feeders.

If you have a room, then before importing animals, you need to prepare it. In the future sheepfold, everything should be carefully cleaned and garbage thrown away. After that, disinfection is carried out with a special solution. You can buy the product at a veterinary pharmacy. Before work, be sure to read the instructions. Sheepfold after processing should be weathered for at least a week.

If there is no room for keeping sheep, it should be built. The sheepfold must be warm. This is required so that the newborn lambs do not die. Particular attention is paid to humidity and ventilation. The floor can be made of plank, clay or earthen, it's up to you. Romanovki do not tolerate dampness, so you will need to change the bedding constantly, as it gets dirty. You can use straw or sawdust for these purposes.

Sheep feeding

Choosing a place for feeding and installing feeders should be so that it is convenient not only for the sheep, but also for their owners. The best option are feeders with a sloping bottom, nursery type. For an adult to be comfortable, she needs 20-25 cm.

When building a yard for walking, it is necessary to erect sheds that protect the sheep from the sun's rays in the hot season. It is necessary to think about feeding the sheep in advance. Even in the summer, the first days after the purchase, the sheep should be kept in the sheepfold without walking. Thus, they will get used to the new place of residence. At first, the animals are fed mowed grass.

The main daily diet for an adult:

Meadow hay - 2 kg. If necessary, you can use 2 kg of straw and 1 kg of meadow hay.
Root crops - 2 kg.
Oatmeal-barley mixture - 250 gr.

Young individuals eat 30-70% of the daily norm of an adult animal.

Power scheme:

Morning is hay.
During the day - cereals and root crops.
In the evening - straw and hay.

In the summer, the flock grazes on the pasture and the cost of feed is equal to zero. In case of poor herbage, sheep are added to the diet with concentrates, at the rate of 300 gr. for 1 individual. If there is no opportunity to graze the flock, then the animals should be fed with freshly cut grass. This is a very labor intensive process.

When breeding sheep at home, it must be taken into account that they require feed additives. Buy them in a pharmacy, after consulting a veterinarian.

Lizun salt and water should always be available to animals, even sheep drink in the pasture, consider this.

Note to newbies

So you have acquired animals, now you have to observe their behavior.

Behavioral Features

Sexual hunting in sheep. Females and males begin to behave a little differently. This indicates that they are ready to mate. But it is possible to breed the Romanov breed only if the individual has reached 40 kg. Only in this case, healthy offspring will be obtained.
Fertilization is carried out 2 times a day, in the morning and in the evening.
With proper and complete care, the brights give offspring all year round, and this is a good profit for the owner.
One bran is capable of fertilizing 20 queens. But be sure to buy 2 males, in case the second gets sick.
In the future, a ram is selected, from which the offspring is healthier and more productive, and the second male is castrated.

You should know that a sheep can be killed only 2 months after the lambs were beaten off and preventive vaccination was carried out. When grazing, the flock is given the best plots and is necessarily fed with mixed fodder (400 gr. per 1 individual). When kept in a stall, the diet is selected based on the condition of the animal.

What should you know about lambing?

The pregnant uterus should receive enhanced nutrition, rich in vitamins and microelements. The owner must record the date of mating and the name of the ewe. This is required for its timely separation from the herd before lambing. In the Romanov breed, the duration of gestation is 145 days.

2 days before the birth, the hair around the udder must be cut off. Be sure to prepare a cage in which lambing will take place. It should have clean and fresh bedding. Shortly before giving birth, the udder swells at the lamb, the belly drops, everything swells and turns red under the tail. Before lambing, the female begins to behave restlessly and often lies down.

The birth canal opens up. This continues for 2 hours. The animal must not be touched during this time.
contractions. The pharynx is open, the belly contracts intensively and the lamb appears. In the normal course of lambing, the umbilical cord comes off by itself. Be sure to check that the lamb's mouth and nose are not covered with a film, otherwise it may die.
Within 20-40 minutes, the second lamb appears and the next.
In the normal position of the fetus, the lambs go forward with their legs, but sometimes backwards. In this case, it is necessary not to let the head of the lamb stay in the uterus for a long time.
Almost always, the uterus gives birth on its own. After the release of the placenta, the lambing is completed.
If the placenta does not come out, you need to call a veterinarian.

Newborn care

Large lambs in half an hour already stand on their legs and begin to suck milk from the udder. Weak individuals must be substituted under it. If the offspring is more than 2 individuals, complementary foods are required. The best option is goat's milk, as it is perfectly absorbed by lambs.

Weak individuals are introduced complementary foods using baby bottles. Milk is given at first in small portions, with time the volume increases. It is allowed to use substitutes, in case of a lack of natural milk. From the age of one month, lambs are introduced into the diet of concentrates. For these purposes, small feeders are installed with ground feed, vitamin supplements, salt and chalk. From the age of four months, the grown sheep is removed from the uterus. Now they can lead an independent life.

Productivity

During the year, sheep are sheared three times - in autumn, spring and summer. This is due to the molting seasons, since being late can lead to a loss of coat quality. The Romanov breed is very productive:

A ram gives up to 3 kg of wool.
From a sheep, a farmer receives 1.5 kg of wool.

But the breed is mainly bred as meat. The average ram weighs 70 kg, some individuals reach 100 kg, a sheep - from 40 to 50 kg.

Due to the constant readiness of sheep for breeding, it is possible to select the most convenient time for the appearance of offspring. Basically, up to 3 lambs are born, that is, one uterus is able to provide up to 100 kg of young lamb and 3 high-quality fleece, if the lambs are slaughtered at 8 months. Because of these qualities, Romanov sheep are used for intensive meat production.

Breed advantages

Quality fleece. The wool has a bluish-gray color with a steel tint, is not prone to matting, the core is strong. The awn corresponds to down 1:4-1:10.
Polyestistic - the breed is able to inseminate all year round.
Big offspring. There are 300 lambs per 100 queens, while the most prolific individuals produce up to 9 cubs.
Early maturation is high. In a year, the animals are ready for insemination. At the same time, ewes carry offspring for a week less than other breeds of sheep.
The first product can be obtained at 5 months - this is bright wool. And at 9 months - high quality young meat.

Disadvantages of the breed

You should pay attention to the following nuances:

Animals are susceptible to diseases of the respiratory system.
Overly shy.
They do not tolerate drafts and high humidity.

Romanov sheep are very popular when breeding at home due to their high productivity and easy care. This is of particular importance for a beginner sheep breeder. But it should be remembered that it is necessary to purchase an animal only from responsible producers who conduct breeding work and adhere to breed standards.

Raising sheep at home is considered a profitable branch of farming. These animals are unpretentious and hardy, and the list of products obtained is quite large: these are meat, milk, fat, wool and skin.

To successfully engage in sheep breeding, you need to know the characteristics and needs of these animals, as well as properly care for them. So where to start? First of all, decide on the breed of sheep.

A novice farmer must determine the purpose of sheep breeding and, on the basis of this, choose a breed: meat, meat and wool, fat tail and others.

Before you start breeding, you need to decide on the breed of sheep.

To get good quality wool, it is recommended to purchase animals of the following breeds:

Caucasian;
Stavropol;
Altai;
merinos.

Meat-wool breeds of sheep give semi-fine wool and are divided into long-haired and short-haired.

Long-haired animals include such varieties of animals:

Tien Shan;
romney march;
Russian longhair;
North Caucasian;
Kuibyshev.

The short-haired variety is represented by Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian sheep. In addition, these animals grow quickly, and the meat is of high quality. For the production of carpets, cloth and fur of good quality, attention should be paid to the Tsigei and Georgian sheep. And also the fur coat breeds include Karakul and Romanov.

It is worth noting that Romanov sheep are considered universal: they have good meat and milk productivity, as well as a high offspring. These animals grow well, practically do not get sick and can rightly be considered one of the best options for beginners.

For beginners in sheep breeding, the Romanov breed of sheep is most suitable.

Balabas, Tushinsky and Karachay breeds have good indicators for meat, wool and milk. If the farmer prefers to breed fat-tailed sheep for meat, lard and wool for making felt, you should opt for or Hissar sheep. These animals are considered the largest among their counterparts, their weight sometimes reaches 200 kg.

Containment room

These include:

air temperature for adult animals +7, for offspring +10 degrees;
good natural light, ideally windows should be at least 1/15 of the total space;
enough space for animals (for adults 2.5–3 m, for a lamb not less than 0.7 m);
the hardness and warmth of the floor, it is better if it is adobe or wooden;
large double doors.

The room should be regularly ventilated and cleaned, as well as provided with a good ventilation system. In addition, a place should be provided in the sheepfold for lambing sheep and their subsequent maintenance together with their offspring.

Raising sheep at home in summer

On hot days, animals can also be kept outdoors, under a canopy.

Sheep are on the pasture 14 hours a day.

In addition to pasture, sheep need additional food in the form of mineral supplements, root crops, cake, hay and other things. It is also important to provide the livestock with a sufficient amount of drink, at least 10 liters per day, and water the sheep 2 times a day. Better if the water comes from a well.

When choosing a site for pasture, you need to pay attention to the presence of a nearby place for a watering hole. It is important to know that swampy areas are not suitable for sheep grazing, these animals do not react well to dampness. The herd needs to be on pasture up to 14 hours a day.

Keeping sheep in the cold season

During the cold months, animals should be kept in a sheepfold. In rainy weather, it is impossible to graze sheep in the open air, they can get sick.

For the winter, you should stock up on a sufficient amount of hay, an adult animal eats up to 4 kg of it per day. If the herd is large, it is advisable to acquire special equipment, this will provide the livestock with food for the whole winter. And also grain is needed, the consumption of which corresponds to 1.5–2 kg per day per sheep. In addition, animals need to be fed with root crops and bean silage.

Animal nutrition in summer and winter

During the summer months, the herd spends most of its time on pastures and feeds mainly on grass. Sheep can be fed with corn silage and cereal hay.

Sheep are fed hay, vegetables and grain mixtures.

Salt should be present in the diet of animals at any time of the year, 10–15 g per day for an adult and 5–8 g for lambs. Chalk is also used as additives, which is necessary in the daily “menu” as a source of calcium, bone meal and phosphate without fluoride.

In the cold season, when food on pastures is scarce, animals, in addition to hay, must be given:

carrot;
sugar beets;
beans and cereals;
sunflower cake;
wheat bran and more.

In order for the livestock to be healthy and the animals quickly gain weight, it is necessary to stock up on a sufficient amount of feed. If nutrition is scarce, this will lead to a decrease in weight gain.

The diet of queens and young animals

Queens require high-quality and balanced feed.

The daily diet of a sheep includes the following components:

cereal hay - 0.5 kg;
legumes - 0.3 kg;
straw - 0.5 kg;
vegetables 3–3.5 kg;
salt 12–15 g.

Sometimes lambs are fed cow's milk from a bottle.

A month before lambing, hay should be reduced in the animal's diet and replaced with compound feed. After childbirth, hay can be given in an amount of 1 kg, vegetables 4 kg each, and concentrates - 0.5 kg.

For the first 5 days, lambs feed only on mother's milk. If for some reason this is not possible, cow's milk and special mixtures are given to the offspring. At the age of 1 month, lambs can additionally consume 50 g of concentrated feed, and at 2 months - 150 g per day.

Diseases and prevention

Dampness is considered the main enemy of sheep, it causes pneumonia. The animal coughs and eats poorly, breathing is difficult, and the temperature rises above normal. In the treatment of animals, antibiotics are used, for example, bicillin, biovit-80, streptomycin and others. To prevent disease, it is important to keep animals dry and warm. And also protect from drafts and do not drive out to graze in the rain.

Another common disease is scar flatulence, malaise occurs due to an incorrectly composed diet of the animal. In this case, the individual loses its appetite and is nervous, and there are also signs of bloating. In such cases, a gas outlet tube is inserted into the animal's oral cavity or a scar is punctured.

If an animal ate a poisonous plant in a pasture, signs of poisoning appear: diarrhea, vomiting and loss of appetite. In such situations, it is necessary to wash the sheep's stomach with vegetable oil and Glauber's salt.

Sheep can suffer from pneumonia, rumen swelling, and poisoning.

If the animal's hooves are affected by purulent bacteria, the resulting growths are cut off, otherwise the animal will limp. To prevent possible diseases of animals, it is necessary to monitor their condition and keep the livestock clean and warm, as well as to give balanced and rich in micronutrients feed.

Breeding Basics for Beginners: What You Should Know About Lambing

Many breeds of sheep are characterized by a high level of fertility, and some varieties bring 5 lambs per lamb. Females give birth without complications, and the process takes 30–40 minutes. Often lambs are born in a bubble that they cannot burst on their own. In this case, the help of a person is necessary, otherwise the cub may suffocate.

The lamb should be fed within the first 2 hours of life. If the ewe is too tired to feed her own offspring, she should be milked and given milk to the lamb.

The offspring easily adapts to the conditions of detention and grows rapidly. As a rule, breastfed lambs exist up to 2 months, but after 4-5 weeks they can be gradually introduced complementary foods.

Lambs grow fast enough - already in a month they begin to taste the food of adult sheep.

Shearing

The time of shearing livestock depends on the climate of the area. In the spring, with the onset of heat, you can begin to remove wool from animals of coarse-haired and semi-coarse-haired breeds. If this is not done in time, you can lose part of the cover, because in the summer the animal will begin to molt. Shearing is carried out twice a year, in spring and autumn.

Fine-fleece and semi-fine-fleece animals practically do not shed in the summer, but it is not recommended to cut them too early. The fact is that in winter, grease accumulates in insufficient quantities and the coat becomes dry and coarse. Therefore, it is necessary to wait until it is present in the right amount. Such animals need to be sheared once a year.

Lambs from spring lambing are sheared a year later, and those born in winter - in the last month of summer or early autumn.

It is important to know that the animal's hair should not be wet when shearing, so you should not start work immediately after feeding or watering. And so that the animals do not get sick, 15-20 days after the shearing, they are washed with a special solution of disinfectants.

Usually sheep are sheared twice a year: in autumn and spring.

For successful and profitable sheep breeding, the following recommendations should be taken into account:

purchase lambs at least 4 months old;
upon reaching the age of five months, males and females should be kept separately;
keep animals in a warm and dry room, on deep bedding;
protect the herd from drafts and dampness;
timely clean the sheepfold and keep the feeders and drinkers clean;
give animals sufficient food, enriching the diet with additives;
to produce mating when the animals reach 1–1.5 years.

Sheep breeding is a profitable business, but at the same time it requires significant labor costs and compliance with the rules for keeping animals. But the result is worth it, with the successful breeding of sheep, the farmer receives a high annual profit.

We offer you to watch a video in which the farmer talks about keeping and breeding sheep at home.

Sheep have been raised as domestic farm animals for thousands of years. At the same time, depending on the breed, sheep are bred in order to obtain meat, milk, sheepskin and warm, high-quality wool.

In the conditions of a personal farmstead, keeping sheep is not difficult. Hardy, unpretentious animals rarely get sick, are quite prolific and, in comparison with cattle, are extremely precocious. At the same time, sheep do not require capitally built premises:

In summer, they are content with paddocks and grazing areas.
In winter, they are kept in sheepfolds, where the temperature is slightly above zero.

Animals grow well on feed, which other species will obviously not be enough to meet their physiological needs. For sheep, even sparse vegetation is enough to grow, give wool and gain weight.

With due attention to animals, breeding sheep at home and novice sheep breeders will not seem like a difficult burdensome task. Good care, compliance with the rules of keeping and feeding will necessarily result in high meat productivity, obtaining tasty fatty milk and domestic wool already in the first year.

Biological features of sheep

Modern breeds of sheep for home rearing can show high productivity in meat, milk and wool. Most often, the attention of sheep breeders is attracted by varieties with high fertility, rapid weight gain, pronounced unpretentiousness and good health. But in order for the animals to show the expected results, it is necessary to take into account their needs and the biological characteristics of the sheep.

Among animals in the barnyard, sheep are famous for their herd and forgetfulness. Often sheep breeders are faced with the fact that the livestock that has gone for grazing cannot find their home. Therefore, sheep and rams are brought to walking areas along with smart or cows. In this case, it is worth one sheep to go after the “leader”, and the whole flock will follow it.

The average lifespan of sheep is 20 years. However, when keeping sheep in a private backyard, only producers and thoroughbred queens can live up to 8 years. Young animals grown for meat are slaughtered up to one year of age, and woolly individuals are kept on the farm a little longer.

One of the indicators by which the merits of a breed or individual are judged is the number of lambings per year and the number of lambs brought.

Most often, sheep in breeding bring offspring once a year at the end of winter or in the first days of spring. Pregnancy lasts about five months, in most breeds the appearance of one lamb is the norm. But there are exceptions.

For example, it is popular among Russian sheep breeders due to the frequent birth of several lambs at once and the ability to kitten twice a year. This feature of the breed and the precocity of the species as a whole makes it possible to develop a completely successful, quickly payback business plan for sheep breeding.

What conditions do animals need? How to feed them? How to start breeding sheep at home for beginners?

Raising sheep at home in summer

Pasture maintenance of sheep is the basis of their high productivity. By depriving animals of the opportunity to go out for a walk, a sheep breeder can seriously reduce their profits. In this case, the costs increase:

for feed, the collection and preparation of which is now the concern of man;
for the equipment of premises and pens for sheep.

If there are no suitable pastures near the farmstead, walking areas are arranged for the sheep, enclosing the plots with shields. After the depletion of the grass cover, the flock is transferred to the neighboring territory. Since sheep can bite grass lower than goats or cows, even in the most meager places, they find enough favorite food for themselves. In addition, the transfer of grazing to another part of the pasture helps to prevent infection of animals with helminths.

At home, when raising sheep without walking, animals are given mowed pasture grasses.

It is also advisable to arrange small runs for the flock, driving them out of a limited space for a walk. It is possible to keep sheep on a leash with regular transfer to a new site.

Sheep are released into the pasture with the advent of spring and the appearance of the first vegetation about 8 cm high. If it is cool outside, animals must be protected from excessive moisture, whether it be rain or dew. Wet wool does not dry out and causes various animal diseases. The same rule is followed with the onset of autumn coolness. In the hot summer, on the contrary, an early exit to the meadow will help the sheep find the most juicy vegetation.

Despite the grazing content, sheep are always offered water. Drinking bowls are replenished twice a day, and in a particularly hot season - three times a day.

This measure will help protect animals from dehydration and weakening. For the same purpose, sheds are equipped, where the flock can wait out the hottest hours. Here, not only drinkers and feeders are placed for sheep, but also pieces of lick salt.

Pasture grass is the most desirable and useful food for sheep. However, sheep breeding provides for their maintenance in the cold season. Therefore, the sheep breeder needs to prepare hay in time, and in autumn, fallen leaves will be a good help if there is a shortage of grass.

In the summer, sheep can suffer from blood-sucking insects, which not only use the sheep as a source of food, but also lay eggs on damaged areas of the skin. In order to avoid diseases associated with this and make life easier for the wards, animals are examined, their wounds are cleaned and disinfected, and special supervision is established for weakened sheep.

The arrival of autumn for the sheep breeder means that the flock will soon be relocated to winter sheepfolds and sheepfolds. It is extremely important to protect the wards from drafts, excessive humidity and crowded content. That's why:

The rooms are equipped with ventilation.
Arrange a dry deep bedding for the animals.
One individual is allocated from 2.5 to 3 meters of area.
Inside the sheepfold during the stall period, the temperature is maintained within 6-8 ° C. This is quite enough for healthy, strong animals to feel good, and with a well-chosen diet, they grow.
During the most critical period in sheep breeding - during lambing, the air in the sheepfold must be warmed up to 15 ° C.

In winter, the diet of sheep consists of silage hay harvested in summer, chopped root crops and a small amount of concentrated feed. For 500 kg of grass hay and the same amount of root crops, only 100 kg of feed should be used. This rate is enough to feed one adult in the stall period.

In the cold season, it is best to feed the livestock in the open air in an open sheepfold. In bad weather, food is provided under a canopy. Do this 3-4 times a day. First, the sheep get hay. For weight gain and growth, it is useful to give hay from cereals and fodder legumes.

Then the sheep are offered succulent fodder. It can be a mixture of chopped root vegetables, such as carrots, turnips, bran potatoes. Another option is a silo. After such a meal, the herd is given a drink, and then comes the turn of concentrated and roughage. Sheep raised at home quickly become accustomed to a single feed distribution schedule. In the evening, hay and brooms prepared in the summer are laid in the feeders.

Sheep breeding - video

Breeding sheep and rams is a good chance for a novice farmer to find his niche in the livestock business. These animals are hardy, have excellent health and are able to demonstrate high rates of productivity even with poor feeding.

In addition, this type of livestock is universal. Cultivation of yamok allows you to equally get meat, wool and milk. In this article we will try to answer all your questions. How to start a business, how to properly feed and care for these amazing animals.

Where to begin

Any experienced farmer to the question "where to start breeding sheep?" without hesitation will answer, of course, with the preparation of a business plan. This will help you better think about the financial costs of acquiring animals, building a sheepfold and pasture space. In addition, you can calculate the planned profit from the sale of products, thereby knowing the profitability of your business.

Then you need to choose a pasture where the animals will spend most of the year and for winter maintenance.

The choice of pasture directly depends on the number of flocks. For a comfortable grazing of one sheep with lambs, about one hectare of land per year is needed.

In addition, sheep grazing is best done in the immediate vicinity of a reservoir. One adult consumes about 10 liters of water per day.

For winter maintenance, it is necessary to build a sheepfold. To keep a dozen females with lambs, it is quite possible to limit yourself to a room of about 40 square meters.

Despite the fact that sheep are immune to temperature extremes, the room should be at least 9 degrees Celsius. In addition, it is necessary to take care of ventilation and the absence of drafts.

Having dealt with the conditions of keeping the flock, you can proceed to the acquisition of animals. You can buy sheep in farms. Many farmers recommend buying bright to start with.

Features of feeding

Shearing

Do not forget that raising sheep means obtaining not only meat, but also wool. Thus, there is a double benefit.

The wool of these animals is highly valued in production. Gloves, socks, sweaters, carpets, blankets are made from it.

It is recommended twice a year, before grazing and in late autumn, before the onset of frost. For these purposes, it is best to purchase a special one. This will allow you to process the entire flock with minimal effort.

Advice. Animals must be left without water and food for approximately 14 hours before shearing.

How to properly care for sheep

Caring for sheep at home, though troublesome, is not problematic. The main thing is to follow a few basic rules.

Caring for your flock begins with the mandatory vaccination of the entire livestock. This will reduce the risk of infections.

It is worth noting that the vaccine usually lasts about six months, so do not forget to repeat this event regularly.
Do not forget to regularly invite a veterinarian to examine your wards.

The fact is that some fatal diseases for sheep do not have pronounced symptoms in the initial stage. Therefore, only an experienced specialist can determine the disease.

Despite the fact that sheep endure low temperatures, they also have a weak point. These are hooves. Therefore, the floor in the sheepfold must necessarily be plank and covered with straw bedding. In addition, the hooves need to be cleaned and trimmed regularly, otherwise joint problems may begin.

It is useful to include salt in the daily diet. In addition, tree branches can be given to sheep as a source of vitamins.

Remember that you should not try to bring sheep into obedience by beating and grabbing for wool. This can cause stress in animals, which will negatively affect productivity.

Features of lambing

Sheep are very prolific animals. Some breeds are able to bring up to five lambs at a time.

It is worth noting the fact that the survival rate of young animals is very high, about 100%. Lambs do not need special conditions or additional care. Females have a very developed maternal instinct, so they usually take care of their offspring on their own.

Lambing usually goes without complications, but it is recommended to invite a veterinarian to be on the safe side. Human participation in the birth of lambs usually comes down to releasing the baby from the amniotic sac and removing mucus from the respiratory tract.

Remember that in the first 2-3 hours after birth, the lamb must be fed with mother's milk. If the female is unable to feed her cub on her own, the farmer needs to milk her and give her lamb milk to drink.

It is worth noting the fact that almost all varieties of domestic sheep during lactation can easily feed two or three babies.

Each female is able to give about 150 liters of milk during the feeding period. Therefore, some farmers slaughter newborn lambs (their skin is highly valued), and the sheep's milk is handed over to cheese dairies.

This type of business, although it takes place, does not bring large profits. The fact is that despite the fat content, sheep's milk in its composition is much inferior to cow's and goat's. Therefore, if you decide to build your business on the delivery of smushki (fleece of a newborn lamb) and milk, it makes sense to decide in advance on the sales market.

We hope that all of the above information will help you decide where to start raising sheep and how to care for animals in the future. Instead of concluding, we want to give you some useful tips for keeping sheep at home:

Choose a pasture away from busy freeways. The fact is that sheep are herd animals and cowardly. From sharp and loud sounds, the flock will instantly scatter. Moreover, the animals are also frankly stupid, they are not able to find their own way to a grazing place or a sheepfold.
For a more comfortable keeping of sheep in the pasture, you should think about purchasing. This device will protect your wards from predators and save on staff.
It often happens that the flock does not have a leader, so the lambs graze on their own. To keep them in subjection, you can get guard dogs or graze a flock along with goats.
In order to control the mating of animals, breeding rams are recommended to be kept separately.

Breeding sheep at home for beginners is not as difficult a task as it might seem. These are very hardy, but most importantly, unpretentious animals that, with proper care, practically do not get sick, are quite prolific and, compared to cattle, require much lower maintenance costs. They do not even need to build capital buildings. In summer, sheep need paddocks and grazing areas, and in winter they live in sheepfolds, where it is not necessary to install a heating system. Even rather meager vegetable food is enough for sheep to give milk and wool. And with balanced feed and good care, high productivity will be ensured.

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Keeping sheep and sheep at home can be a profitable business. Almost all modern breeds show good productivity indicators for milk, meat and wool. As a rule, experienced farmers prefer prolific breeds that are characterized by precocity, that is, rapid weight gain. There are no clear rules for choosing one or another breed. It all depends on the specific situation. Although, of course, preference is given to animals with good health, unpretentious, well adapted to any conditions.

It is important to take into account the biological characteristics of these animals. So, it is worth mentioning that the main psychological characteristics of sheep are their herding and low mental abilities. In particular, a grazing flock may well forget the way home from the pasture. Therefore, they are usually taken to the walking area along with smarter goats. These animals play the role of leaders - and if at least one sheep follows them, then all the rest will follow.

It is important to choose the right breed of sheep for rearing, for example for wool, milk or meat. But this is also done taking into account regional climatic conditions. Sheep are best bought in breeding farms. There are more than 170 of them on the territory of Russia. For each region there is a scientifically based choice of breed. Domestic sheep breeding is best developed in the North Caucasus, in the south of the country, in the Volga region. But sheep live well in the conditions of the Middle Strip. Romanov, Volgograd, Tsigay breeds are ideal for this. In Siberia and the Southern Urals, it is better to breed rams of the Edilbaev, northern short-tailed or Gorky breed.

When choosing a variety, its fertility must be evaluated. Two factors play an important role here - not only the number of lambings per year, but also the number of lambs at the same time. However, it is important to pay attention to the survival rate of young animals. Most sheep breeds give birth once a year - at the very end of winter or at the beginning of spring. Pregnancy in ewes lasts about five months. In many breeds, the birth of one lamb is considered the norm, but there are exceptions to this rule. For example, the most popular Romanov breed of sheep in Russia is famous for the fact that it has two lambings a year and often several lambs are born at once. Thanks to this, the cost of raising sheep quickly pays off.

During the lambing period, it is important that someone constantly watches over the sheep. Restless behavior of the animal is a sign that childbirth is approaching. About a day before this, the udder swells in the uterus. Although everything usually goes smoothly and without human intervention, you still need to control the process.

The average life expectancy of sheep is about 20 years. But when kept at home, this is, of course, rare. Only thoroughbred producers and ewes live up to 8 years, since further their productivity decreases significantly. A little less is kept on farms of animals bred for the sake of wool. Young animals that are grown for meat are slaughtered up to one year of age.

How to equip a sheepfold

In regions with harsh winters, keeping sheep seems more difficult, in particular, the animals need appropriate facilities. Sheepfolds do not have to be permanent buildings with a heating system, but they must be warm enough. Wood or brick is used as a material for the construction of such buildings. It is very important to insulate the room and make sure that there are no drafts and excessive humidity in it. Windows must be provided for this. which are located at a height of at least 1.5 m from the floor surface so that the sheep do not reach them.

In addition, sheepfolds should be spacious enough. Overcrowding of animals leads to diseases. On average, up to 9 m² of area is allocated per individual, but it all depends on the breed. Large animals need more space.

Although the average air temperature in the sheepfold in winter can be only 10 ° C and the animals will feel quite comfortable, it is recommended to warm up the air a little during lambing - at least up to 15 ° C. You can transfer an electric heater to the sheepfold, but just make sure that nothing happens to it, since it is still a fire hazardous device.

For young animals, it is desirable to allocate a separate corner. In general, lambs are next to their mother for up to 3-4 months, they cannot be taken earlier.

Animals need to arrange a dry and deep enough litter. For sanitary purposes, it is supposed to be changed regularly.

Feeding ewes and young

A novice farmer should know how and what to feed sheep at home. Properly selected feeds allow you to get wool and milk of the highest quality. On average, these animals should be given 3.2-3.5 kg of dry food per 100 g of live weight. There are other rules as well. For example, sheep prefer small-grass and bean hay. It is better to give straw either oatmeal or millet. What to feed the sheep additionally, each farmer decides on his own, based on the calculation of the needs for vitamins and trace elements. From succulent feeds, they recommend raw potatoes, fodder beets (but not ordinary ones, you can’t give anything from your table at all). You can add fodder melons to the diet - watermelons, pumpkin, zucchini. Sheep can be given 2-3 kg of such crops per day.

In addition, animals are offered concentrated cereal feed - corn, barley, oats: this is necessary to balance the diet in terms of feed units.

Breeding sheep and ewes has its own characteristics. In particular, the feeding of sheep in these cases will be significantly different, because they need to take care of the nutrition of their offspring.

Pregnant queens should receive balanced feed. About 4 weeks before giving birth, the amount of hay in their diet should be reduced and gradually replaced with compound feed. The daily diet of the ewe is 3-3.5 kg of succulent feed or vegetables, to which cereal and, to a lesser extent, bean hay are mixed. But after lambing, the amount of hay in the diet can again be increased.

In addition, lactating queens must be given the so-called lick salt, since the body of these animals is already depleted after childbirth. If the lambs do not completely suck out the milk, then the ewe must be milked on their own.

During the first month of life, all the nutritional needs of lambs can be met exclusively through mother's milk. According to experts, for every kilogram of growth, about 5 kg of sheep's milk is spent. Therefore, it is very important to ensure milk production at a stable level, especially in winter.

Lambs receive their first milk no later than half an hour from the moment of birth. But it should be remembered that colostrum with its high concentration of substances can be harmful for a lamb, so you need to express the first milk from a sheep, and only after that it is allowed to let offspring to it. On the first day after birth, lambs eat every 2-3 hours. And an hour after giving birth, it will be possible to give the sheep water.

From 2-3 weeks of age, lambs are ready to eat hay and succulent feed, although they need to be introduced gradually. From cereals it is better to give oatmeal. Finely chopped root vegetables and hay of the best quality can be added to it.

Sheep feeding

As already mentioned, sheep breeding has its own characteristics. There are norms that were designed for fertilizers, that is, taking into account their activity. The basis of food for them is roughage. In addition, sheep need to increase the amount of protein in their food. Sometimes urea is used for these purposes. The daily ration of a sheep includes up to 5 kg of mixed grass silage, about 1 kg of fodder beet, 0.5 kg of oat or barley straw (no longer needed, since this negatively affects both weight gain and the taste characteristics of meat), another 0.2 kg grain mixtures. It is recommended to give animals vitamin and mineral premixes.

Lambs are given legumes, peas, vetch, and in addition - meal and cake: this is necessary to balance the diet for protein.

Traditional sheep breeding does not require much effort. Most of the time the animals should spend on natural pastures. Currently, there are few of them, and mostly animals are taken to cultivated pastures. This is especially convenient for large herds, as it requires minimal attention from the owner to these animals. On the other hand, lambs that live in such conditions show rather low growth rates, so this rearing method has its drawbacks. You can smooth them out by improving the quality of green mass, which is obtained by lambs and sheep at the expense of feed concentrates and vitamins.

Sheep grazing

It is best when the sheep graze in the early morning and evening hours. At the same time, it is desirable to alternate grazing with a paddock, so that activity is replaced by rest. This is done at least once a week. During the hot months in the southern regions, rams and sheep are driven out for night grazing. It is very important for animals in the pasture to organize a watering place - at least 2 times a day they need clean water.

In most modern farms for sheep, they use not natural pastures, but equipped walking areas. In the summer, cut grass and concentrated fodder are brought to them. In many regions, sheep graze on these paddocks during the winter months. Therefore, for convenience, longitudinal feeders are installed there, into which mixtures of concentrates and mowed grass are poured. It is best to equip a walking area on a hill and install a canopy in some corner of it so that the sheep can hide from the rain there.

The grazing content of artiodactyls has some features that need to be taken into account. For example, it is possible to release them on a natural pasture only when the first vegetation has appeared there, at least 8 cm high, so that it would be convenient for the animals to pinch it. If the yard is cool, then dew may fall in the morning. It is necessary to wait out this period, because the wet wool of the sheep does not dry out soon and this can cause various diseases. As a general rule, extra care must be taken in spring and autumn not to let the sheep out too early in the meadow. But in the summer, on the contrary, the early entry of animals into the field will help to find juicy vegetation that has not yet been dried by the sun.

On the walking area, sheep need to organize not only feeders, but also drinkers. They are replenished every day 2 times, in the summer in the heat - at least 3 times. In general, the quality of water must be constantly monitored. Bad water can cause dangerous diseases. But dehydration also has a negative impact on the health of animals.