Twin Willows Farm - What Sheep
are Best for Me?
If you
read my article on Preparing
For Sheep, you have your land, fence and shelters ready for
sheep. Now let’s think through what you want from your
sheep. First let’s look at the difference between “having
sheep” and “raising sheep.”
Having Sheep:
If you want a flock of sheep purely for the fiber, there is no need to
purchase breeding stock. A flock of wethers (castrated
males) will work nicely and save you both money and
headaches. Castrating the males removes all the male hormones
which results in less aggressive sheep
and a more harmonious flock. It also eliminates the need for
a special
ram pen, lambing pens, special feed for gestating and lactating ewes,
lambing
problems, etc. Plus the initial purchase of wethers is much
less than
the cost of breeding stock.
Wether flocks are often made up of many different breeds and/or
crossbreds. Since there will be no breeding between the
individuals, you have more flexibility with the flock. You
don’t have to worry about a large ram breeding a small ewe resulting in
difficult lambings, for instance. One issue to think about
with a wether flock is mixing polled sheep and
horned sheep. Choosing one or the other is a good
idea for the sake of harmony in the flock and each animal getting it’s
fair share of the feed. Horned sheep
can easily intimidate polled (naturally hornless)
sheep.
Raising Sheep:
If you want to raise sheep there are many factors to take into
consideration. First would be whether to raise crossbred or
purebred sheep. Let’s look into the pros and cons of both.
Crossbred sheep cost less to purchase and are usually more readily
available than purebred sheep. There is no need to keep
pedigree records or pay registration fees, but you should keep some
basic information to make sure you don’t inbreed your flock too closely.
Crossbreds come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and textures.
You
can create a very diverse flock with crossbreds. If you are
aiming
at selling fleeces to other handspinners, however, this type of flock
creates limits when it comes to Internet or mail order sales.
Because the sheep
are not from a known breed, where certain properties and
characteristics are expected, many spinners may be wary of purchasing
the fleece without being
able to handle it in person. But local sales should not be
affected by this. So this only affects your local vs. global
selling expectations.
One down side to raising crossbred lambs is the value of the lambs
themselves. Crossbred lambs normally go to the meat
market. There is little value to other breeders for crossbred
breeding stock lambs. Most ram lambs are wethered at or
shortly after birth and sent to auction or sold off the farm.
Ewe lambs may occasionally be sold for breeding stock, but do not
command the prices of purebred lambs.
Purebred sheep typically cost much more to purchase and can be more
difficult to locate. Pedigree records and registrations
should be kept up to date to retain the value of your sheep.
Breeds vary widely, differences in size, color, texture, lambing
percentages, and much more. Time and care should be taken
while choosing a breed of sheep. See my article Choosing
a Breed for more on this process.
In general, a shepherd is able to sell purebred fleeces for a higher
price. Purebreds offer the handspinner a certain type of
fleece and can be sold successfully over the Internet. Web
pages such as this one Twin
Willows Farm are common and are a good way to market to
handspinners.
Lambs produced and registered in your purebred flock can be sold for
breeding stock. Breeding stock lambs bring more money than
market or meat lambs will. Again, advertising on the Internet
is a great way to market these purebred lambs. However, not
all purebred lambs will find breeding stock homes. Be
prepared to sell off the excess lambs to the meat market or make sure
you have enough space to keep them in your flock.
All
articles are copyright protected and may not be copied for any use
without the author's written permission.
Contact Pegg
Thomas at twinwillowsfarm@gmail.com.
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Twin
Willows Farm
