How To Raise Sheep - 5 Important Considerations Before Rearing Sheep

Before anyone can start raising sheep, they first
have to know for what purpose they would like to
raise sheep. Would it be for wool? Meat? Milk?
Most farmers settle on only one as specific
breeds are often specialized in their uses.
While there are breeds that are good for dual or
cross purposes, they often don't produce the best
wool, meat, or milk of their kind. A beginning
sheep farmer learning how to raise sheep must
also be prepared for the many hardships he will
go through. As a farmer grows in experience,
caring for sheep will get easier and more
manageable.

5 Things to consider when learning how to raise
sheep:

1. Land - how much land is available to you? As
a general rule an acre is good for about 3-5
sheep or ewes.

2. Shelter - a barn that can house your flock to
protect them from the cold in winter or extreme
heat in dry season is needed. Farmers are
advised to set aside an average of 15 square
feet per ewe.

3. Market - how do you plan to sell your
product? Do you have readily available buyers or
do you plan to make use of cooperatives? It is
important that you know your market and study
how you can earn and increase your market's
potential.

4. Machinery, equipment, labor - these are
things you need to maintain and raise your
flock. For starters, you need fencing, cleaning,
tagging and shearing equipment. You'll need barn
hands if your flock is larger than what you can
manage. You also need guard or sheep dogs if you
will be letting your flock graze on open land.

5. Capital - you cannot start raising sheep if
you do not have the necessary capital to buy the
equipment, and the sheep necessary to start a
flock.

You also need to learn flock management styles
if you want to learn how to raise sheep. There
are 4 styles of flock management. Range band,
farm flocks, specialized flocks, hobby flocks.
Range band flocks are for those with a large
number of sheep (usually 1,000-1,500 ewes) kept
in pasture in either open or fenced land with a
large acreage. Because of the large number of
sheep, range band flocks subsist purely on
pasture alone, as it is economically not
feasible to spend for extra feed or hay to the
sheep. Farm flocks are smaller bands of sheep
kept on a smaller area than range band flocks.
It is more manageable and feeding can be
supplemented by hay and other grains. Hobby
flocks are started by hobbyist or by farmers
wanting to preserve breeds which are slowly
dying out. Hobby flocks can also be started to
provide for specialty products such as wool for
hand spinners. Those starting out in learning
how to raise sheep often start with a hobby
flock before expanding to farm flock size.

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sheep? Separate yourself from the usual sheep
owners who are prone to common mistakes. If you
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