Production and Management

Whether you’re raising sheep for your homestead or for profit as a commercial enterprise, there are many factors to consider. It’s fundamental that your flock is healthy, so you’ve got to start by choosing the best breed and deciding where you want to rear them. Other issues to consider include the provision of suitable grazing, nutrition and management plans, and ensuring operations and facilities are safe.

On this site, you’ll find all the resources you need to raise sheep successfully and efficiently.

Getting Started With Sheep

Compared to other animal and agricultural industries, the sheep industry is very small. According to the 2017 Census of Agriculture, there are more than 101,000 sheep farms in the United States, which accounts for less than 1% of total US livestock receipts. In recent years, the number of sheep operations has been steadily increasing, due in some part to encouragement from the American Sheep Industry Association.

If you’re interested in raising sheep in the backyard and homesteading sheep, or want to become a producer, you’ll need to acquire certain management skills.

The first step is to decide on the type of operation. Is the plan to raise sheep for their wool, meat, or dairy? You need to decide this before moving any further because it will affect the next crucial decision, which is choosing the right breed of sheep.

When selecting sheep breeds, a producer or homesteader should always start with expected average performance information. Performance indicators include average birth weight and average number of lambs born per lambing. There are tools you can use to help with selection, but the key is to combine operation goals with production benchmarks.

To help decide, producers should ask questions such as what is most important for the customer and think about where they want their sheep operation to be 10 years from now.

When you are ready to buy your sheep, keep in mind the risks of diseases and if possible, test newly purchased animals two to four weeks prior to transporting them to their new home.

Other production principles to consider if you want to produce more food on your property include feeding and reproduction, health, marketing, pasture, and grazing management.

How to Raise Sheep

Raising sheep can serve many purposes, such as providing meat, wool, and dairy products.

Sheep are perfect for small farms and rural homesteads because they are relatively small and easy to handle when compared with cows, horses, and pigs.

Sheep can graze on a range of different crops, but the quality of the forage is fundamental for the health of the flock. A small flock doesn’t need much space and you can rotate sheep pastures with crop planting as sheep manure is an excellent soil fertilizer.

Feeding a healthy flock requires nothing more than good pasture land for the majority of the year. In winter and during a drought, however, you will need to supplement their diet with hay or grain.

There are more than 60 breeds of sheep in the United States and choosing the right breed depends on the purpose of the flock. Certain breeds are better suited for producing meat, wool, or dairy, while there are also breeds of sheep that can serve a dual purpose.

Sheep are very susceptible to parasites, especially when raised in close proximity to each other. Predators can also be a problem in certain areas. Across the US, farmers lose thousands of sheep each year to coyotes and wolves. You can reduce issues with predators by using guardian animals, light corrals and pens at night, and high, tight fencing.

Sheep Farm Management

If you want to run a successful and sustainable sheep farm, there are key factors to bear in mind, such as safe operation and facilities, nutrition, and manure management plans.

Sheep Housing

The choice of sheep housing is very much determined by climate, season of lambing, and preferences of the farmer. More elaborate housing may be necessary if lambing occurs during inclement weather. Otherwise, simple shelter is all that’s required.

Barns are also an option. There are many types and various materials can be used for bedding. When livestock are being kept in a barn, your choice of bedding is important, as well as ventilation for good air quality. Any farmers concerned about their energy usage could upgrade barn lighting to LED or compact fluorescent lamps.

Personal Safety and Manure Management

Keeping both animals and humans safe is important when raising sheep. Risks include disease, animal handling, and manure management. Pennsylvanian farms and properties with animals have to develop a manure management plan. The same applies to anyone who produces manure, such as a 4-H Youth Animal Project. Penn State Extension’s Manure Management and Mortality Composting Workshop helps producers in writing their farm’s manure management plan. Managed grazing can play an important role in a manure management plan.

Diseases in farm animals can have serious consequences. Even a healthy herd can be a carrier of microorganisms that occasionally cause illness in people, such as E. coli infections. Employ biosecurity practices to prevent importation and transmission of infectious organisms. The acronym IRS (Isolation - Resistance - Sanitation) perfectly explains the principles of biosecurity.

Marketing and Finances

Raising sheep also requires a certain amount of business knowledge. You need to know how best to finance your sheep farm and successfully market your product. Penn State Extension has a wide range of business management resources that can help you.