AY Honors/Sheep Husbandry/Answer Key

1. What kinds of areas do sheep naturally inhabit?

Wild sheep are mostly found in hilly or mountainous habitats.

2. What kind of vegetation furnishes the feed most ideal for sheep?

Ideal pasture for sheep is not lawn-like grass, but an array of grasses, legumes and forbs (herbaceous flowering plants ).

3. What type of shelter or barn should be provided for sheep?

Sheep are kept in mobs in paddocks; in pens or in a barn. In cold climates sheep may need shelter if they are freshly shorn or have baby lambs. Freshly shorn hoggets (sheep up to 1 year old), especially, are very susceptible to wet, windy weather and will succumb to exposure very quickly. Sheep have to be kept dry for one to two days before shearing so that the fleece is dry enough to be pressed and to protect the health of the shearers.

A shed with three sides, with the fourth being open to the south (north in the southern hemisphere) provides adequate winter shelter for sheep. If you are planning to lamb during the winter, a closed barn that can be partially heated is vital to the success of your operation.

5. What are the most favorable seasons of the year in which to make a start in sheep raising?

The best time to start raising sheep would be in the fall before breeding season. You can select your ewes and ram carefully and then control the breeding of your ewes. However, you will need to stockpile silage or other feed and acquire cereal based feed for your ewes for use over the winter.

If you are just going to have a few sheep for a hobby or to earn this Honor, then acquire breed ewes during the winter so you can quickly move on to the excitement of birthing lambs.

6. What considerations should be taken into account when selecting the breed of stock?

First you need to understand why you want to raise sheep. Sheep have been bred to optimize their wool production, meat production, milk production, and even multi-purpose breeds. Do some market research before deciding. If there is no market in your area for wool, you should consider raising a meat or milk breed. Likewise, if the market for mutton is weak, you should go with a wool breed. Choosing a multi-purpose breed might be a good way to hedge your bet, but these animals do not produce as well as a breed dedicated to a specific end-product. Also think about how much time you have. Do you have the necessary dedication to get up early every morning to milk your ewes?

Once you have chosen a breed, you will need to choose stock. Older ewes (3-5 years old) will have fewer problems lambing than younger ewes, and they can (and do) teach younger ewes to be good mothers. If you intend to become a profitable shepherd, it is vitally important to choose animals that can produce and raise twins. It is very difficult to break even unless most of your ewes can do this. Those that cannot should be culled.

Be extra particular when selecting a ram, as his genetic contribution to the flock will represent half of the total gene pool. Each ewe's contribution will be limited to the lambs she births, but every lamb will have the same father. The ram should not be related to any of the ewes.

7. What is the ideal size of flock for inexperienced beginners in sheep raising?

Inexperienced shepherds should start out with a flock of 25 sheep or fewer.

8. What winter feed is most ideal for sheep?

As winter sets in pasture will become inadequate for the nutritional needs of your flock. At the same time the ewe's diet needs to be supplemented to handle the nutritional demands of getting pregnant, and carrying a lamb or lambs over the winter, and feeding a lamb or lambs in the spring.

Grass starts growing in spring, grows well until mid-summer when both growth rate and nutritional value falls. Grass has a growth spurt in September before it stops growing over winter. The quantity and nutritional value of grass depends on a number of factors such as the species, soil type and condition, geography, and climate.

Cereals alone are not enough. Sheep need the long fibers of grass, hay, haylage, or silage in their diets to keep them healthy. So when the grass is not growing, you need to supplement the sheep’s diet with hay, silage or haylage.

Ewes are usually given a concentrate (cereal based) feed, in addition to the forage element of their diet during two times.

1. . From a few weeks before mating through a few weeks after mating (usually in the fall for spring lambs) This is called flushing.
2. . In the final trimester of pregnancy (7 or 8 weeks pre-lambing) for ewes carrying multiple lambs.

Cereal based feeds come in pellet or mix or as a feed block. Cereals provide protein and energy while the feed company adds vitamins and minerals, plus and molasses to improve palatability.

Source here: http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/livestock/sheep/feeding-sheep/

10. Know the meaning of the following terms:

a. Castration

Castration is the act of removing the testicles of a male animal.

Castration is commonly performed on domestic animals not intended for breeding for the following reasons:

• To reduce or prevent territorial behavior
• To reduce or prevent aggression
• To increase growth and weight of the animal.
• To improve the taste of the meat.

b. Commercial

A commercial flock is one that produces lambs for sale as meat rather than as breeding stock

c. Concentrate

Food high in nutrition, low in fiber, and easily digested.

d. Cross bred

A cross bred lamb has a sire (ram) from one breed with a dam (ewe) from another.

e. Dam

A dam is the mother of a sheep.

f. Dock

Docking is used as a term for the intentional removal of part of an animal's tail or ears. The term cropping is also used, more commonly in reference to the docking of ears, while docking more commonly—but not exclusively—refers to the tail. The term bobbing is also used. Many breeds of sheep have their tails docked to prevent fly strike.

g. Drench

A drench is an oral veterinary medicine given to an animal to rid it of intestinal parasites, such as roundworm and tapeworm.

h. Ewe

A ewe is an adult female sheep

i. Flushing

Flushing is providing especially nutritious feed in the few weeks before mating to improve fertility, or in the period before birth to increase lamb birth-weight. It can also mean removing unfertilized or fertilized egg from an animal; often as part of an embryo transfer procedure.

j. Forages or roughages

Forages are grass, shrubs, and plants that can be used as food for sheep. Roughages are high fiber foods such as hay and some pasture plants.

k. Gain

The increase in weight of a lamb over a period of time.

l. Gestation

Gestation is the carrying of an unborn creature in the womb; pregnancy.

m. Grease weight

The weight of the fleece from a freshly shorn sheep.

n. Heat

A time period when a ewe is receptive to mating.

o. Lactation

Lactation is the production of milk by a female mammal.

p. Polled

A polled animal is one that has had its horns removed. Some breeds of livestock are "naturally polled" meaning they do not develop horns (and thus do not need to be polled).

q. Purebred

An animal whose parents belong wholly to the same breed is called a purebred.

r. Ram

A Ram is an adult male sheep.

s. Ration

A mixture of different types of feed.

t. Registered

An animal which has been issued a certificate by a breed association. A registered animal is guaranteed to be a purebred.

u. Scours

Diarrhea. It can quickly kill a lamb.

v. Scurred

Possessing the rudiments of a horn - hardened skin tissue where a horn would normally grow. The scur is not skeletal tissue.

w. Sire

A sire is the father of a sheep.

x. Wether

A wether is a castrated male sheep.

11. Care for two or more lambs until marketed or until three months of age.

This honor was written in a time when many Pathfinders lived on farms, so it was easy to raise some sheep. Today, most Pathfinders do not live on farms, so to earn this honor may require some creativity.

First, you will need a place to keep your sheep. If you live in a suburban area, check your zoning with the city before turning sheep into your backyard.

Alternatives to keeping your sheep at home might include:

• Ask friends and family about areas they own you could use. Perhaps someone has grass that needs natural mowing.
• Volunteer at a petting zoo

Next you will need at least one pregnant ewe (hopefully with twins). For this you will need to find a ewe and get her breed. The livestock auction or a sheep breeder are good places to start.

After that you need to apply your knowledge to raising the lambs. Don't get too attached though because eventually the lambs are going to be sold.

Have fun being a Shepherd.

"Over the past 200 years, the U.S. sheep population has come full circle. From 7 million head in the early 1800's, sheep numbers peaked at 56 million in 1945, then declined to less than 7 million head on January 1, 2003. At the same time, industry emphasis has changed from wool to meat. Sheep numbers increased slightly in 2005 and 2006, the first time since 1990." Source <http://www.sheep101.info/farm.html>

Comments

The Bible says Jesus is our Shepherd, an illustration that was a lot more meaningful to people who either raised sheep or were close to someone who raised sheep out in open fields. Today, many people in cities rarely even see sheep except in cartoons, much less understand the relationship between sheep and owner.

References

• Getting Started Raising Sheep (voanews.com).
• Getting Started in Sheep Government of Saskatchewan
• Introduction to Dairy Sheep Farming — Getting Started by Bee Tolman
• Getting Started with Sheep with Emphasis on Commercial Operation by Thomas Nash, University of Illinois.