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What's the deal with sheep?
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<blockquote data-quote="prairietrail45" data-source="post: 1229191" data-attributes="member: 23481"><p>Some people graze sheep and/or goats with cattle to help the pasture. Sheep and goats eat different plants than cattle, so if you graze different species together a larger range of plants will be eaten. The biggest problem with goats is they are more designed to be browsers, not grazers. When goats are on grass they are more prone to worm problems and don't do as well. Goats are also not as easy to raise as cattle, they have more kidding issues (typically multiples), they are hard to keep contained and tend to not thrive as well on a grass only diet (unless you get Kiko's or Spanish goats). Goats can have copper, so that is one benefit and if you have a very brushy or wooded area they will clean it out really well. I have also found they are excellent at eliminating weeds.</p><p></p><p>I've never had sheep, but my neighbor does. He has a 10 strand barb wire fence around the sheep pasture, they stay in pretty good but he does lose one occasionally to coyotes but not often. I usually end up with a lamb or two every year when he has a ewe lamb with no milk, or not want to take care of it. All of his are hair sheep so no shearing <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> He also says he has a lot of problems with foot rot, although I think if he trimmed their hooves once or twice a year that would help. Copper can kill sheep so you would have to either put out a sheep safe mineral and supplement your cows' copper or have a feeder for the cows that the sheep can't get into.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Studies in Kansas have shown that keeping a bell on a sheep or goat will help prevent predation. I keep bells on a few of my goats and have yet to have a coyote problem. If you really want some you could always look into a livestock guardian dog, but I've heard some horror stories about them too. </p><p></p><p>If you want to look up markets, go to goatrancher.com and click on Markets. It gives most of the markets around the country that are reported to the USDA.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="prairietrail45, post: 1229191, member: 23481"] Some people graze sheep and/or goats with cattle to help the pasture. Sheep and goats eat different plants than cattle, so if you graze different species together a larger range of plants will be eaten. The biggest problem with goats is they are more designed to be browsers, not grazers. When goats are on grass they are more prone to worm problems and don't do as well. Goats are also not as easy to raise as cattle, they have more kidding issues (typically multiples), they are hard to keep contained and tend to not thrive as well on a grass only diet (unless you get Kiko's or Spanish goats). Goats can have copper, so that is one benefit and if you have a very brushy or wooded area they will clean it out really well. I have also found they are excellent at eliminating weeds. I've never had sheep, but my neighbor does. He has a 10 strand barb wire fence around the sheep pasture, they stay in pretty good but he does lose one occasionally to coyotes but not often. I usually end up with a lamb or two every year when he has a ewe lamb with no milk, or not want to take care of it. All of his are hair sheep so no shearing :) He also says he has a lot of problems with foot rot, although I think if he trimmed their hooves once or twice a year that would help. Copper can kill sheep so you would have to either put out a sheep safe mineral and supplement your cows' copper or have a feeder for the cows that the sheep can't get into. Studies in Kansas have shown that keeping a bell on a sheep or goat will help prevent predation. I keep bells on a few of my goats and have yet to have a coyote problem. If you really want some you could always look into a livestock guardian dog, but I've heard some horror stories about them too. If you want to look up markets, go to goatrancher.com and click on Markets. It gives most of the markets around the country that are reported to the USDA. [/QUOTE]
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What's the deal with sheep?
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