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| I can probably help you some. First off two things about sheep. You can look at them as miniture cattle- similar digestive tract so they need to eat similarly. Secondly, sheep have an extreme tolerance to pain and sicknes- part of their natural instincts to throw off predators as to who is sick or weak. That also can throw us humans, who care for them, off too. It does take some getting to know them to be able to tell before it's too late. This why you hear " A sick sheep is a dead sheep". Another thing is do not go to a sheep show and sale to purchase sheep. In the sheep business there is two very very different groups- show sheep and production sheep. Show sheep are fine if you like to do a lot of extra work and care. Production sheep are the workers- easy to care for and don't need much assistance. Not that these can't be found at show and sales it is just not common unless it is a production based sale. Also you have the whole"what breed do I want" thing to sort through. You might start by checking with some neighbors if they raise sheep. They might be able to give you better pointers for your area. I am guessing in your area you would have predator troubles so you would need to look at guardian animals either dogs, donkeys, llama's or ,as you name says, alpacas. A couple of places to start learning more would be the Oklahoma State University website: www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep There you can learn of about most all breeds of sheep. Another good place to look is in the Yahoo groups section. There you can find literally hundreds of groups of people talking about sheep. Sign up,lurk or post questions most are very friendly and willing to help. This all gets easier once you know what breed of sheep you want to raise. Kind of long post but if you have more questions feel free to drop me an email. | |
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raising sheep
