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A few things I've learned after getting our sheep as older, rescued rams who we neutered.
We DO have a shearer who comes, a little 4H gal who only weighs about 95 pounds and can get them done in about 5 minutes each. She's good and worth the money... we pay her $150 for our four. We've done it twice a year, in March and August, and that worked out well for the comfort of the animal in late summer when it's hot here. Still plenty of time for fleece to grow back enough for them to be warm in winter.
If you want the fiber, you might want to sheer only once per year, for better growth, and you may find yourself trying to keep them very clean with little coats so they don't get too much dirt and vegetable matter mixed in the fleece. People who pay for fiber want it really clean and perfect. We always find takers for our fleeces on homesteading groups.. but we give it away. Our sheep are not clean sheep, they're out in the rain and they lay on the ground outside, and on shavings and hay inside, which is actually worse. Ah well...
maybe this is how it works out for you with sheep for fleece/fiber purposes …
but it's quite different from our 30 year experience with Angora goats (source of Mohair) and various sheep breeds in a community of handspinners/weavers.
At $150/per 4 head of sheep to shear, that's a big-time money losing proposition. That's $37.50/head … with 10 ewes, that's $375 per shearing. Ouch!
Fiber quality (micron diameter of the fibers, natural color, and characteristics of the fibers for spinning, kempiness, length and structural integrity) dictates the marketability of the fiber. Even with "clean" sheep, much of the "skirting" (the lower portions from the animal, the short fiber from around the head and nasty fibers from around the butt area) is a throw-away item. As well, how much of the fiber is "2nd cuts" (ie, short lengths of fiber) in a fleece is critical. Picking over a shorn fleece is almost mandatory to capture the best value fiber from it to send to a processor/mill.
At a mill, they will "clean" the fiber to remove foreign matter. You can then have them further process it by carding and forming into batts, and/or dyeing for an additional charge. This is the condition that a spinner will want to buy the fiber. There are numerous mills around the country to do this work at various rates for their services. It can be a rather time consuming process. We've hand delivered some of our fleeces to various mills around the country so that we could visit their operation and see the equipment and operators at work. It's a art to properly process the raw wool fiber. Some folk do it well, some folk … don't always get it right.
So much depends upon the breed of sheep for the desirable fiber qualities. There are fiber sheep, meat sheep, and then some "dual purpose" breeds which, IMO, don't excel at either but do yield some income from both sides of the product. And then the skills of the shearer can destroy much of a fleece. As well, the skills and equipment of the mill.
Fiber arts in the USA are very much a cottage industry today. If you seriously want to maximize the income potential from sheep wool fiber, you'll need to connect with a handspinner marketplace. Could be by showing … as we have for some years … fiber at larger national shows such as The Estes Park Wool Market, or connecting with a couple of the spinning supplies shops around the region. Either way, it can be expensive to find a real buyer for your wool, especially if you have to travel to a wool market and incur trip/travel expenses. We've had a bunch of meat breed sheep with wool that must be sheared but is essentially worthless for fiber quality … and so have just thrown it away. That means that the total cost of shearing is an overhead expense for the sheep. We've moved onto Columbia sheep, which have increased our meat yield and have marketable fiber … but only after we've spent a lot of money on shipping the fiber to a mill that has done the best work for us.
Perhaps you may get away with shearing only "once a year" in WA. But in much of the USA, this is taking a huge risk for health issues with the sheep. There's too many insects/parasites that just live to nest in/on the skin beneath a wooly coat, and using various sheep dips pesticides to control them is a health risk to the sheep. Far better, IMO, to keep the sheep appropriately shorn twice a year to reveal these types of problems. Also, various stressors on the sheep can cause defective weak wool fibers which seriously downgrade the wool quality. It's in the best interests of the animal and possible revenue production to minimize these factors; ie, you don't want a lengthy fiber where it's weak at one spot. Better to have a shorter intact fiber without the defect.
Bear in mind that sheep raising is an art, not an exact formula to success. Each area of the country will have it's issues, each feed source will have it's good and bad attributes which need to be addressed. For example, some areas will have mineral deficiencies which adversely affect animal and reproductive health, and birth issues with the lambs. You'll generally only discover these types of problems after the fact, and the corrective action for the next breeding season may only be found via "trial and error" in your nutrition program.
A neighbor of ours, with a 5-generation family sheep farm advises that "sheep are just looking for an opportunity to die". He now raises show sheep and as much expertise as he brings to the table, still sees the same problems with sheep operations as we do. The big difference between us is that he can lose a lot more money per head than we do.
The bottom line is that various breeds have their attributes and abilities to deal with various climes, and the ability to be productive. Do your due diligence before buying "sheep". OP, understand before you invest in sheep that you have to make a conscious decision about whether or not they will just be "pets" or you're in a business. If you're thinking about fiber revenue, do your due diligence up front to determine what, if any, market opportunities present for you. With the destruction of the domestic wool fiber marketplace some years ago (thanks to Bill C's cancellation of domestic fiber requirements for uniforms), there's little market beyond handspinners/weavers in some parts of the country.
maybe this is how it works out for you with sheep for fleece/fiber purposes …
I thought I was pretty clear, ours are just pets and their fleece isn't really worth anything because I don't keep them clean enough.
It's how it works out in this area where there's a gal who will come to your property to sheer if you just have a few sheep. She probably wouldn't do a huge farm - she's just one small chick, big farms are a different calling, but she makes pretty good side money sheering pet sheep and alpacas and llamas for people around our area.
Hopefully other rural and suburban small towns that still have 4H programs also have similar kids who hire out.
I didn't get the idea our OP wanted to have a money making operation either... just a few hobby animals.
Last edited by Diana Holbrook; 01-22-2019 at 07:28 PM..
With a cat or dog one can place the animal in a kennel or with a friend. With livestock you have to be there 24/7 and it is harder to get somebody to take care of your animals when you leave. People, that have enjoyed vacations and trips, need to think long a hard before they make this kind of commitment. You cannot just walk away and forget these animals. Of course some are easier than others; and, depending on your setup, you might be able to leave them for different lengths of time - providing everything goes right. For a homestead, in the wilderness, things could go wrong very fast. Many predators, when they get into a cage or fence, will kill every one of your livestock; even though they only take one to eat.
In case you'd be willing to trade animals that will be used for meat - for something else you want - pigs are an easy and fun livestock option.
I don't know if you're opposed to growing animals that someone else would eat or not. But, if you are okay with that, if you get known for growing pigs that taste great because of what you feed them, you can easily trade them for other things you want.
I always grew at least 2 weaner pigs over the summer when I had property in WA. I sourced free food from the area - an organic soybean factory that made tofu, etc., and would give me their free soybean hulls, and a tortilla factory that would give me their tortillas that were mistakes, as well as free expired milk, etc., etc.
I raised one to sell every year, at least, and kept one for me. I'd give away the head and fat to local Mexican families, etc.
I could have easily traded the meat or even live pigs for something else. I'm now vegan, but I don't have a problem with other people who want to eat meat. I think any animal raised for meat should have a good life. I gave my pigs a great life, where they could roam a couple acres and were fed well and treated well. Pigs can also be raised in a fairly small area. Larger is better, but pigs are by nature very clean. They will choose a bathroom area and only go to the bathroom there. They aren't the kind of animal that just goes to the bathroom anywhere - and they never go where they eat. They're really misunderstood as far as their habits, etc.
You just need a good fence, and that's not hard to do. Just dig a trench, and lay the pig wire into the trench before filling it in. You can also add an electric wire around the bottom of the fence, for extra security, if you need it.
I wouldn't recommend starting out with either a large variety or a large amount of any one kind of animal. Maybe start with chickens with a secure hen house. Ducks are also fairly easy and the eggs are delicious and the manure is great for your veg garden.
I'd expect a lot of how many hours per day it would take to care for the critters would depend a lot on where your farm is located and how the specific environment for the critters is set up. As well as the type of critters they are.
For chickens, if they're safe from predators and have enough room to forage, forage to eat and a source of water, they're about zero maintenance. We have a couple yard hens, they take care of themselves, we don't feed them and even though they don't lay all that well, any eggs we get are at zero cost. The problem with them is they attract roosters and there always seems to be some sort of feral rooster(s) that moves in.
If you had a big pond with an island out in the middle of it, most likely you'd be able to have ducks or geese that would be somewhat predator proof? Although, if they laid eggs, they'd probably lay them on the island and they'd be hard to get.
We have some friends with sheep, they select their sheep for having twins without any intervention. They've been selecting their sheep for decades this way and now they pretty much have a flock that can lamb without help. They're a dual purpose meat/wool sheep and the wool is nice enough for sweaters, shawls and socks. They do all their veterinary work themselves. They do their own shearing with hand shears, not sure how long it takes them. They have about a dozen sheep and they sell the ones they don't want and the rest are mostly for fiber, I think.
Did you want goats for fun, fiber, meat or milk? If they're for milk, there's different types of milk goats. Some for drinking milk and some for cheese milk, I think. Nubian goat milk is very similar to homogenized cow's milk. Raw cow's milk isn't anything like homogenized cow's milk.
If you're milking anything, either goat, sheep or cow, it's a twice a day operation unless you let the offspring drink the milk you're not milking. There's also a lot of labor in keeping the milking utensils clean and many if not most states don't allow folks to sell raw milk. You could make the extra milk into cheese or soap, though, I think those products can be sold, but check your area for specifics.
We don't have any big livestock ourselves. There's the few yard chickens and a couple dozen rabbits. The rabbits are set up in big hutches with an automatic watering system so with a lot of food and hay added, we can leave them for a couple days if necessary. The hutches have wire floors so cleaning isn't necessary except once a month or so. This lets the house sitter manage to take care of them since all that has to be done is feed put in their feeders.
So, depending on where your farm is located, the type and amount of predators and the way the whole thing is set up will determine how much work it is to maintain the critters on a daily basis.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Do be advised there are 'lower maintenance' livestock and varieties.
Choice depends on your environment (climate, terrain, pasture, and predators).
Sheep and horses do not fit that scheme.
First stop is your local County Extension Service or land grant university. (For all kinds of info on crops and livestock suitable for your region) Depending on your area / need... they often offer classes, especially for Small Farm production. sample / resources: https://extension.wsu.edu/clark/natu...creageprogram/
Neighbors and friends (in PNW) have pretty good luck with Llamas and Alpacas. In TX, Goats seem to be easiest.
Cows OK, but pasture / water / fencing needs. Some friends in PNW have gone to April > Oct yearlings, then slaughter (expensive to buy yearlings each yr, but with pasture growing to 6-10 ft high.... there is still adequate revenue to subsist, and no hay needs during winter) + you can travel!.
as mentioned... Chickens need secure fencing (including overhead coverage for Hawks..., under foot if you have snakes) and a secure place to bed-down (Possums and coons are quite clever at getting into the hen house for the midnight slaughter.)
As with gardening.. if you are a hobbyist for meat / fiber... you can obtain less expensive solutions from commercial or small growers. Also there are some custom fiber processors who have very inexpensive products at various levels of processing. Not sure if these folks survived foreclosure: Spinning Mill Processing Information | Mora Valley Spinning Mill
*Alternative... If you are capable, you can 'share' the spoils by helping a small grower or another hobbyist. Similar with gardening if you volunteer with a local 'Gleaners'. We travel internationally and 'farm-sit' for others. We are furloughing our land / livestock for a few seasons while we are capable to travel. Neighbors and tenants can hay / use facilities / feed the remaining pets and livestock. When we return home (to stay) we will re-address our livestock plan. (it will be less)
I do remember a fateful night visiting my 93 yo grandfather... arrived after 10 pm... "Hey Gramps, the cows are out on the road again."
1) He first made a call to the livestock transport company ("come get 68 head tomorrow morning")
2) Go herd the cows into the barnyard
3) Get up early and load the trucks.
I'm not talking about a major operation. Just a dozen sheep or so, some chickens, a horse, maybe a couple of goats. We have been talking about selling a few of our properties to buy a farm and getting some livestock.
How many hours daily would you estimate it takes to care for the animals listed above?
If you have a farm with livestock, what do you do when you have to leave home for several days?
What do you wish you knew before getting livestock?
Having had pigs and chickens, I can testify that it is a LOT of work. Mucking out pig pens, chicken houses.
It is expensive as a hobby. Do keep in mind that horses, goats, cows, sheep, are herd animals and you shouldn't have just one. Fences must be maintained at all times. If your electric fence grounds out they seem to know it. If your animals escape you are responsible for any damage they do. We got rid of our livestock as more and more nurseries appeared in our area.
Look up medical care for any animal before you decide to get it, too. They need vaccinations, they need hooves trimmed, you have to do things for flies. They need shade available in summer, and some shelter from the elements in winter. You have to maintain pastures. Forget going anywhere unless you have someone available to check on them.
Dogs are probably more of a problem than coyotes or other predators. Clueless people move to the country and then wonder why their dogs get shot.
If you decide to do this, start with one type of animal at a time and make sure you don't overextend yourself.
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Ah well...
