A270
Getting Started in the Sheep Industry

starting a sheep flock | types of enterprises or production systems | lambing systems | range lambing | shed lambing

Introduction: Sheep are raised profitably under many production systems, operating sizes, and combinations of resources and management techniques. While there is no one "magic sheep production system," there is opportunity for choice.

An integrated management approach is the key to an efficient and profitable sheep production unit. Integrated management includes knowledge in nutrition, health, diseases, genetics, reproduction, business, and marketing. Concentration of a producer’s efforts in only one area may be of little benefit to the big picture. For example, management at lambing that saves a high percentage of twins is of little use if ewes do not have the inherited potential to raise them. On the other hand, genetic selection for twinning is a wasted effort if the resulting offspring are not fed and managed to save a high proportion of the extra lambs produced.

In recent years, prices sheep producers must pay for items such as feed, equipment, labor, and interest on capital have had large increases. Add to that the competition from imports of foreign meat and fiber. Still, only minor increases have been seen in lamb meat, while wool prices have dropped dramatically since the late 1980s. Despite these setbacks, technological advances in the last several years have provided ways for many sheep operations to become and remain profitable. This is particularly true for those producers with entrepreneurial expertise.

 

Starting a Sheep Flock:

Livestock enterprises, especially dairy, poultry, and now swine, require a very high capital investment to get started. Generally, sheep are an exception. Sheep do not require sophisticated management practices compared to swine production. Sheep do not require fancy or expensive facilities to thrive. They need only to be cool and dry, with shelter for protection from adverse weather. A three-sided or closed shed with a graded dirt floor, associated corrals and pens, and access to feed and water are all that is required. If winter lambing is to be practiced, a closed shelter should be considered. For additional information on sheep handling facilities and on proper shelter during the lambing season, refer to B300 and B488.

Small and intermediate sized sheep flocks are enjoying a degree of increasing popularity, while large-scale extensive range sheep operations continue to diminish. Sheep can combine some of the best profit aspects of cattle, swine, poultry, and even goats.

Overall Conception to Consumption: The following diagram identifies the different markets that are available for wool and meat. Once a market has been identified, the producer must select an appropriate production system to meet that market. A wise producer will identify what markets are available and then manage his/her flock to meet those markets.

 

Types of Enterprises or Production Systems:

A production system is a management strategy where a specific type of animal will be produced. As mentioned earlier, identifying a particular production system that will meet a specific market is critical to having a profitable operation. Examples of specific contemporary production systems are listed below, with many of these systems outlined in a diagram format:

 
  1. Purebred Sheep Production: Purebred animals are kept to produce foundation seedstock or breeding stock. The offspring of these animals are usually sold as registered lambs or yearlings of both sexes. Raising purebred animals can be challenging because of the competition to raise superior animals. To meet this challenge, extensive efforts should be made in feeding, care, disease prevention, and fitting for shows or purebred sheep consignment sales. All buildings and corrals must be good looking and well kept to attract potential buyers. Often, an aggressive advertising and public relations program is necessary to remain profitable. Records and performance testing are a must to help the producer identify the most productive sheep in the flock. Enrollment in either a purebred sheep registry performance record keeping program or NSIP (National Sheep Improvement Program) should be considered a necessary requirement.

  2. Sheep Commercial - Farm Flock: These operations often use registered ram(s) on "grade" ewes. This is called "grading-up" and should be used if the ultimate goal is a larger number of high quality lambs per ewe bred. Like purebred flocks, decisions on keeping or culling should be based on the genetic traits of daughters produced and progeny testing.

  3. Sheep Commercial - Range Operations (emphasis on market lambs): These operations use blackface rams with whiteface ewes to produce "terminal cross" lambs. Suffolk or Hampshire-Suffolk cross ram breeds are commonly used for these matings. These terminal cross lambs are called "brockle-faced" or "smut-faced" lambs. Because they are aggressive and have rapid growth rates, they reach market maturity quickly. These lambs are termed "terminal crosses" because they will not be used for breeding.

    4.
  4. Sheep Commercial - Range Operations (emphasis on replacement mothers): This system most often uses whiteface rams (fine-wooled or dual purpose breeds) and whiteface ewes. In many cases, virgin, yearling rams are purchased annually. Once animals are placed in a range operation, they remain there until they either die, become unsound, fail to pass an annual BSE (breeding soundness evaluation), or have dental or other serious disease complications that force their removal from the flock.

  5. Lamb Feeding (feedlot or pasture-fed): This is also a very common sheep production system in suitable areas in the United States. Generally, unfinished lambs (weaners) weighing between 50 and 70 pounds are purchased, confined, and finished on hay, grain, or hay aftermath. Corn silage with a protein supplement can also be successfully fed. This permits a reduction in feeding costs, provided the silage facilities are being used by some other livestock enterprise. In the western United States, feeder or weaner lambs are generally purchased in the fall and sold throughout the winter and early spring months.

















  6. Organically Produced Sheep and Goat Fiber, Milk, or Meat

    Introduction:     Natural or organic agriculture is an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles, and soil biological activity. It is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs and on management practices that restore, maintain, and enhance ecological harmony. "Organic" is a labeling term that denotes products produced under the authority of the Organic Foods Production Act. "Natural" is a labeling term that does not have any specific legislation. Organic agriculture practices cannot ensure that products are completely free of residues; however, methods are used to minimize pollution from air, soil, and water. Organic food handlers, processors, and retailers adhere to standards that maintain the integrity of organic agricultural products. The primary goal of organic agriculture is to optimize the health and productivity of interdependent communities of soil life, plants, animals, and people. The following are some general rules for organic agriculture taken directly from the Organic Foods Production Act:

    Livestock:     Livestock grown for the production of organically or naturally grown food or fiber may be purchased from any source.

    Grazing land and pasture:     Pasture land on which livestock are grazed or pastured shall be certified as transitional or organic and shall be produced under all requirements defined in the Organic Foods Production Act. It can require up to three years for agricultural lands to become certified.

    Fiber: Fiber or fiber by-products sold as organically produced shall be raised from such time such stock is brought onto a farm or field certified as transitional or organic and fed 100% certified organically produced feeds and feed supplements for a minimum of 12 months.

    Feed:     Feed fed to livestock directly or as a supplement to feed rations shall be certified as organically produced, processed, and handled under all requirements defined. A livestock producer shall not use feeds containing:
    • Hormones, antibiotics, or other prohibited growth promoters
    • Plastic pellets for roughage
    • Manure
    • Urea
    • Materials listed as prohibited in the national listing

    Feed additives fed to livestock shall meet the following requirements:
    • Natural feed additives shall be from any source, provided the additive is not categorized as prohibited on the national list.
    • Synthetic feed additives may be used, provided that the additive is categorized as allowed or restricted in the national list.
    • Synthetic vitamin and mineral supplements are permitted for documented deficiencies under the general supervision of a licensed veterinarian as a restricted practice.

    "Feed availability emergency" is a temporary shortage of certified organically produced feed.

    Health:     A producer should not use growth promoters or hormones, whether implanted, ingested, or injected, including antibiotics and trace elements used to stimulate growth. A producer may vaccinate stock for endemic diseases including, but not limited to, those required by state or federal law. A producer shall not:
    • Use sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotics,
    • Use synthetic anthelmintics (for internal parasites) on a routine basis, or
    • Administer medication, other than vaccines, in the absence of illness.

    Disease treatment requiring applications of an external or internal antibiotic shall be diagnosed, prescribed, and applied by or under the general supervision of a licensed veterinarian as defined by the Food and Drug Administration Compliance Policy Guide #7125.06, and include separation or isolation of treated stock from the organic herd during treatment, including the FDA recommended withdrawal period.

    Fiber produced from treated stock may not be harvested for 45 days or twice the FDA recommended withdrawal period, whichever is longer.

    Parasite management may use:
    • Quarantine and fecal exams for all incoming livestock
    • Periodic fecal exams and culling seriously infected individuals
    • Adequate pasture rotation and pasture management
    • Maintaining clean facilities and proper manure management
    • Vector and intermediate host control using biological controls
    • Vector and intermediate host control using materials categorized as allowed or allowed with restrictions in the national list.

    Processing:     Processing of organically produced or transitional meat animals or fibers shall be in accordance with the rules established.

    For More Information:
    National Organic Standards Board (NOSB)
    Rm. 2510, South Building
    PO Box 96456
    Washington, DC 20090-6456
    (202) 720-5252
    (202) 205-7808 FAX

 

Selecting Breeding Stock:

When buying breeding stock for the first time, it is often very helpful to take a successful sheep producer along.

Where to Purchase: One place to get breeding stock is from the fall sales that are held from August through December. Local extension agents, high school vo-ag teachers, and other sheep producers may have information and places where the sales are held. Breeding stock can also be purchased from purebred breeders.

What to Purchase:

Ewes: The ideal ewe is one that has had at least one lamb; however, these animals are usually scarce. The next best animal to buy is a good ewe lamb. Realize that more trouble is encountered at lambing time with yearlings. This is particularly true if the producer is just starting in the sheep business and is not an expert "lamb doctor."

Rams: When selecting a ram, it is best to buy one that has been performance tested and has passed a BSE (Breeding Soundness Evaluation) by a veterinarian (see B710). A performance-tested ram with a good rate of gain and good fleece traits is more likely to produce high quality lambs than one of unknown history.

Here are the main things to look for when buying breeding stock:

  1. Body: Look for ewes of good size with a sound mouth, good udder, and good feet and legs. Reject ewes that have a broken mouth (teeth missing). Make sure a ewe’s udder is soft and pliable and has two well-developed teats. If older ewes are being purchased, examine udders for missing teats that might have been snipped off during shearing. Cull out any lame sheep. Within the high-performance-tested animals, preference should be given to stock that have strong, broad, deep loins, and legs well muscled down the hock. These regions of the body are where the greatest returns are obtained from the carcass.

  2. Wool: Examine the fleece for uniformity and denseness. Make sure the belly is covered with wool, with no bare patches. Make certain the wool is free from black and kempy fibers. Notice the skin; a bright pink color indicates a healthy animal.

  3. Head: Look for animals with a clean muzzle, an alert eye, and both the upper dental pad and the lower incisors of the mouth meeting correctly.

  4. Legs: The legs must be sound, strong, and with good feet.

* Additional suggestions can also be found in the information on performing a physical exam on page C634.

How Many to Purchase: It is recommended to start with no more than 50 or 60 ewes the first year. One person can easily handle 50 to 60 ewes without additional help (except possibly at shearing time). Rams should also be purchased. One ram for every 25 to 40 ewes is needed for successful reproduction. During this first year, valuable skills will be developed and a general feel for the sheep industry will be gained. These essential experiences are necessary before any attempts should made to expand the flock.

Maintaining the Flock: Once a basic breeding flock has been established, decisions on what animals to cull or keep can be made based on production and on performance testing in the flock. If the rams used the first year produce the desired type of lamb, they can be used the second year; however, a new ram should be purchased and then used on the ewe lambs that are kept for replacements. Select replacements from ewes that have twin lambs that grow rapidly before and after weaning.

 

Lambing Systems:

Introduction: The decision on the type of lambing system to use is one of the most important and sometimes difficult decisions a sheep producer must make. Factors that need to be considered include the following:

  1. Climatic conditions in the area. Some breeds are more adapted for extremes in temperature.
  2. Environmental conditions (type and typography of the land).
  3. Availability of feed supplies. Some areas have excellent grazing potential, while others are suited for raising and harvesting forages.
  4. Availability of skilled labor.
  5. Ease and completeness of a record keeping system.
  6. Diseases that are common to the area.
  7. Types and numbers of predators that are present.
  8. Value of the animals being raised.

The two major types of lambing systems in the United States are referred to as "range lambing" or "shed lambing." The advantages and disadvantages of each system are outlined below:

Range Lambing

Advantages:
  1. Capital investment requirements in buildings, corrals, and equipment are low.
  2. Land investments are usually made in lower priced range land and/or U.S. Forest Service/Bureau of Land Management permits, not in high priced deeded pasture and farmland.
  3. Feed inventory (on-hand) requirements are greatly reduced.
  4. Labor requirements are lower than in shed lambing.
  5. Many range lands can only be utilized by a range lambing system.

Disadvantages:
  1. Weaning percentages of lambs are lower (80 to 90% of ewes bred); post-docking lamb losses are high.
  2. Treatment of health problems and disease situations is difficult.
  3. Returns on investment are usually lower because of the impact of lower lamb production.
  4. Lambing season is determined by climatic conditions and range forage availability.
  5. Predation problems can be excessive and extreme, even if guard animals are utilized.

Typical range lambing.


Shed Lambing

Advantages:
  1. Weaning percentages of lambs can be greatly increased (125 to 160% of ewes bred).
  2. Lamb losses can be controlled through intensive management.
  3. Health problems are more easily identified and treated.
  4. All necessary vaccinations and de-wormings can be given more easily and at the proper time.
  5. Early and off season lambing is possible.
  6. Management practices (like docking and castration) can be performed on a regular basis and can be part of a planned work schedule.

Disadvantages:
  1. Getting started usually requires a large capital investment in sheds, buildings, corrals, and equipment.
  2. On hand feed inventories must be larger.
  3. The water source to all corrals and pens is often expensive and time consuming to supply.
  4. More and better trained labor is needed.
  5. Concentrated animal groups, i.e. drop bunches, jug and jail claiming systems, can increase the chances of diseases and parasites.

Typical shed lambing.