permaculture

[sam bucus <samm_bucus@yahoo.com>]

hello,

i thought i may through in my two cents regarding your sheep project.  i have had a few sheep in the past and am researching a various things regarding sheep for my farm plan

--Darren suggested that shelter be under trees while Mike speaks about a raised building with a slotted floor,
I guess trees are a good option where climate is hot (?) like subtropics or tropics while perhaps in mediterranean climate (cold winters, though climate change might mitigate this pattern) -near the seaside, 1Km or 2- some sort of building would be better. Any opinions?

--I don't know what your minimum temperatures are, but in wisconsin, we get down to -40 degrees F at times, usually closer to -30 though.  depending on the breed a three sided shelter is all that may be necessary.  i have had icelandics, jacobs and shetlands.  they all loved the super cold and would be outsidee in the coldest weather.  all i plan to have is a small three sided shelter for them.  still integrating trees as shelter would be a very good idea.  especially for hot summers.  sheep hate hot weather.  an overstory of lite penetrable trees, maybe acacias, or spaced trees that cast more shade could be appropriate.  for a proper silvopasture (trees and pasture combo) up to 30 or 40 percent tree coverage is appropriate.  over 30 or 40 percent and the pasture goes into decline.  many trees, such as acacias, NFT's (also should be put in just for their nitrogen fixing qualities) fruit and nut trees can provide fodder as well as shade or other crops for poeple, animals, wood, etc. if designed properly they can provide shelter from both sun and wind, cold if you select the appropriate breeds, as well as food, fodder, lumber, nitrogen, etc.

--Milke I'd like to know more about the "zero grazing" system.

-i dont know what zero grazing is and would like to hear more too.

1) how much space do I need to set apart for two sheeps to live comfortably, both as shelter and as grazing space.

 -here in america one ewe and her lambs can live on one acre or less if it is really good. two sheep would barely forage up all of several hectares.  i think maybe 3 or 4 sheep and a ram so you can breed may be better, but better to start small and buy more sheep than too big and have to get rid of them.  but i would imagine on several hectares that already have mad clover that you could really graze it good.  maybe a few years of cutting it with a mower/sheep to bring more grass back would be better and then raise the sheep numbers as you see fit.

 

2)What about the management strategy to keep them from spoiling the place?
3)What sort of rotation would you suggest?

-i have and will again use intensive rotational grazing.  keeping the sheep within an electric fence and moving it everyday.  this forces them to eat every little thing within the pen that they will eat.  if you let them free range they will eat the best stuff and eventually the bad stuff they have left will take over and your pasture will suck.  it takes daily maintenance but thats just how it is with animals.  in teh summer, well anytime there is pasture i just leave them in teh electric fence all nite.  that all depends on what kidn of predators you have though. there are some good books on this subject.

 

4)How long should each sheep stay in their actual corral?
-if by this you mean there shelter, i leave them in there as little as possible. this may mean never during the summer and all winter long.  but in the winter they are feeding on hay and have an area to run around in, excercise, etc.

 

5)Do they mind sunlight or can they stay in a partially shady place?
-all of the sheep i have had have always preferred shade to sun.  they love ot have lots of water when it is hot too.

 

6)The area where the sheeps are supposed to stay, now gives place spontaneously to a thick "weed" layer of clovers and lots of other plants.
-what other plants?  check out some of the biodynamic books on weeds and what they tell you, i think thats the title.  go to www.biodynamics.org i think and look at the booklist.

 

7) Do they (2 sheeps I mean) produce enough milk so that cheese can be considered as a possible output for school-children workshops?
(They already make cheese but they need to buy cow's milk outside)
-milking sheep is great.  they have a higher fat content so you get more cheese from less milk, but you have to milk them everyday, once or twice, depending and keep breeding them obviosly.  it would be great to do, but requires very intensive management and a muchmore elaborate shelter potentially.  that may mean the difference between a super simple shelter and something with electircity for a refrigerator to store the milk, places to do all the stuff with teh chees, etc.  i hope to milk my sheep.  east friesans and icelandics are on top of the sheep milk list for good milkers.  look for ewes with teets that come straight down so that you will have no trouble getting all the milk out. 

 

 

8) how to properly deal with their manure?
-let them spread it all over the fields.  inteh winter here it freezes in their shelters, we layer it with hay and then compost it in the spring for vegetable plots, etc. slotted floors sounds really neat but to me it sounds like a hassle to build and deal with.  mnight as well just scoop it up with a big manure shovel or something.

 

One of my ideas (not yet studied in depth) was to introduce some alley cropping
The place I am talking about has a couple of Ha available for vegetables growing, trees and ... the sheeps.
-i think alley cropping/silvopasture is a fantastic idea.  there are many resources on the net, especially at the overstory, usda agroforestry and other sites.  type in silvopasture, alley cropping, agrofroesty, etc and search around.  there is so much you can do with tree crops for sheep and many other things such as people food, nitrogen, shelter, lumber, etc.

 

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