permaculture

[Richard Archer <perma@juggernaut.com.au>]

At 12:31 PM +0100 24/11/03, Antonio Scotti wrote:

>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 was brought up on a sheep farm, so I have a larger perspective too.

Our sheep were merinos... bred solely for the quality of their wool.
I'm sure you can find a breed better suited to your environment which
will be more hardy than my experiences below.

Sheep can handle cold weather fairly well if they are in good condition.
If they are starved, ill, in short wool (after shearing) or young they
would be best housed overnight if the temperature drops below about
5 Celsius especially if there's rain and wind. On our property we
would put the ewes just about to drop lambs into a paddock with a good
plantation of trees as a wind break. We rarely lost lambs due to the
cold, so I assume the wind chill factor is important.

They don't like very high temperatures much. They tend to stop grazing
when the temperature gets much over 30 Celsius and go sit in the shade
under a tree until it cools down in the evening. If you're in the
tropics and it never drops below 30 I guess they would adjust :)

Something nobody has mentioned yet in this thread is that sheep do
require quite intensive management. We used to handle each of our
sheep maybe 8 times a year. I'm not sure if these were management
practices that were only necessary because our farm was not organic/PC,
or whether sheep would always require this level of attention. This is
less likely to be a big issue if they are being intensively managed
anyway (especially if you're handling them daily for milking) but we
had to walk some of them 2 km in to the shed. We used to have to:
- drench them for worms
- cut their feet a couple of times
- soak their feet in solution to prevent disease
- shear the wool off them
- partially shear them around the butt 6 months later
- treatment for lice (typically just after shearing)

In addition we used to cut the tails off the lambs and also cut
some of the skin off around their bum. This was to prevent them
becoming maggot infested and might not be as much of a problem for
you depending on your climate. Drenching was also largely to
prevent the same problem... when they are wormy they tend to get
diarrhoea which leads to fly problems. Blech!

Maybe Darren with his greater knowledge of sheep management in a
PC environment could clear up some of these questions?


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

We typically ran about 3-4 sheep per acre. At that stocking level
we had to supplement their feed with grain and hay in summer. So
I would think 1 or 2 per acre would prevent them from over grazing
the pasture. A ewe with lamb will consume twice as much as a dry
sheep too.

Shelter could be as little as a shady tree and a wind break, depending
on your climate. If you get really freezing winters you might like to
house them overnight, in which case a raised slotted floor would be my
choice too.


>2)What about the management strategy to keep them from spoiling the place?
>3)What sort of rotation would you suggest?
>4)How long should each sheep stay in their actual corral?

If you mean their dung all around the place, there's not much you
can do about that. If you mean overgrazing, that will only happen
if you have too many sheep or strike a particularly poor season.
In which case either sell or eat some of the sheep or offer them
supplementary feed (hay, grain, lopped fodder trees etc).

Sheep will pick out the lushest grass and will tend to overgraze
say clover in preference to less palatable grasses. It is best to
graze a smaller area intensively, and portable electric fences are
ideal for this level of control. Rotation cycle would depend on the
growth rates of your pasture.

I would aim to have the sheep outside at all times by providing them
appropriate shelter. For example, we had some plantations of Cyprus
trees with the branches hanging out of the plantation over the paddock.
In cold weather the sheep would get right in under these branches for
shelter. And in hot weather they would use them for shade. If you don't
think it is possible to eventually have trees as a wind break, shelter
belt and shade sufficient to protect the sheep during adverse weather
conditions, perhaps sheep aren't the right species for you.


>5)Do they mind sunlight or can they stay in a partially shady place?

They seem to like the sun unless it gets really hot (up over 30
Celsius) in which case they will seek shade. I have never seen
sheep run in a permanently shady location. I would imagine this
would give rise to disease problems in the wool if they remained
damp for a long length of time. They really need to be given
enough wind and sun get dry when it's not raining. I imagine very
humid climates could result in disease too, at least in the Merino
breed which has a lot of very close wool fibres. Might not be such
a problem in a breed with less wool.


>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.

They'll love that :)


>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)

Sheep milk is commonly used for cheese production in places like
Greece. I would do some research to seek a breed of sheep that
produces large quantities of milk of a suitable quality for cheese
production if that is one of your goals. I understand that many of
the "meat" breeds of sheep produce lots of milk - I guess so the ewes
can produce fat lambs quickly for a faster return for the farmer.

Some breeds that I know are milked are East Friesian, Awassi and
Romney. Of these, the East Friesians are purely milk sheep. The
Awassi are good for both milk and meat. The Romneys are primarily
a meat sheep but I know of them being milked for cheese.


>8) how to properly deal with their manure?

Most of it will most likely be left to fertilize the pasture. If you
build a shelter with a slotted floor you will be able to shovel the
manure out from under and compost it for fertilizing garden beds.


...
>The place also hosts an anphibian pond project, a butterfly
>observation project and a bird watching project.
>So I need to integrate the sheeps in this context.

Sounds like an excellent teaching resource for the children.


>The water resources are quite good, there is plenty of water all year
>round coming out of a water mine. This water is not classified as
>drinkable for humans but I guess people living in the farm in the past
>has always drank it.

Sheep are generally fairly tolerant of salty water, so I wouldn't think
water quality would be a problem. If you can drink it (even if you don't
enjoy the taste much) it will be fine for sheep.


Good luck with the project!

 ...Richard.