permaculture

[Robyn Francis <erda@nor.com.au>]

Title: Re: [permaculture] Sheep

Hi – been kinda following this thread & would like to bring in the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Sweety!)  Sheep can be tethered and become very friendly. They present nothing like the problems of goats – not so likely to tangle or get off their tether, not as destructive when they do, easier to manage/handle and the big advantage is they’re more weather resilient – goats left tethered in rain can catch pnuemonia quite easily and it’s usually fatal (even in warm climates), whereas sheep have that lovely insulating layer of wool impregnated with lanolin to protect them from the weather.
What you have with tethering is a micro managed rotational system.
I have a friend with a pet sheep & he takes it for walks, just like other folk walk their dogs – creates a lot of interest and the children love interacting with it.
The main problem with sheep is dogs – they are quite vulnerable to dog attack so I’d recommend safe housing for them overnight – this also provides an opportunity to harvest some of their manure for composting.
Start with 1 sheep and see how it goes..... You can always expand from there

Robyn Francis

---

_______________________________________________
permaculture mailing list
permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture