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Manitoba | I've explored the idea of getting a few sheep for the kids to look after, and possibly expand it to a viable enterprise if it works out but want to ease into things slowly. I've read the horror stories of lambing issues and think it best to just buy some 50 pounders and fatten up to market weight to get used to sheep for a year or two then ease my way into the whole system of lambing. I'm not to concerned with the profitibility of fattening up feeder lambs, more looking to educate myself on sheep slowly, as long as I don't lose money, break even is fine with me for a year or two.
- Is it good practice to buy say 50 animals at a sale and bring them home knowing they possibly come from several different farms?
- should they be kept seperate for a while and vaccinated before throwing them all together?
-In manitoba cold winters is a 3-sided cattle shed good enough shelter for 50 lb. animals or should all 4 sides be closed (pole building). If the 3 sided building is deep (30-40') would that work to keep the draft off them? lots of straw, with an area fenced in front for them to get out when weather permits?
-Do feeder lambs need any hay or just a grain based diet with self feeders to limit the frequency of feeding? Self feed grain with some free choice hay?? some guys have told me to forget hay as rumen function isn't important on an animal that'll be slaughtered in a few months anyway.
-Is 50 lb a good weight to buy at or can they be smaller and survive the transition/transport and cold winter?
-How big of shed for say 50 animals to get inside during cold is needed, and how big of lot out front to let them out during the nicer days?
-on a grain based diet what is your cost per pound of gain? if adding hay does it change the cost per pound of gain?
-am I better to buy males or females or does it matter? does one sell cheaper or not at 50lb or at market weight?
-my one question no one can answer yet is do sheep eat kochia? we have an obscene amount of kochia patches in our area and would like an animal to eat some if I bale it up. It's quite salty, and higher in protien apparently. I know cattle eat it but honestly I have no interest whatsoever in cattle. LOL
thanks guys/girls!!
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feeder lambs
