I have 3 pet sheep and our oldest ewe (1.5 years old) is normally pretty skittish, she’ll come over for the occasional scratch but she absolutely loves my brother, but even though she trusts him more, he still can’t do much to her before she runs away, but once she suddenly became really docile like, I could hug her around the neck and she would follow me around, and we could all hug her and do whatever we want to her (picking up feet, crotching her wool etc) but then she stopped and went back to her normal self, and the next week she did the same for a day, following us around for scratches and cuddles and she hasn’t been like it since, we’ve recently done a fecal test and she’s all clear, is it just the change in weather? She has been in heat but it wouldn’t explain why she randomly did it for a day and then stopped and did it again a week later, she hasn’t been interested in our wether at all, I’m not too worried I just want to know!

Haven't raised sheep before, and just bought some land with about 10 acres of currently poor pasture that we hope to improve. How would you use that much pasture? How many sheep, what kind of rotational schedule, what kinds of grasses, etc. (location is tennessee). We would like to raise them fully grass fed and avoid medicine as much as possible. Is premier one fencing a good option? Thanks! Sorry if this is a tedious newbie post as well.

Is there that much of a difference owning sheep instead of goats, other than needing to be sheered? And is it easy to learn how to sheer them yourself?

I have a two month old ram who has suddenly become ridiculously cuddly. He's a healthy little guy (apart from some recent diarrhea from rich feed) and has been with his mom from birth. I've only picked him up a few times and he's always run straight back to mom.

Only explanation I can think of is that he's best friends with a previous bottle baby and wanted in on the action when he saw me cuddling her. Apart from that, I'm stumped and have never seen this behavior before. Any ideas as to why he's doing this?

Hi everyone!

I’m located in north Texas, and am looking for tips to controlling bugs in my sheep barn.

I’m setting my ewes up in an old horse barn for the winter. They will be on concrete covered with mats, layered with straw.

I’ve seen lots of spiders and a few scorpions in the barn. I’m wondering what I can safely spray or put down to get rid of them.

Thanks for any advice!

Hello, my husband and I have a small flock of five mixed-breed (dorper/cheviot/gulf coast) wool sheep we acquired in June. They've been in our pasture, where they have access to a lean-to (a three-sided wood structure with straw bedding; can post a photo on request), and we have a barn across the road (with bedding and a wood stove).

My question is, at what temperatures would we need to bring them to the barn for warmth, vs them sheltering in the lean-to?

The weather forecast for the next week or two has temperaturs in the 30s and 20s; they were shorn in late august and have grown wool since then.

[Edit: Thank you so much for all of your feed back, it's extremely helpful!]

I'd like to broaden and branch the question. Do small business farmers dip sheep into a liquid to prevent parasitic infections, and do commercial sheep holders (including those that make wool products) do this kind of treatment? If it's not a sheep dip, are there any other procedures done to sheep's wool in order to prevent infections?

Is it possible to fly sheep from England to Australia? Like what precautions would you have to take? Would they survive it? Is it even legal? I honestly just want to know lol!

I have a sheep that is walking through the edges of the fences and doesn't eat much. It's hard to get it to a destination. It's like their brain doesn't function properly. Have you come up with similar cases? Any reasons, solutions?