Sheep Housing for Expanding Flock Size

This video shows our current set up for feeding and housing sheep then leads into relocating our small flock of 21 ewes into a coverall. This is where we add in an additional 80 ewes bringing us up to a total of 101 ewes.

See the flock be unloaded into their new space, listen to the sounds of the sheep and enjoy watching how they behave.

It is highly recommended to keep any new livestock separate when bringing them onto a farm. In our case with this video, this was two flocks being co-located into a new barn. We relocated our small flock of 21 ewes together with an additional flock of 80 bought from Bennett & Sons. Follow along as we continue to grow our operation.

Sheep Housing
Sheep need to have access to forage, water and protection from the wind.
It is recommended that housing be available when lambing occurs during the winter months. Housing usually improves the number of live lambs per ewe.

Housing facilities for sheep do not need to be elaborate or expensive. Old sheds and barns can be excellent housing and usually can be easily renovated to improve the management of the operation. The most important features of any structure are that they provide easy management, enable wet and wind free conditions and good ventilation.

Space requirements
Space requirements for sheep accommodations must be calculated to determine how many sheep can be housed in a given area. Feeder space, handling space (i.e. for shearing), as well as floor space for pens, should be considered in developing the design.

The recommended pen space for various management groups in the flock is:

Ewes for flushing - 10 to 14 sq. ft/head
Ewes with lambs - 16 to 20 sq. ft/pair
Weaned lambs (market lambs or replacements) - 8 to 10 sq. ft/head
Lambing pens - 16 sq. ft/pen
Rams (180-300 lb.) - 20-30 sq. ft/head
Feeder Space - 9 to 20 inches/head depending on size, shorn or unshorn, breed, pregnancy and the number of times fed per day
Creep feeder – 8 to 12 inches/opening/lamb
Reference: Sheep Housing Design Criteria (PSU 92), James W. Hilton, Penn State College of Agriculture Sciences and Cooperative Extension. Source: https://ag.umass.edu/crops-dairy-livestock-equine/fact-sheets/housing-working-facilities-for-sheep

Visit us at https://ambryacres.com/raising-sheep/

Видео Sheep Housing for Expanding Flock Size канала Ambry Acres