Sheep on small acreage - are they low maintenance ?

as already said, keeping sheep is high maintainance...looking at shearing, crutching, drenching etc etc etc....

get two or three cows, stage them 3-4 months apart and hand feed them once or twice a week, when oldest one is "ready" handfeed it (gets it to come straight to you)

then top it, (or a mobile butcher will come to you) they will have a trailer and hang the meat a few days in refrigeration, then come back and chop it up into nice bits for you. they take hide/head and offal and cost is about $4 a kg full processing fee...that is stamped etc meat!

works well..

and although I dont know of any cow Rhodes Scholars that doesnt detract from the fact sheep are DUMB DUMB DUMB! (its easy to pull the wool over their eyes!!!......(sorry, I hope I havent upset "ewe" by saying this but its sometimes easier to "ram" the truth home and lay it out there "whether" you like it or not!! I'm not sure what you have "herd" but they are "shear" murder to look after....and no sneaking away for a week or two on the "lamb"!!)

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Originally Posted by V8Ian

Ain't that a combination of the other two types Justin?
Then we've got the rabbits, pigs, cats, cane toads, et al. Have you ever come across a herd of feral camels at night? Best laxative going. :o

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Ian, you missed kiwis and foxes.

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Originally Posted by jerryd

We haven't had any trouble with our two goats, they seem quite content to stay in their paddock :) The black one escaped once and then stood by the gate trying to get back in :D
I find they don't eat enough grass but prefer chewing the trees and weeds, we are now looking for self shedding sheep as they are supposed to be maintenance free and will hopefully eat the grass.

They are very nosy too.

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Damaras and Dorpers are, from what I've been told, worse than most goats, as escape artists. Wiltshires might be worth looking into though.

My brother has a few goats and very good, brand new Feral fencing, which doesn't keep them in :p. You should have electric fencing as well.

There are better cattle than Dexters around and you need a damn good 3 acres to keep one cow in feed. Unless you have extremely good grass, or are prepared to buy lots of feed, I would forget dairy cattle.

Scott.........ALPACAS!!!! ;)

still need maintenance though...but I reckon they are cuter..lol

to be honest all this talk about maintenance ALL animals need maintenance of some kind just depends on how much you want to do

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Originally Posted by dullbird

still need maintenance though...but I reckon they are cuter..lol

to be honest all this talk about maintenance ALL animals need maintenance of some kind just depends on how much you want to do

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Unfortunately, threads often wander (like animals) - this one started by defining the "high maintenance" ones to avoid, as Scott seemed to be considering animals as a low maintenance lawn mower.

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Originally Posted by Scouse

Wow, three pages in a couple of hours !!

It looks like the nays have it so the sheep are goneski. I won't be there all day & don't fancy spending weekends looking after them.
Saying that though, I don't fancy cutting grass either but I might investigate the Jersey option down the track.

Thanks for all the informative replies :).

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Didn't you hear? we had an industrial revolution, get yourself a big ride on! I've never seen one get fly blown....

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Originally Posted by Andrew D

6 seems like a lot for 3 acres

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Does it?

I thought that for broadacre farming (not sure how/whether this would relate to a small paddock) that the carryng capacity is about 1.5 sheep per acre on unimproved pasture.

That yard looks "improved" I reckon so 6 sheep may be about right. But yeah there would be a lot of other factors involved.

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Originally Posted by Scouse

We're buying a house on 3 1/2 acres & the current owner is asking if we want to buy his sheep off him. We have no experience with animals like this though.

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I have found that about 200 degree for about 2-3 hours then serve with mint jelly and vegies. You will soon get used to it.:angel:

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Originally Posted by RobHay

I have found that about 200 degree for about 2-3 hours then serve with mint jelly and vegies. You will soon get used to it.:angel:

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I'd use a slightly lower temperature, but I guess it depends a bit on your oven!

John