I never EVER thought, in the history of the world, that I would become a PRO at raising grass-fed lamb.
But alas, here I am. Like I’ve said before, once I got the farming-itch (not to be confused with a gross kind of itch) I couldn’t stop. I’m rapidly turning into the weird goat lady. Never heard of it? It’s like the new cat lady. Except for being an old-maid, there’s usually a reluctant husband in the background (that secretly loves goats!) Right Kevin? Right?…
Lambs are very different than goats. The biggest difference is that lambs/sheep aren’t total brats like goats are. Lets see, how can I explain this? Lambs are like your own children — sweet and adorable. Goats are like the neighbor kids down the street — always asking for food and making a mess faster than you can say “GO HOME.”
The taste of grass-fed lamb is AH-MAHzing! Every single cut of lamb tastes identical to a tender filet mignon. There is no bad taste whatsoever, it’s wicked-delicious! Have you ever tried it? I submit right now that you must! But first let’s go over the “how to’s” in raising your little lamb first.
How to find your lamb:
There are many different breeds of sheep. I’m not gonna list all them here — there are that many. It’s probably due to the fact that sheep have been around for thousands of years and have had plenty of farmers trying to perfect certain characteristics. You have two options to consider when purchasing meat breeds of sheep.
Wool Breeds vs. Hair Breeds
Cheviot American Blackbelly
Dorset Barbado
Hampshire California Red
Montadale Dorper
North Country Cheviot Katahdin
Oxford Romanov
Shropshire Royal White
Southdown St. Croix
Texel Wiltshire Horn
Tunis
The benefits of raising a hair sheep is that you don’t have to shear them & their coat sheds naturally like a dog’s coat would. This really only applies to if you own an adult breeding ewe or ram, because you wouldn’t be raising them for meat, you’d be raising them to produce babies for you. If you purchase a baby lamb every year from somebody else with the intent on butchering it in 9 months, it won’t matter if they are wool or hair lambs in the end because they won’t be around for next spring’s shearing.
We chose a Katahdin lamb, because it was a bigger breed and we knew it would produce a lot of meat for us. Plus we liked the idea of NOT having to shear our momma sheep.
The best way to find lambs/adult sheep:
- Search on Craiglist in the farm/garden section.
- Search in your local newspaper ads in the farm section.
- Search on google, enter sheep plus your zipcode and you may get lucky and find a breeder (with a website) close by.
- Stand on the corner with a “Will work for sheep” sign. Pretty sure that will totally work.
*TIP* If you think you’re going to want more lamb in the future, then purchase a 1 – 1 1/2 year old ewe, preferably already pregnant.
Raising your lamb into a meat-producing machine:
Step 1 – Let your lamb eat your grass, all day, every day.
Step 2 – Provide water and a mineral licking block.
Step 3 – That’s it.
Seriously, that is it! I’m actually surprised that more people don’t raise lamb, with how easy they are to raise. Because lambs naturally carry more fat in their bodies than cows, horses, or goats — you aren’t supposed to feed them straight alfalfa or grain or any fancy foods. They make the best tasting meat from simple grass, and they are pros at keeping it nice and trimmed. They do need to be eating a fast growing green grass for it to be sufficiently nutritional. Here in Arizona we have bermuda that grows like crazy from April to October. When we don’t have enough grass to feed our lambs/sheep we feed a mixture of alfalfa hay & bermuda hay from the feed store.
Some fact about sheep, because you asked:
- Lambs can be weaned from their mothers (and moved to straight grass) at 60-90 days.
- You can raise ewes or rams for meat, if you decide to raise a ram be sure you don’t have it around any goats (or be sure to castrate your ramling) because yes, a sheep can in fact get a goat pregnant and you’ll have a baby geep on your hands! Ask me how I know.
- Sheep/lambs don’t pull out the grass by the roots, they eat the tops and leave about 2 inches of grass, making the perfect lawn mowers. They’ll eat weeds too, so bonus there.
- Sheep/lambs don’t have messy manure like cow or horses, they have pellet-like poop similar to goats.
- Sheep/lambs are very docile and gentle. They aren’t escape artists like goats. A simple fence will suffice.
- Lambs are not butchered as little babies. They are butchered at 9-12 months old, full-grown, standing as tall as their parents and weighing 100-150 lbs.
- If you try to “finish” your lamb on any amount of grain — the meat will be horribly greasy and fatty. The thing is, sheep already carry a lot of fat in their meat (that’s why it tastes so awesome), but you don’t want too much — trust me, stick with grass.
- Lambs/sheep are very quiet and don’t “baaa” all the time like you would think. They prefer to be around another herd animal, but will also do fine with a chicken or two — they hate dogs though (always have always will, I guess).
- If your goal is to not purchase any feed during the “grass growing season” in your backyard, you can estimate that you’ll need about 4,000-5,000 square feet of yard to raise one lamb. That’s a section of about 70 feet by 70 feet. When your grass isn’t growing well, you’ll need to supplement with some kind of grass-based hay from the feed store.
- The cost of a baby lamb is around $50, and feeding it should be free if you have the grass. To get you through the fall and winter, it will cost you about $20 a month to feed it until butchering time.
The Extras: supplementation & vaccines:
This is a VERY IMPORTANT tip about here about sheep, so listen up…sheep can’t tolerate the mineral copper like goats, cows & horses can, so you must be careful when purchasing a mineral licking block.
At the feed store you will see:
– A WHITE BLOCK, which is basically salt.
– A REDDISH-BROWN BLOCK, which is full of trace minerals which includes a good amount of copper.
– If you’re lucky (and I mean LUCKY), you’ll find a mineral block specific for sheep. It will have a teensy-tiny amount of copper as they can ingest small amounts of it.
We have NEVER found a mineral block specific for sheep at any feed stores in our area, so we did our research and as long as we never spray pesticides/herbicides on our property (pesticides/herbicides deplete the soil of minerals) we feel comfortable giving our sheep/lambs a WHITE salt block and calling it good. They will get the rest of their minerals from the grass they eat.
As far as vaccinations go, we DO NOT vaccinate. No, not even against tetanus, which is a very common vaccination used on livestock today. It’s something we feel good about and have never had a problem with it so we don’t feel we need to do it. If you want to read more about vaccinating sheep, click here.
Are you ready to start raising grass-fed lamb like a boss?
Raising lambs is easy-peasy! Even as full-grown adult, they are very gentle and great around kids. They only get mean when you try to milk them. Ask me how I know. (Story coming soon)
When you are ready to butcher your full-grown lambs, you can expect to pay about $100 if you use a butcher, less if you find a school that has a FFA butchering department, and even less ($30) if you hire someone to teach you how to do it yourselves.
Read my posts on how to butcher & process lamb:
We purchased our pregnant ewe for ($125), she had 2 babies, a ramling and a eweling, and we sold the eweling for ($70). We raised the little ramling(male) lamb until he got huge and we butchered him at about 9 months. He ate our free grass for a good 6 months, and then we fed him grass hay from the feed store for about 2 months ($40) We paid a friend to teach us how to butcher him ($30) and in the end we got about 80 lbs. of meat (bone-in) as well as about 3 lbs. of tallow (fat from the kidney — and a nutrient rich cooking fat) as well as a good sized liver and many soup bones to make broth. If we’re not counting the investment of the original ewe, raising our grass-fed organic lamb cost us less than $1 per pound. Pretty sa-weet if you ask me!
So, what do ya’ think? Are you ready to start raising grass-fed lamb like a boss?
Hi DanNelle and Bobbi,
I live in Lancaster PA and am thinking of getting two weaned baby lamb to raise and then sell for meat when they get big enough. I am wondering what is the time of year to buy weaned baby lambs?
I have pasture (20+/- acres…barb wire fence & water) & want someone to raise sheep on it. I’m in northeast Louisiana. Can look at variety of arrangements…like 1-year free rent for 1 or 2 butchered sheep!
I’m also in NELA and we have a sheep flock that we are rapidly expanding. We should connect! Our email is [email protected].
Hi Michael-
It’s better to more than one sheep as they are herd animals. You can get by with less square feet if you rotationally graze. In that case each sheep needs about 270 square foot, but it must be rotated and pasture needs to be managed and maintained.
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
Hey!
We just got our first lamb – he’s a bottle lamb. Only about 4 days old. I’d like to put him on grass when I can but the guy we got him from instantly started taking about worms. What can I do to get him on grass (when the time comes) without needing to use dewormer?
We live in Iowa and there is still snow on the ground so it will probably be a little while before this happens.
Thanks!
Hi Kurt-
DaNelle deworms her lambs. She uses this natural dewormer: https://www.weedemandreap.com/natural-goat-dewormer/
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
I want to raise a sheep for milk, wool and mowing my lawn (the last one is just to convince the hubby). Is 1/3 of an acre enough space? I don’t have chickens but I have quail and angora rabbits that they could befriend. The rabbits and quail all currently live together in a large area with 8×10 shed.
Hi Carlee-
It’s typically recommended to run no more than 2-3 sheep per 1/2 acre, but that is dependent on the size and condition of the sheep as well as the quality of grass. Indoor space should be no less than 25 square feet per sheep.
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
I want to raise a sheep for meat but only have roughly 4000 square feet of lawn,can sheep be raised by themselves or do they need a companion? Thanks
I’m at a lost. One of my ewes has turned mean and rammed me. For five years she has been gentle Now I am scared of her and not sure what to do at this point. I haven’t done anything to her she just turned on me one day. Do you think this is because she is pregnant? She hasn’t done this to me in the past
Hi Kate-
Yes it could be because she is pregnant, especially if it is her first time.
Also look for other stressors around your place that may be causing the aggression.
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
You are awesome! Thanks for making me laugh! great post and super super informative!
I was walking down my cottage road last monday and found a stray katahdin lamb! She’s around 4 months. Have been dreaming of quitting my high demand job..been dreaming of farming for years. I have worked on a few farms. So there she was-an obvious loud, white sign! Don’t know much about sheep, but she is teaching me a lot. She thinks I’m her mom. So smart, and so easy. I read a bit on different websites so far, and yours was by far most informative and entertaining!
Thanks!
We have some pasture and are wondering if that would work for grass fed lambs. We don’t know what kinds of grasses it has. Just weed types im assuming as well as clover and other weeds. Would this work? Or does it need to be lawn grass? Thanks
Hi Mary-
The pasture you have should be fine as long as it is big enough to support the amount of sheep you have and has some grasses in it. It may be a good a idea to see what is out there and perhaps test for the amount of protein the vegetation is offering. Make sure your sheep are growing and gaining weight.
Thank you-Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
I have heard horror stories about owning Rams for breeding, some that involved the death of their ownder. Have you heard of this?
Hi Ashley-
Never personally had a problem with this, but males of any species can become aggressive, especially during mating season. You should always be cautious around the males if it is mating season or they show aggressive behavior at any other times or if they are in unfamiliar or threatening situations.
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
Hi DaNelle
I bought some suffolk lambs. They were not raised with green grass available. I have great green pasture. These were weened just a week or so ago. They don’t seem to want to eat the fresh grass. Any suggestions on transitioning them from dry alfalfa to grass?
Hi Bruce-
Keep the lambs on the grass. They will eventually eat it. It may take a little time since it’s a new feed source and your lambs are in a new (stressful) environment. Do check to see if they are growing and gaining weight.
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
How would you go about minerals if you want to keep lambs and goats together and want to free feed minerals for the goats ?
Hi Shanta-
You can give that minerals, but don’t add the copper. Give the copper as a bolus to the goats.
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
There are bottle fed ewes for sale in my area. What do you recommend I feed them until they can be on grass? I would want it to be organic and nongmo. Do they make baby sheep formula?
Hi Michelle-
If it’s possible it would be best to buy sheep’s milk and give that to them. If that is not a possibility, you can make your milk replacer for lambs:
2 quarts whole (vitamin D) milk
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 egg
Whisk egg and cream together, then add the milk.
Best of luck with your lambs!
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
If you gave any dairy farms or small ones with a single milk cow in the area you can also use raw milk you can possibly purchase from the farmer. On the single one many farmers only use for personal use and rarely need the numerous gallons per day they get. Usually gets dumped in the hog troughs, dogs cats,, chickens to not just waste it.. They would likely be happy to make a few bucks per gal. No issues with consumer purchase of raw milk if your state has regs against it as its for feed. Then you can just add the eggs as raw milk has about 2x the fat content of whole milk regardless of the term “whole” milk which is a marketing term not reality. Not being pasteurized it will also pass on probiotic and immunoglobulins. All very good for growing a healthy animal that will resist illness and disease.
Hi Danelle!
When will you have sheep again? I’m hoping you can have breeding ewe again and care for her just like Luna but of course you have your reason for not doing it anymore. I’d settle feeder lamb episodes again though it still breaks my heart when you already have to harvest them. If its any consolation at least they had a wonderful life in your farm.
Hi Bobbi!
Hi Benj-
No sheep for now, but who knows what the future will bring. And any animal that gets the love and care that Luna gets it one lucky animal!
Thanks -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
I’m also from Arizona and am looking into getting an ewe and a ram so we can raise lamb for meat. I’m wondering, how much pasture you have for yours and does needs them for the year, minus the winter months?
Hi Cara-
Lambs need about 5,000 square feet to have adequate pasture and ewes and rams need about 9,000-14,000 square feet. This space is assuming your pasture is high quality and can provide the proper nutrition. I hope that helps. Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
Hi, We have twin lambs that we are bottle feeding. They are grass fed Hair sheep. We are currently bottle feeding three times a day – 8 oz milk replacer each time. They have access to hay and grass and do nibble on each. When should we cut back the milk replacer and wean them? Do they need more to their diet ? They are 4 weeks old and healthy looking. Thanks.
Gail
Hi Gail-
To wean lambs the best thing you can do is abruptly stop bottle feeding. They will get hungry and start eating. Do expect a little weight loss when first weaning from the stress and the feed change. That said, do watch and make sure they are drinking water and consuming a little fed each day (increasing more as the days go by). When you start to wean you need to make sure your lambs are a minimum of 30 days old (I prefer 45-60) and at minimum weight of 20# (I prefer over 40#). If you are waiting until they are 45-60 days old to wean you can cut their feedings down to twice a day and then abruptly wean them once they reach the desired age and weight. Hay and grass is plenty for them, just make sure to give them a minerals with NO copper.
I hope that helps! Best of luck with your lambs!
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
if you raised the sheep since thy were Babys then you should know that they will eat they have teeth and they bite and they bite hard unless you tap them on the nose and say no lambs are smart they get the idea they do not want to bite the hand that feeds them. if they do just do not feed them for 24 hrs let them think about it in the mean time. let me know
Bite? They have no upper teeth. I have raised HUNDREDS of lambs. Never ever been bit.
Lambs do not bite. Lambs NEVER EVER bite. They don’t even have upper teeth. Lambs DO NOT BITE!
Hi Becky-
To wean lambs the best thing you can do is abruptly stop bottle feeding. They will get hungry and start eating. Do expect a little weight loss when first weaning from the stress and the feed change. That said, do watch and make sure they are drinking water and consuming a little fed each day (increasing more as the days go by). When you start to wean you need to make sure your lamb is a minimum of 30 days old (I prefer 45-60) and at minimum weight of 20# (I prefer over 40#).
I hope that helps! Best of luck with your lamb!
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
I have 1 hair lamb she is brownish red and black underneath don’t know what kind she is but my question is. She has been bottle feed I got her at 4 days old her mother got killed by a coyote. I’m now wanting to wean her. She won’t eat grain but does nibble hay and drinks water. I have a goat and sheep mineral block that she licks on. I have 2 Pygmy goats all are pets as is the lamb. Help me wean her. She will only bottle feed from me.
Hi! We are very new to raising sheep. 3 days in to it…Im getting nervous. I picked up three 5 month old ewes on Thursday. It is now Sunday and I have not noticed them grazing at all. I kept them in the barn for about 36 hours as I was introducing them to the dogs. During that period, I gave them about a handful of cracked corn each. (Previous owner had been feeding corn). The sheep really didn’t eat much of the corn. I turned them out to grass on Saturday but they dont seem to be grazing. 2 of them now have diarrhea. I don’t know what to do. Any advice? I will call my vet on Tuesday and see what she thinks but hoping to hear from someone before then.
Hi Heidi-
I’m sorry your ewes have scours. First make sure they are staying hydrated and getting enough electrolytes or they can die from this. You can buy electrolyte solutions at your farm store, but if you can’t find that buy some pedialyte or sports drink (water it down) and use a drencher to give it to them.
You need to take your ewes’ temperatures to see if they have a fever or low body temperature. You can give your ewes Pepto Bismal or Kaopectate to help slow the diarrhea, but do so sparingly.
They may be experiencing diarrhea due to the stress of the move and different feed. Or they could have coccidiosis or be overrun with internal parasites. You definitely need to have your vet check them out. They will need to do a fecal test to determine exactly what it is.
I hope that helps. Let us know how they are doing.
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
Your article is good except for a HUGE mistake that can kill sheep. Never use a mineral block that is made for cattle. Same with grain. Cattle mineral blocks and feed (grain) contain copper. Copper kills sheep. They do make mineral blocks for sheep. I get mine at Tractor Supply.
Yes, DaNelle has in her article to find a mineral block specific to sheep if you can. She notes that sheep cannot tolerate copper. Thanks for the heads up on where to find one! -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
Sounds like Coccidiosis. We use Noromycin 300 LA and give 5cc subQ right behind a front leg. Here is what to do:
LA 300, syringe, and 18 gauge 1″ needles can be bought over the counter at Tractor Supply, Rural King, or your local Co-op.
Using the medicine at room temp (it is thick), have someone hold the lambs, behind its front leg, pull up some skin (pinch a big piece) and insert the needle between the skin and muscle and inject. It takes a couple seconds to give the shot due to the thickness of the meds. Usually the lambs do not buck or fight it. Then let ’em loose. Do another treatment in a few days or so. Don’t treat within 30 days of butchering.
Soooo grateful for this information!!!
I have been raising Katahdin sheep for 3 yrs. Started out with 2 and now have 15. Have from the beginning wanted to raise grass-fed chemical free sheep with the hope of selling the meat to good restaurants sometime in the future. But since we have no grass in the winter, I’ve been supplementing with grain. DUH! How simple to just supplement with wheat. I’m preparing several acres for planting with the right hay so that in the future I can have the hay I need for my sheep in the winter. I am eternally grateful that I can now raise grass-fed sheep like a boss!!!!
I’ve been in touch with a when farmer friend and he is telling me that if I buy a bottle baby and don’t supplement with some grain that it will not grow and possible become very wormy. Have you had problems with this? So you by lambs that are already weaned or do you use milk replacer? Also, I’d like to stock a couple sheep with my two goats. Will they stay away from the high copper goat mineral?
Hi Kyla-
Goats actually do not need grain and too much can be very bad for their ruminant system and it has nothing to do with worms. Here are some articles on how to feed and worm goats: https://www.weedemandreap.com/what-do-goats-eat/
https://www.weedemandreap.com/natural-goat-dewormer/
I usually purchase lambs that have already been weaned and put them straight on grass. I don’t typically keep my goats and lambs together, but if they are put together, you need to be sure the lambs do not have access to any mineral supplements with copper in them. I hope that helps. Best of luck! Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
Thank you SO much for this information! We have about an acre too and already raise meat chickens. Can’t wait to get a sheep! Could you please tell me if sheep will eat garden scraps too? Is it okay to give them organic scraps? Also, does the meat get tough if you butcher over a year old? Closer to 14 months okay?
Hi Melody-
That’s great you are thinking about getting sheep! Yes, sheep can eat garden scraps. Some like them, some don’t, but you can always offer the scraps to them.
As for butchering, if you butcher over 1 year, you no longer have lamb, it is now mutton. Mutton has a much stronger flavor than lamb. So unless you enjoy mutton, it’s best to butcher under 1 year of age. I hope that helps. Best of luck! Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
Do you do anything different for a ewe while she’s gestating or feeding?
Hi Tara-
This is a most excellent question! Paying attention to your ewes prior to breeding and all the way through weaning is critical to prevent prenatal deaths, which mostly occur in the first month after breeding and are usually due to poor nutrition, and permanent harm done to your ewe. While of course some grains can boost nutrition, this really defeats the purpose of grass-fed livestock and it can cause some difficulties in late gestation, plus there are other methods to consider.
What I suggest is that you place your ewes on high quality pasture, or supplement with hays if your pasture size and quality is limited, that consist of grasses, and less than half alfalfa and clover. While alfalfa and clover have a high protein content, they can affect the breeding cycle and also cause some sheep to bloat.
Most ewes will do well as long as they have access to food and are not stressed. Make sure she isn’t losing weight and continues to eat, especially a month or so before gestation, because nearly 2/3 of the fetus’ growth occurs at this time. Also, her nutritional requirements will be the highest when she is nursing. So even after the lambs are born, be conscientious of how the ewe’s weight looks and if she appears healthy. I hope this helps. Good luck with your ewes and your lambs! Thanks -Bobbi
yay this was a fantastic article! I choose lambs this year over pigs because for spiritual reasons I am reconsidering pork.. and while I do we are raising 5 sheep in the pasture instead! (promised the wife a bovine next year if she chipped on my favorite animal this year… LAMB!!!) I found your article while browsing for details on Orchard Grass efficiency per acre with Katahdin’s. We have 5 on about 0.95 acres. Just got them a few days ago! The pasture fence is a permanent 5 wire (soon to be 7) low and high gauge high tensile wire. I have the dead wire at 6″ and then hot wires at 1′, 2′, 3′, and 4′. 4 electrified, 1 not. My dad hates to mow so… I’m considering a less permanent electro-net setup to stage around his 3 some acres of mowed yard with a jumper wire. What is your sheep per acre? What kind of plants are in your pasture?
Hi Isaac-
I love that you are shaking up your farm animal game! Lambs can be nice livestock to raise, especially if grassfed! I find that when stocking sheep per acre I don’t like to go over 5 (have stretched it to 7), but this really depends on the size of your sheep and their condition (pregnancy, etc.) and mainly on the quality of your pasture and the climate you live in. If you have a highly productive pasture stocking rates can go up, but don’t stress your system, because you rarely get it back to its original, top health condition. Being able to rotate pastures is great option. A pasture with grasses is usually very seasonal and you rotate accordingly, such as fescues for winter, wheat for spring, and so on. But again this depends on your climate. Do be careful of alfalfas and clovers as I have had some sheep bloat on this. I hope this information helps! Good luck with all your animals! Thanks -Bobbi
Hi DaNelle!
My husband and I have been looking EVERYWHERE for Katahdin and we literally cannot find one for under $300. We live in Florida. Is that normal? Or are we just too late in the “shopping season”.
You might want to keep looking for breeders, they can pop up all the time. I would think you could get one for cheaper than that (100-200)
Hi! I’m very new to the idea of small livestock being raised for food. I like the idea of the health benefits and everything else associated with growing your own meat and produce. Let it be known I am NOT a vegetarian in anyway. I eat meat and lots of it. My issue is, and I know this is not a very good mentality to have for raising animals for food, but how do you handle killing an animal you raised from a baby? Yes, there are benefits, and filling the freezer is their purpose from the get go, but I just struggle with killing something that relied on me for life. This is keeping me from making the full jump to raising my own livestock. I’d end up with thousands of animals that I intended to eat but couldn’t bring myself to kill. What approach do you take?
Hi Sirius,
I think the first question you have to ask yourself is why you want to raise livestock for meat. For us, it’s because we want to raise the healthiest meat source in a happy, healthy environment. There’s a shift that happens where you go from asking yourself how you can butcher something you’ve raised to how could you eat anything you haven’t raised yourself? For us, we decided if we were going to eat meat, we’d better take on the responsibility of doing it ourselves:)
I would recommend taking them to local meat cut. That prevents you from having to be executioner but still get the benefits of knowing controlling the quality of your food.
We have a rule not to name them. We do for the breeders because we keep them and harvest the offspring.
We live in Az and wanted to know if you have a place or know of a place we could by a ewe or 2 to breed? Or a ram to breed with. Thx!
Buy
They are tough to find here, but I’ve always had success with craigslist:)
Hi! We don’t have any grass growing…. I’m wondering what kind of grass would be best to plant for a lamb?
Timothy or Bermuda is best:)
DaNelle,
How much are you spending in water/irrigation to keep your Bermuda grass growing? I’m not aware of any place in Az that will grow grass from April to October solely depending on rainfall. So I assume you have some expenditures on water, if so was that cost included in your calculations of $1 per pound of meat?
Hi Ken-
They use flood irrigation from the upstream lake. It floods all the yards in their neighborhood. So they are not paying to irrigate.
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
Bobbi,
So I think that is a critical point that should be clarified when making cost projections on the price per harvested pound of meat. Obviously not everyone will have access to free irrigation water. How many hours/gallons of free water are they using? I’d like to hear more about what they believe the cost savings are for keeping their grass (food supply) freely growing vs other aspiring sheep farmer who don’t have access to a free food supply.
Thanks,
Ken
Hi Ken-
They use flood irrigation from the upstream lake. It floods all the yards in their neighborhood. So they are not paying to irrigate.
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
Hi Ken-
These videos should help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyNEVu8dzDo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxVEgUY0L1U
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
Bobbi,
Those videos were very insightful. From what I gathered watching them, DaNelle’s irrigation water cost is 200.00 annually. For that they receive 3 hours of water every to weeks. Which is enough to flood the back and front yards. Apparently they calculate that to be about 150K gallons of water. I’m not clear if that is every 2 weeks year round ( I assume it is) but for the sake of argument lets say its only 6 month of the year. That’s 1.8 million gallons of water. Now assuming the goats don’t eat the grass in front yard lets discount the water used for grass they consume (say 1/2) that leaves 900k gallons of water for 200.00.That is roughly $7000.00 (city of Mesa rates) of water for $200.00.
Perhaps the title of this blog post should read “HOW TO RAISE GRASS-FED LAMB LIKE A BOSS, AS LONG AS YOU HAVE ACCESS TO $7000 IN FREE WATER”.
Or maybe DaNelle should at least mention how much free water goes into the process or recalculate her math. I think at this point the evidence shows she is not producing lamb meat for $1.00 a pound as she proclaimed. “…raising our grass-fed organic lamb cost us less than $1 per pound.”
It’s all a tad misleading don’t you think? Someone who’s a follower of the brand DaNelle is trying to build here might actually take her at her word and be in for a rude awaking when they sit down to eat their 25.00/lb lamb chop…. 🙂
Thanks,
Ken
I ended up carrying water to them. They run off when I try to get near so I left it where they’ve been bedding down. I don’t know what else to do.
Hi! I love all the wonderful information here! Yesterday we bought 4 sheep from our Amish friends. They were pretty skittish trying to get them rounded up. We turned them out in our pasture and made sure they had clean water and they immediately roamed off and won’t come when I call and haven’t been back to the barn lot for water! I’m so worried. The pasture is grown up pretty high. At first they just started grazing away and was in sight but by evening they had strayed further away. Now I know how a Pastor must feel when he has sheep that stray or are missing from the pew for a month. Gahhhhh I’m worried to death!
Hmmm, I would definitely go off searching for them so you can make sure they have access to water.
Do you deworm your lambs? We just got our first lambs and they are ten weeks old. The former owner told us we should deworm all 3 months.
Hi Sonja! We use a natural dewormer made with herbs. You can check it out here: https://www.weedemandreap.com/herbal-healthcare-for-animals/
Can you sell to neighboring restaurants ? And how? With health health department?
That’s a great question, Tanis! I’m sure you’ll have to look up your local city codes on doing that!
You are my new favorite blogger. Thank you for sharing so much good info and being so funny while you do it! I am currently raising meat rabbits like a boss but hope to include larger animals when we have a bigger place.
Ok so my parents are big sheep farmers In South Africa and we eat more sheep than beef, they keep about a 100 head of ewes just for meat use, the ewes are wool merino but cross breed them with meat rams, changing them around more often. My dad claims the meat type of sheep get too tough at later age but not when cross bred with a wool type. They also get slaughtered straight off the grass. My question is what type of sheep to keep here in the US. I live in ND.
Hi Chris,
Most people here in the States use Katahdins as their meat breed. Very tender, if butchered under a year.
We live in NE Wyoming and we raise Dorpers. They are a little smaller at 9 months, so we usually raise ours to a year to get them to about 100lbs. But we butchered a 4 yo ewe a couple years ago and she tastes every bit as good as the lambs. None of that muttony taste. They were bred in south africa, so they’re pretty hardy. I was concerned about the cold, but they just grow hair in the winter and shed in summer.
If you teach them what grain is, you can rattle a small can of grain and they come running. My wife also makes a brittle with corn (found the recipe on a goat blog we found) they all love it. Just a rattle of the container she keeps it in and they run across 3 acres to get a peice.
I wanted to get a pigmy goat but learnt that a goat would ruin my garden and eat everything including cycads which are poisonous to goats. I am now looking into getting a pigmy South African Dorper. Will a sheep only stick to eating my lawn or will it also eat plants and flowers in my garden. I have lots of Iris flowers, Agapanthis, calla lillies etc. Will my garden be safe from destruction and will the sheep be safe from eating something that might be poisonous to them?
Hi Lisa,
Any animal would also be interested in your garden. A chicken, goose, duck, goat, sheep, cow, or horse would all take a liking to it, so be sure to build a fence around it.
Do you de worm you lamb or sheep at all?
Yes, I use Molly’s Herbal Dewormer:)
I have a 3 month old sheep that isnt eating,but the momma abd other 3 month is.. We feed them cracked corn and let them roam and eat grass.what can i do to get her to eat.
Hi Netta,
I would take him to the vet, that worries me!
Thank you so much for your concise website. My riding mower blew up and I can’t afford to buy lamb at the market for supper. This is the perfect solution. Followed your search ideas and found a rancher a mile away. Going to buy a pregnant ewe and ram. Will share the twins with my neighbor who is a butcher. What more could I hope for? Maybe more garlic!
Awesome story, Karen!
I am buying a 6.5 acre rural grass land in Brazil for for farming or grazing. I want to use part of that land to raise meat since I will open a meat shop in the town as a means of living. I want to raise both, lamb and chicken meat. I have not decided on the breed, but since it’s for commercial purposes, I want to know what’s the easiest and fastest growing breed. I don’t want the animals to run around and get eaten by Jaguars, so I plan to have the grass cut and fed to the animals in their own sheds. I plan to have a large shed, like a football ground size. Part of it will be for the lambs and part for the chickens. Any suggestions of this is a workable scenario? How many lambs and chickens would I need to make it self sustainable throughout the year? I mean I don’t want to keep buying them. I’d rather they have kids and the cycle goes on.
I don’t want to spend any extra money in buying food so what’s the best way to keep my costs at minimum here? Any suggestions would help.
Awaiting response.
Thanks
M
You’ll have to start out with a small herd and go from there. There’s many factors involved depending on what your land could hold. I would highly recommend getting livestock guardian dogs because with 6.5 acres, it would be so much more beneficial to have them free-range!
Yes you can raise in barns most of time and bring feed to them. It is down in many country’s that have difficult weather, bad desert soils, etc. BUT must pay attention to space, cleanliness, health, etc. but doesn’t have to be fancy. Great example is the very successful Sarto Sheep Farm in Alberta Canada – This is a huge operation but all of their methods can be bought down to a much smaller farm. Mostly done under confinement with 3 lamb crops in 2 years – breeding every 8 months and breed year round. Started with 80 ewes 40+ years ago. In 2013 had 2400+ ewes with 5000 lambs each year. 60 acres pasture in 7 fields used in summer – have an intensive (mostly inside) operation. In 2013 managed these 2300+ ewes/5,000 lambs with 3-4 people. Now have 10,000 ewes. Cull hard, rely on strict record keeping by rfid tags (weights, number of lambs, health, everything) and use this data for all fact based decisions. See the link below for excellent 1 hour lecture where he talks fairly in depth about everything surrounding the ewe operation, how and why they do what they do. Also see the farm tour link below that walks through the barns and pen set-ups, etc. and the website.
Patrick Smith/Precision Flock Management 1 hour+ excellent lecture:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JzefYCV5f9U
Sarto Sheep Farm Virtual Farm Tour: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a9KyqYiRg0M
Farm website: https://www.sartosheep.ca
I have a couple of kahtahdin ewes and a dorper/kahtadin cross on two acres pasture. Our vet did a fecal recently and they all had heavy parasite loads (coccidia as well as worms). The farmer we got them from never wormed/medicated his flock (at least 3 years). Their FAMACHA scores were moderate (like a 3 I think, our vet didn’t catch any warning signs until she did the fecal). My dilemma is: do I worm them? Do I process them now? Are they likely to die anytime soon from the parasite load? Do you worm your kahtahdins? We were planning to keep them for breeding stock, but I am concerned that their genetics are not what we wanted (parasite resistance). Any thoughts are greatly appreciated, you are a huge inspiration to me, I have been following your blog for a year and you helped inspire me on the path to healthy eating!
They will definitely lose weight from the parasite load, and if it was me, I wouldn’t process until they were under control. I like to treat herbally, and I purchase my herbs from Molly’s Herbals.
That’s so sweet of you to say, Carley! Good luck with your sheep!
I have 3 lambs. They are about 3-4 months old. I’m trying to raise them only on grass but the seem to be getting thinner. They don’t have worms and completely healthy. We have 200 acres and have the lambs In a mobile 16′ X 16′ pen. We move it every 2 days. Currently they are being pastured in 2 ft high grass. Is this the problem? Should they be in the short grass where we just made hay?
Hi Jared, that does seem odd. Our lamb this year is on bermuda and growing nice and fat. I would put them where they want to go the most. If they seem more excited about being in the cut grass, let them do so and see how it goes. But normally, lambs should be good on grass, it’s in their nature to thrive on it:)
Thanks for a great article – I LOVE my sheep that are awesome! If you raise them right, they are super friendly.
I fin that my sheep only make loud noise when they see me or when I go outside because I do feed them grain occasionally. They are raised mainly on pasture, but I like to be able to gather them easily. Grain is like candy to them, however, so when they see me they holler at me to come give them some. Otherwise they are very quiet. I raise St. Croix hair sheep. They are one of the sheep breeds that Katahdins originated from. I do have two ewes who are noisier than the others, so I guess it’s in their genes!
Interesting!
Can you be a little more specific on winter feeding? I have two lambs born March 26, 2015. They are East Friesians and I am new to this whole sheep thing. So you don’t feed any grain during the winter? Just a high quality hay? As a side note, we live in East Tennessee. I thought I would send the wether (I think it’s called) to the butcher in 6 months but from what I am reading here maybe I will wait a year? I am going to milk my ewes and I am about to pull the babies off. I thought I was going to feed creep feed for a little while. They will be 30 days old when they come off. Should still give them a bottle at this point?
Absolutely. I feed only bales of alfalfa or pellets. Grain is too hard on their bodies and is okay only for a treat, though we don’t feed any and they do very well.
As far as butchering the wether, I highly recommend waiting a year. He’ll be bigger and you’ll get more meat:) With sheep, most people wait until 8 (or more) weeks to wean.
Love your simply everyday advice!
I am dipping into the sheep game for the first time and wondering about alfalfa and barley fodder. I am planning on growing it for my chickens through the winter which are short here (south Louisiana) and I am wondering if this would be a good idea for the sheep or it they would need so much that I would be better off with hey? I know their tummies are kind of picky and don’t want to create issues as I am trying to make the whole operation organic but also trying to make animals pay for them selves. I am really against using vaccines and meds until I have too. Also wondering if I should quarantine new sheep from the others and my horse because I am getting them farmers that don’t vaccinate either. thanks for any advice in advance!
Sheep love hay, but make sure it’s a grass like timothy or bermuda and not too much alfalfa. They really thrive on grass, and while alfalfa is fine, I find it a bit too rich to feed regularly.
As far as fodder goes, I’ve tried and failed many times, and I’ve since learned it’s just too hot here in Arizona to be successful at it:)
Jessi,
Did you get those sheep. I just bought two ewes in South Louisiana. How is your flock? Any Rams?
I love the fact that you do not vaccinate!!!
You’ve made some decent points there. I checked on the web to find out more about the issue
and found most individuals will go along with your views on this
web site.
You say that sheep don’t like dogs, but there are a lot of coyotes around my place. what types of guardians do they get along with?
A guard dog can be loved by goats and sheep, but it takes some special training for them to accept them as “one of the herd”. Our sheep always try to ram our dogs but we’ve never tried the training:)
My sheep took to my Livestock Guardian Dog immediately when we first got them.
My LGD was a year and a half old and had proved herself trustworthy with my Oberhasli and Nigerian goats, The goats were really mean to the lambs, so they followed the only other big white fluffy thing in the pasture…Dixie, my LGD!
Instinctively, sheep and goats don’t like dogs, but due to their breeding and training, Livestock Guardian Dog breeds (Great Pyrenees, Anatolian Shepherd, Akbash, etc.) have different appearance and behavior patterns than other breeds of dogs and wild canines.
My LGD chases off stray dogs, coyotes, coyote/red wolf hybrids, bobcats, raccoons, opossums, and shady looking humans very well! I would never raise sheep or goats without her!
If you have yotes in your area then you must have a dog/s and one large enough or in enough numbers to not become prey themselves. Unless you can keep the sheep in the house yard or penned at night you will need dogs. Of course if you only have a few its easy to keep them in the home yard even penning them in a fully enclosed shed at night. But if your running a flock or they have to stay out in pasture you need a farm dog to watch over them. Size or how many depends on what the predators are like in your area. Your sheep just need to be less convenient than some other local food source. May only take a medium size barker but quick tougher dog like a blue heeler or may take a true large breed and or multiple true LGDs. That or start putting up snares and toe traps around the field they are in. We have dealt with yotes wolves bears cougars bobcats even birds of prey during birthing periods. A good pair of large LGDs is well worth it and provides great farm security when your away in town or gone for a day or two when someone is only there for a couple hours/day. That’s when farm equip can tend to disappear. Given where the current gov is sending our economy it may be needed more than ever. It was already way up during the lock downs as the addicts lost their normal source of funds for their habits and started combing the rural areas.
I am in envy of you! I’ve spent about two years so far talking the husband into goats! How did you get yours to give in? Currently we have lots of chickens (which I sell to help pay for their feed) and horses (and dogs and a cat, but who’s counting) but my small homestead cannot be complete until I have something I can MILK! For some reason I feel you can relate 😉 After reading your post about sheep I thought I would ask your opinion about goats vrs sheep. I live on just over an acre in Las Vegas, so there’s no grass meadow! Hay is very expensive (we buy timothy $20/bale) and has prevented me from making my goat/sheep purchase. How many flakes do you feed per goat/sheep per day (when they aren’t on pasture? I need to provide a definite cost analysis to the husband. I would also like to butcher the kids/lambs (never had goat, heard its good?) Are you planning to milk your sheep? Do you know anyone that does? Any thoughts would be most appreciated :).
I used to milk my sheep, but no longer haha. She was quite difficult to milk. One goat will probably eat a half a flake a day not on pasture. I’ve never eaten goat but I hear it’s good.
Goat is excellent.
We purchased a Barbados Blackbelly breeding pair this past spring, with intent to breed, then grow the babes out for meat. The previous farmers had been giving them a smidgen of lamb feed every morning, then pastured them the rest of the time. We would like to transition them to a strictly grass-fed diet. What is the best way to do this?
Thanks!!
They can transition very easy, just simply let them out to pasture and they’ll pick up on the grazing just fine:)
This is the first year I have raise a lamb but my husband has done it before. She is a good forager but the most obnoxious animal. She is very sweet, docile, the grandkids love her. But she loves grape leaves, stems, every part of them. We have tried to fence it off but you would think she was part mountain goat on her ability to get just where you don’t want her. I’m about ready to take her to the butcher immediately (not really) but we are probably going to have to make a choice between lamb or grapes this summer 🙂 I really think she is a goat in lamb’s clothing.
I am curious about what kind of lamb this wannabe goat is!
This is a Katahdin.
I am looking to purchase 5 acres in washington state and am interested in raising animals for meat. The property is half wooded and half pasture. Would I be able to paddock the sheep off in the woods or no? Would I be able to keep them in the same pin as our pigs? And how many sheep would you recommend raising for that size property? I want to run a salatin style paddock shift method to reduce cost of feed. And your recommendation above about 4,000-5,000 sq feet per lamb/sheep is that for a year?! To me it seems that they would eat much more than this… Thanks for your help!
I would NOT put your sheep in with your pigs. Friends of mine own a farm and their pig pen was right next to the lamb run, separated only by a fence. One day, one of the pigs got a hold of a lamb leg through the fence and ate the poor thing. The little lamb bled out in the middle of the night and died.
Pigs are literally OMNIVORES — they will eat absolutely anything.
Absout DaNelle’s yard size recommendation – keep in mind that grass is one of the most resilient plants on the planet! It will grow back while the lambs are munching elsewhere. Think about it — don’t we mow our lawns once or twice a week?
Hope this helps!
I would NOT put your sheep in with your pigs. Friends of mine own a farm and their pig pen was right next to the lamb run, separated only by a fence. One day, one of the pigs got a hold of a lamb leg through the fence and ate the poor thing. The little lamb bled out in the middle of the night and died.
Pigs are literally OMNIVORES — they will eat absolutely anything.
Absout DaNelle’s yard size recommendation – keep in mind that grass is one of the most resilient plants on the planet! It will grow back while the lambs are munching elsewhere. Think about it — don’t we mow our lawns once or twice a week?
Hope this helps!
We have a hundred ewes in Saskatchewan, and have almost nine years experience. We are also familiar with Salatin’s model(which doesn’t translate perfectly north of the 50th parallel because of shorter growing season). Personally, I would not mix pigs and sheep. Pigs are rooters. Unless you move them very often, they will destroy your pastures. They may do well in the woods though. We use our pigs to turn over ground that we WANT worked, such as sheep pens after lambing is done, or areas we want broken up before planting a garden the following year etc…they are nature’s best composters!
Our sheep love the bush also, later in the season when the regular pastures are often drying out. The bush provides shade too if temps are high. just make sure they have access to CLEAN water…if they drink from stagnant pools in the bush they have higher chance of getting parasites such as liver fluke which is carried by fresh water snails.
Of course, fencing is your biggest job and expense. It’s worth investing in quality here. I disagree that a “simple fence” will suffice…perhaps the author’s Katatins are not escape artists, but we have known some sheep that are!…as the saying goes, “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence”! Some jump (cheviots for eg), some dive(smaller Suffolks, and some Clun Forest)…and you’d be amazed what a determined sheep can get under! (speaking from experience here) We finally resorted to 7 wire high tensile barb, on steel posts….thus avoiding pressure treated wood posts which are not allowed in organics.
A note on salt/mineral blocks…sheep need selenium, so we use the blue blocks (salt, iodine, cobalt and selenium i believe…not organic approved because of the dye though)…we also supplement the breeding stock with a free choice loose mineral for sheep, but you probably wouldn’t need this for feeder lambs if your forage is of good quality.
Also a caution on buying just any lamb…I would do your research and check on the general health of the flock of origin. Auctions are generally a bad idea…unless you want to bring home every disease and parasite imaginable…That may be an exaggeration, but we learned our lesson at the beginning. Now we have biosecurity standards in place and only bring in high health rams from reputable breeders. I understand this article is about butcher lambs, but if you plan to do it year after year, you risk contaminating your pastures, pens and barns if you bring home a “wormy” lamb, or something carrying any one of numerous communicable sheep diseases…some of which may not be detectable at the time of sale at an auction. So, do your research, BUY PRIVATELY and visit the farm of origin. Ask copious questions. There are no stupid questions!
Hope you enjoy these wonderful, peaceful animals as much as we do! Good Luck!
You may have just convinced me to change my mind! I have been researching goats, but I have never even eaten their meat. I eat lamb all the time from a local farmer who does it right. I usually eat it raw as Kibbeh with cracked bulgur because it tastes so good.
I guess I would have to get more than 1 or chickens or something. I am assuming it wouldn’t be fair to the animal to not provide company, correct?
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Spent some time working in the UAE. They import entire shiploads of sheep and goats from Australia. (30 day trip each way on special built ships) The local newspaper reported on each load, such as 3800 lambs, 900 goats and three cows. I’ve eaten plenty of lambs and goats. Both prepared the same way, slowly oven roasted, Cannot tell the difference. Both were fantastic! Try it.
Oh my sheep were SO loud. SO much louder than my goats.
They were like cats.. only wanted attention when it was good for them 😛