Raising sheep for meat. Raising sheep for meat at home

Date of writing: 20.10.2023

Reading time: 25 minutes

Sheep farming is not the most profitable type of business. However, you can succeed in it if you correctly calculate your strengths and do not expect instant super-income. To make money, you need to choose a suitable breed of sheep, organize good grazing and think through a product marketing scheme.

Sheep breeding is considered a rather complex business. Absolute beginners with no experience in agriculture rarely take up sheep farming. However, experienced farmers know that these animals have many positive qualities.

These include:

rate of growth and weight gain;
pasture maintenance, which allows you to save on the construction of premises for animals;
ewes of popular breeds bear offspring up to 2 times a year;
the livestock is resistant to diseases and tolerates temperature changes well;
Sheep provide not only tasty meat, but also skins, wool, and milk.

Before you start organizing a farm, you should weigh its disadvantages. The disadvantages of sheep farming include:

High cost of breeding livestock. The entrepreneur will have to invest a large sum in the formation of a herd.
In order for animals to gain weight well, it is necessary provide them with high-quality feed, some of which will have to be purchased.
Needed for grazing spacious pastures with fertile grass.
The demand for wool and hides is not high enough today. Many farmers rely only on sheep meat farming, without paying due attention to wool, milk and other products that sheep can provide.
Only a large herd will ensure profitability. To maintain it, it will be necessary to hire people with the necessary qualifications and provide them with a decent salary.

You can learn about the main advantages and disadvantages of raising guinea fowl at home, as well as the peculiarities of doing business in this area.

Sheep breeding as a business: where to start and how to succeed?

Rent land for a future farm. Empty areas of bankrupt state farms, abandoned farms with ready-made premises for livestock are ideal. It’s good if there is a settlement near the grazing area where you can hire workers.

The price of land depends on the ecological state of the region, its remoteness, availability of communications, transport accessibility and other factors.

Equip pastures. For good fattening, sheep need succulent grass with a predominance of legumes and succulent cereals.

The ideal option is to divide the pastures into sections, alternately sowing them with grass and transferring the herd from one section to another. Install pens and sheds for livestock, equip them with feeders. It will be necessary to build a house for the shepherd, who must constantly monitor the sheep.

Breeding sheep at home for beginners is recommended to start from registration of a farm (peasant) enterprise. Creating a legal entity is not necessary, but many farmers still prefer or It will also be necessary to obtain a veterinary certificate, without which it will be impossible to sell products.
Hire staff. To service a herd of 300-500 heads, you will need 1-2 shepherds, as well as a livestock specialist with a veterinary education. Several people will also be required for the daily care of livestock. Seasonal workers can be hired to shear sheep.
Buy young animals. The minimum herd is from 200 heads. But for greater profitability, it is better to purchase 300-500 sheep. Provide them with feed that complements the pasture diet.

Sample veterinary certificate.

Choosing a breed: which sheep to bet on?

The most promising direction for the farm is raising sheep for meat as a business. The demand for this type of product is great, which will ensure stable income.

Dairy sheep farming is possible, but difficulties may arise with processing and marketing the products. In addition, a dairy farm needs more personnel; in addition to cattlemen and shepherds, it will be necessary to hire milkmen.

The choice of meat breeds is large. In the southern regions, preference is given to fat-tailed sheep, whose meat is considered especially tender and tasty. This category includes Edilbay and Karachay sheep, which produce delicious meat and fat, as well as the especially large Gissar breed. Gissars grow very quickly, rams gain weight up to 180 kg.

In areas of the middle zone and in the north it has proven itself well Romanov breed. These sheep are prolific, quickly gain meat, and are distinguished by lush, high-quality wool.

The Teckel breed, bred in Holland, is also highly valued. Sheep produce very tasty meat without the characteristic “mutton” smell.”

Farmers who want to get not only meat, but also high-quality wool can include fine-wool sheep in their herd. Altai, Caucasian, and Stavropol sheep, which are distinguished by their resistance to cold and prolificacy, are perfect. These breeds produce good milk, which produces high-quality cheese.

Sheep for the flock It’s better to buy from different farms, this will help avoid inbreeding and guarantee good immunity of the young.

Purchase breeding animals only from certified breeders. It is not necessary to rely on one breed. Buy several different ones, and later you can make a choice in favor of a more promising one.

Business plan for sheep breeding: accounting for expenses and income

For example, you can take an average farm with a herd of 500 sheep:

For such a livestock you need 25 hectares of land, which will be divided into plots and sown with grass throughout the spring-summer season;
The price for renting land in the middle zone is from 100,000 rubles per month;
Purchase of livestock – from 100,00,000 rubles (from 5,000 rubles for a purebred sheep);
Feed in winter - from 180,000 rubles.

Expenses include the construction of a pen and shed, employee salaries, paperwork costs and additional expenses.

In the income column, the main item will be the sale of meat. The price per kilogram starts from 100 rubles. From selling the meat of 100 sheep you can earn up to 1,000,000 rubles. Thus, the profitability of the business will be 25%. The farm will reach self-sufficiency after 2 years of operation.

The following will help increase profitability:

increasing the number of animals to 1000 or more;
shifting the slaughter schedule closer to the beginning of spring, when the cost of meat increases significantly;
meat processing (stew or sausage production workshop, smokehouse);
sale of sheep milk and products made from it (primarily cheese);
sale of hides and wool to wholesale suppliers. The profit will be small, but stable and will not require additional financial investments;
sale of breeding young animals.

Master meat processing yourself. Lamb can be smoked, stewed meat, sausages, and snack sets can be prepared from it. Processed meat lasts longer, and its price increases significantly. You can sell products via the Internet, private stores or markets.

Breeding sheep at home for beginners - video with recommendations for care and maintenance

Sheep is a grazing animal with a narrow muzzle and movable lips that are excellent at tearing off low vegetation. That is why sheep can be less careful in looking for meadows for grazing than cattle. Sheep are hardy animals, capable of long treks, climbing slopes, etc. All this makes their breeding a labor-intensive and profitable solution. It’s a fascinating activity, let’s figure it out together.

Sheep care, main points.

-To keep sheep in winter, an insulated room and roughage (hay and small straw) will be enough, and in summer, an ordinary canopy and green grass will be enough. Sheep housing should be built in a dry place and on the sunny side. It must be thermally insulated and well ventilated (no more than 3 meters in height). Since sheep need a cooler climate more. Maintain the temperature at 10-15°C in winter, and in summer no more than the outside temperature. DO NOT allow dampness or drafts!
-When feeding sheep in winter, if possible, stock up on hay from legumes and cereals; sheep love them very much. However, it will be more profitable to stock up on clover and alfalfa. Harvest hay during the flowering period, because at this time the grass contains many useful substances.
You can use barley, oat and pea straw, but only for temporary feeding up to 1 kg per day. You can give the sheep 1.5-3 kg of crushed, unspoilt and unfrozen beets.
-Reproduction can only be carried out when the sheep reaches 65-80% of the weight of an adult animal. This occurs at 15-20 months of life. A very important condition is good, complete feeding before and at the time of mating of animals. Sheep should be grazed on pastures with a wide variety of grasses and fed concentrates. This applies to both females and males and such varied feeding should not be neglected.
— As soon as the lamb is born, remove mucus from the nasal and oral cavity with your hand. . The umbilical cord should be cut in a place 6-8 cm away from the abdomen, and then cauterized with alcohol or iodine. Dry the newborn with burlap and cover him with something, such as a rag. This is done so that the still wet lamb does not get too cold.
Lambs receive their first nutrition from their mothers in the form of colostrum, which contains those microelements that are simply necessary for a fragile body. They strengthen the immune system, have bactericidal properties and high nutritional value. If the queen is not able to fully feed her baby, you can allow him to be fed by another mother with more abundant milk.
Already at 2-3 weeks of life, begin to accustom your babies to carrots, hay (fine enough for their age) and certain concentrates. Lambs should be fed in a separate room from adult sheep, but at the same time, not far from the queens. Try not to separate them from their mother sheep for too long. However, after distributing the lambs into new separate pens, in the first month, allow them to approach the queens 5-6 times a day, maintaining an interval of 3 hours each time. Babies should be with their mothers for no more than half an hour. Gradually reduce the time the lambs stay and feed: in the second month – 4 visits per day; in the third - 3. Do not let the lambs near the wombs at night!
— At 4 months, it is possible and necessary to completely separate the lambs from their mothers and even keep them separately on pastures. At this age, weaned lambs need to be walked more. This is what will determine the speed of development, increase in height and weight. All this should be monitored through control weighings.
Since lambs' hooves show little wear and tear in the first 6 months of life, they should be trimmed carefully (immediately after weaning). Do not forget to have haircuts, the first of which is best done at 6 months.

Remember! Lambs are susceptible to parasites . Therefore, constantly have their feces tested. If the result is negative, consult a doctor immediately.

Sheep farming is a very popular type of livestock business; farmers often start their business activities with it. Sheep are grazing animals and are easy to feed. They are unpretentious, tolerate cold well, and mortality among sheep is less common than among other livestock. The queen can give birth twice a year; the litter contains from 2 to 4 lambs. Sheep are bred for tasty meat, healthy milk, valuable fur and wool.

Despite the fact that the profitability of this business is small and barely reaches 25 percent, you can still get a stable profit from sheep breeding.

There are two main points that affect the profitability of sheep farming: the availability of food supply and the scale of breeding. It makes sense to open a livestock business only if there is suitable territory for grazing livestock.

The cost of renting a hectare of land in Russia depends on the region and can range from 1,000 to 20,000 rubles. The price is also affected by proximity to populated areas, the presence of a nearby highway, communications, and the state of the environment.

G = U/N x P.

G– this is the number of heads per hectare.

U– the yield of consumed grass per 1 ha, multiplied by the percentage of use of the grass stand. The percentage depends on the type of pasture. The pasture can be natural, then we take the figure of 50-60 percent, improved natural (70-80%) or artificial (80-90%). The harvest depends on the type of grass, on average 100 centners.

N– daily amount of grass per sheep (10 kg).

P– duration of use of this pasture.

Various types of natural pastures are used for grazing sheep.

On virgin steppe pastures, green grass appears first, so such pastures begin to be used earlier than others. The grass stand consists mainly of feather grass, sheep's fescue, thin legged grass and forbs. In summer, steppe pastures burn out, but in autumn they are again covered with green vegetation. Thus, they are used for early and late grazing. The norm per sheep is 0.1-0.2 hectares.

In Central Asia, livestock is traditionally grazed on steppe semi-desert pastures. There is little precipitation, wormwood, camel thorn, and sandy oats grow there. In the summer months, animals have to eat dry grass, so the sun burns all the vegetation.

The best natural pastures are mountain pastures where legumes and cereal plants of high nutritional value grow.

Modern livestock breeders consider it beneficial to create artificial pastures that are sown with annual and perennial grasses. Sudanese, sorghum, vetch-oat mixture, mogar, and winter rye are used for annual crops. On perennial pastures, alfalfa, clover, sweet clover, sainfoin, wild grass, fescue, and bluegrass are sown.

Advanced farmers are trying to improve the system of feeding and use of pastures.
What are the advantages of the new system? Firstly, land that has been taken out of crop rotation can be used for pastures to restore fertility. Secondly, the number of sheep that can be fed on pasture increases significantly.

This happens as follows. The field is sown with alfalfa. The area is fenced off, the grass on it is mowed at lunchtime and laid out in the same area in feeders, each feeder for 20 heads. The animals are kept in a designated area until nightfall; in the morning they are released to finish eating grass until 11 o’clock in the afternoon. By lunchtime, the sheep are again herded into the shed, and they feed on grain from floor feeders. At this time, the next section is being prepared, and the mowed area begins to recover. Sheep go to the alfalfa feeders in the evening. This regime during the summer allows you to protect the livestock from heat stroke during the hot period and from getting wet during the rain.

Now we count. 100 centners of alfalfa grow on one hectare. A sheep eats 10 kilograms of grass per day, which means that one hectare can feed a herd of 1000 heads in a day. By fencing areas, the herd is easy to control. To graze 1000 sheep, 50 hectares of sown land are enough. In one day, the herd will gain 16 thousand rubles. In six months this is 2 million 880 thousand. By the end of the grazing period the land will be fertilized with sheep manure and ready for subsequent seeding.

The best food for sheep in winter is hay. It is purchased at a price of 4-6 rubles per kilogram. You can use hay of legumes or cereal grasses, wormwood and small-stemmed dry hay. The hay of sour cereals, as well as forest and coarse stem hay, is unsuitable. The queen needs 2 kilograms of hay per day. In addition to hay, animals are fed oats, it is possible to add barley, but long-term feeding only barley is contraindicated, as this will cause the sheep to become obese. Lambs and nursing mothers are given bran.

The cost of one purebred sheep for breeding is 5-10 thousand rubles, depending on the breed.

Previously, sheep were bred for the quality of their wool, but in modern Russia, sheep wool is no longer so valued and, therefore, generating income, so sheep farmers focus primarily on obtaining meat.

The most popular breed of sheep in Russia is the Romanovskaya. These sheep feel great in the central and northern regions of our country. This is a fur coat breed, and if there is an opportunity to sell sheepskin, you can make a good profit. Romanov sheep are prolific, but the queens do not have enough milk for all the lambs, so it is necessary to organize feeding with goat milk, which is very difficult to do with a large population. In addition, meat of the Romanov breed is not liked in the Caucasus, where they prefer to breed fat-tailed sheep, so the sales region is central Russia and the Far East.

Edilbayev sheep are the second most popular breed; they were bred in Kazakhstan. These are fat-tailed sheep, they are bred in the southern steppes. During warm winters they can graze all year round. The breed is infertile. A queen rarely gives birth to more than one lamb. The meat is considered very tasty and valuable.

The Texel breed was bred in Holland and has taken root well in central Russia due to its endurance. The queen brings 1-2 lambs. The meat is valued for its lack of a specific smell.

The Karachay breed is one of the best breeds in the Caucasus. Animals have excellent immunity and tolerate humidity and temperature changes well. In the USSR, the wool of Karachay sheep was highly valued.

Sheep of the Gissar breed are the largest. Adult rams weigh about 140-180 kilograms, ewes up to 120 kilograms. Lambs grow very quickly.

To maintain a livestock farm, it is necessary to hire shepherds and milkmaids. You will also need the services of a veterinarian and a sheep shearing specialist, although you can learn how to shear sheep on your own; all you need to do is acquire a shearing machine.

You cannot do without a spacious transport; you will need to transport sheep, meat, hay, grain, and tools on it.
As we said above, the main profit in sheep farming comes from the sale of meat. Sheep are sold at prices ranging from 120 to 200 rubles per kilogram.

Milk and wool are difficult to sell. If you succeed, it will be a pleasant addition to your income. Sheep's milk makes an interesting cheese, but it has a rather specific taste and smell that is unusual for many Russians. Farmers prefer to enter into contracts with dairies and sell their products there.

To breed a flock of 300 heads, you will need at least a million rubles, and the profit from this amount will hardly exceed 250 thousand, so it makes sense to work with larger flocks.

To start a sheep farming business, you need to register an individual entrepreneur or LLC and select OKVED code 01.22.1, breeding sheep and goats. This group includes the raising of breeding sheep, the production of raw sheep's milk, and the production of unwashed wool and down, but does not include off-farm processing of milk.

Sheep are one of the most “anti-crisis” animals. In the 90s, where there were conditions for grazing, almost every family kept 20-30 animals. Then life somehow stabilized, and lambs left the agricultural scene, giving way to poultry, rabbits and even pigs. Now sheep breeding is back in trend: people are starting to buy several lambs and a ram for company; Whatever one may say, going through difficult times is more fun with sheep. This article explains how to raise sheep at home.

Lao Czy User FORUMHOUSE

To feed an average family, two or three queens and one ram are enough.

These animals have many advantages, the main thing being unpretentiousness. All they need is a modest sheepfold (in Siberia, where it is consistently -30 every winter, sheep can be kept in an uninsulated sheepfold made of boards), a place for grazing and clean water. In winter - hay and some grain, preferably oats (“sheep loves oats”).

In happy places, where there is almost no snow and frost, it is possible to keep sheep on pastures all year round. There are places where, on the contrary, it is customary to raise sheep in a closed stall. But in most cases, in winter the sheep are kept in sheepfolds, released briefly in good weather, and in the summer they are grazed. Raising sheep for meat without grazing is impossible.

Lao Czy User FORUMHOUSE

In the absence of grazing, during standing fattening, the meat becomes too fatty. As my father said, our sheep have no meat - just fat.

Sheepfold

The requirements for a sheepfold are minimal: this outbuilding is probably the simplest of all existing ones. There is no need to allocate any separate boxes for each ram; the entire flock is kept together. The only thing is that before lambing, separate nooks are fenced off (sheep farmers use special shields made of boards) for the queens and offspring. By the way, reproduction is a separate topic; the number of heads in a herd can increase much faster than the owner expected.

These animals do not need a large area, here are the standards determined by GOSTs in Soviet sheep farming for their rearing:

ram - 1.5-1.7 sq.m.
queen with lambs - 1.8-2.0 sq.m.
young animals - 0.8-4.0 sq.m.

But in amateur sheep breeding these standards are rarely adhered to; for example, 25 heads can be kept in a 6x6 room.

The sheepfold does not need special insulation, but do everything necessary to ensure that it is ventilated and protects the animals from drafts and precipitation. Dampness and drafts are the main cause of pulmonary pneumonia in lambs.

Rekaks User FORUMHOUSE

For rams, the main thing is that there are no drafts. They can withstand frost of 30 degrees without any problems.

Thick bedding in a sheepfold will act as a blotter: all the liquid will quickly be absorbed and go into the ground.

Grazing

These animals have more stringent requirements for pasture than for sheepfolds. Without good grazing, sheep breeding is impossible. They love to graze, and they graze thoroughly. In agricultural universities they explain: horses, which eat only the tops of plants, should graze first, then cows; the sheep leave nothing behind. Where there were pedigree sheep farms in the USSR, the native vegetation has only now partially recovered. When there are endless expanses of the Altai or Astrakhan steppe around, no one thinks about grazing standards, but lambs are now raised even in the Moscow region... Lack of pasture can be a problem.

According to the collective opinion of FORUMHOUSE sheep farmers, raising sheep at home depends on grass.

Where the burning steppe sun burns all summer (in Kalmykia and the Astrakhan region), one sheep needs 1 hectare of grazing.
In the Volgograd region, pastures are already better, and 3 sheep can be kept on one hectare.
In the Central regions, you can increase the norm to 5 rams).

Oleg121968 User FORUMHOUSE

If there is nowhere to graze for free, then there is no point in building a sheepfold, it is unprofitable.

In many towns and villages of our vast homeland, sheep owners in the summer unite their charges into one large herd and hire shepherds together. The animals spend the entire summer grazing and return home in late autumn.

Diet

The fattening diet must include:

green feed and hay, especially legumes (clover, alfalfa, sainfoin).
Wheat and barley straw.
In both winter and summer, grain is added to the diet (about two cut glasses per head).
Root vegetables: potatoes, carrots and sugar beets. Concentrated feed: for dams or ewes that feed lambs, for the lambs themselves and for the breeding ram.

It is better to give more nutritious food during the day; in the morning and at night - less nutritious. Silage is fed before watering, concentrated feed after. It is important that there is always salt and chalk in the sheep feeder.

These animals are clean and picky about the quality of food; they will “sort out grub” and will not eat chalk if some dirt gets on it, and this is almost inevitable. Therefore, you can simply mix chalk with forage: for 10 kilograms of crushed grain (preferably oatmeal) - 100 grams of chalk.

Also, lambs, with their characteristic fastidiousness, will definitely leave leftover food in the feeder. What's good about this: chickens willingly eat after them, so if you have lambs, get a few chickens - you will like the results of this cooperation.

Sheep breeds

Successful breeding of sheep at home largely depends on the correct choice of breed. The following are popular among amateur sheep farmers:

Edilbaevskaya (fat tail) breed,
Romanovskaya (meat breed, not too good for amateurs),
merino,
fattails,
Karachai breed.

If you check the stories about six-month-old giant rams weighing 150 kilograms, it turns out that these rams are two years old (and such mutton has a completely different cost price), and they are selected ones. And the weight of six-month-old eggs will be 40-50 kilograms. So think for yourself and be careful.

Rekaks User FORUMHOUSE

Now I want to buy 100 heads of Edilbaevsky lambs, as for me, they are the best breed: they gain weight quickly, have a large fat tail, and the meat is the most delicious.

Rekaks I've been doing it for quite a long time. He believes that the Romanov breed sheep are good at breeding (there will most likely be two lambs in one lamb), but they gain weight poorly, even in the summer. Edilbaevskys rarely produce more than one lamb in one litter, but they gain weight well: they add 7-8 kilograms over the summer. The fat content of meat depends on the way it is kept and the diet, and the bonus is fat tail fat, which is indispensable for preparing real pilaf.

Wool

The demand for lamb is always high. With wool, the situation is much worse; sheep farmers often simply take fleece - wool that is used only for the production of fabrics - to a landfill. Poyarka wool, “poyarok”, or “poyarka” - from the first shearing of lambs - is in demand. The pimokats readily take her. There are breeds of sheep whose wool is used for homemade yarn. There is nothing particularly complicated in the production of homemade yarn; mastering all the steps of this technology, from cutting to winding the finished yarn into a ball, is quite possible. Haircut here, by the way, is the easiest thing. Many are afraid to approach animals; they hire shearers and pay them money - in vain. Even a schoolboy can easily handle a haircut.

When raising livestock at home, preference should be given to species common in a particular area. Firstly, such individuals are better prepared for the climatic and feeding conditions of the region. Secondly, to replenish the livestock, you can purchase sheep from nearby large livestock farms. And thirdly, the insemination process is greatly simplified, since you can still find a good stud ram at the same local breeding stations.

From the article you will learn where to start breeding sheep, how to select the right individuals for mating and raising young animals, and what features this area of animal husbandry has.

Breeding sheep at home - video

Raising sheep at home is a profitable area of agriculture. But, despite their calm nature and unpretentious living conditions, sheep still require some care.

Features of sheep care and breeding are shown in detail in the video. From it you will learn how to properly keep animals, what to feed them and what other features distinguish sheep farming.

To produce healthy offspring, only healthy individuals of strong constitution are needed. Therefore, when selecting, the overall health of the animal, its bone structure and the development of individual parts of the body are assessed.

In addition, breed-specific features also play an important role.:

In individuals of the woolly variety, the skin and bones are well developed, but the muscle tissue and fiber are poorly developed;
In meat-producing animals, the opposite is true: the main development occurs in muscles and fiber;
Productive dairy sheep must have a well-developed udder and digestive organs;
In one-year-old animals of fine-wool breeds, the length of the coat should be at least 7 centimeters. Thin wool indicates a fragile physique of the animal, which is not suitable for breeding;
Representatives of the meat-haired and semi-fine-fleece varieties should have good body weight and thick hair covering the legs and head;
For meat-fat breeds, the decisive role in the selection of sires is played by the exterior, the size of the tail, its shape, as well as body weight;
For Karakul sheep, the most important indicator is the quality of the meat, but it can only be assessed in the first few days after the birth of the lamb. At other times, the assessment of smushka is not an objective indicator for the selection of queens and rams for breeding;
When selecting sheep of the Romanov breed, it is necessary to pay attention to the ratio of awn and fluff in the wool, as well as the level of fertility and milk production of females;
Sheep of meat-and-wool-dairy breeds are designed to produce large amounts of meat and milk. That is why when selecting you need to choose animals of medium size and strong build. Females should have a well-developed udder, the coat should be white, coarse, shiny and strong. Fat deposition on the tail and belly should be average.

Figure 1 shows the characteristic features of sheep of various directions. If difficulties or questions arise during the selection process, it is better to consult a veterinarian or breeding specialist. The age of the animals also plays an important role in replenishing the herd. If there is no corresponding documentary data, you can determine the age of a sheep by its teeth.

Figure 1. Breeds and directions of productivity of sheep: 1 - meat and wool direction, 2 - sheep of the Romanov breed, 3 - sheep of meat and fat direction of productivity

Sheep have a total of 32 teeth. Of these, there are 8 incisors on the lower jaw and 12 molars at the top and bottom. From the age of one, the central teeth change from baby to permanent, they are larger and ivory-colored. With age, all other teeth change, and from the age of four, their destruction begins, and gaps appear between the teeth.

Sheep husbandry basics

In order for sheep and ram breeding to be successful, you need to draw up a business plan in advance and determine the main areas of activity. First of all, for cultivation you will need several pastures, where the flock will spend most of the time in the warm season. It is advisable that the grazing be located next to a natural body of water (Figure 2).

Note: The pasture for keeping sheep should be large enough, since one female with a lamb per year requires about a hectare of area. If there is no such area, you will have to purchase additional feed.

For winter breeding of rams, it is necessary to build a sheepfold with a paddock. The building is insulated, and the walking area is fenced off. Ventilation is provided in the room and, if necessary, heating equipment is installed.

After preparing the pasture and sheepfold, you can begin purchasing the sheep themselves. At the initial stage, you can limit yourself to a few females without a stud ram, but in the future, for mating, you will have to take the females to the male or carry out artificial insemination.

Figure 2. Summer and winter maintenance

Sheep can be bred not only for meat, but also for wool. The average lifespan of an animal is 20-25 years, but it is optimal to send them to slaughter at 7 years of age, since in the future both females and males have a significant reduction in productivity.

It is better to raise lambs under a female. Despite the high viability and the possibility of artificial feeding through the nipple, it is better for lambs to feed directly on mother's milk (Figure 3).

Note: Raising lambs under the uterus lasts an average of 4 months. After this, the young animals are transferred to a separate pen and accustomed to an adult diet.

Figure 3. Housing of newborn lambs under the uterus

In addition, a separate warm room with clean feeders and constant access to water is equipped for the lambs and uterus. During the warm season, it is advisable for animals to spend most of the day walking, but since many lambs are born in winter, they spend a lot of time indoors. At the same time, you cannot reduce the number of walks and take the young animals out into the fresh air every day.

Raising sheep for meat

Breeding sheep for meat is a fairly profitable area of agriculture, since the animals quickly gain weight and are ready for slaughter within a few months. As a rule, young rams are selected for this purpose. The most active and viable ones are left for reproduction, while the rest are transferred to a special diet for rapid weight gain.

During fattening for meat, the basis of the diet is grain concentrates, which are supplemented with juicy, green and roughage feed. It is also advisable to shear the rams before fattening to increase appetite.

Conditions for sheep breeding

Females (vivid) reach sexual maturity at approximately 7-9 months. But it is not recommended to carry out the first mating during this period, since the animal’s body is not yet fully formed. Early pregnancy (pregnancy) will delay the development of the ewe, since all the nutrients will be absorbed by the growing fetus, and after its birth will be spent on milk production.

However, mating too late also harms the animals. If pregnancy does not occur before 12-18 months (the most favorable age for the first pregnancy), nutrients are transformed into fat mass. In the future, the female's excess weight will interfere with fertilization (Figure 4).

Sexual heat in females is accompanied by estrus. It has the following characteristics:

The tissues of the external genitalia become red;
The mucous membrane of the vagina and cervix swells;
Mucus begins to be released, which first moves from the cervix into the vagina, and then out;
At the initial stage of the hunt, the mucus is transparent, but gradually becomes thicker, and at the end of the cycle it acquires a mushy consistency. It is by this indicator that the time of ovulation can be determined.

Figure 4. Main symptoms of heat in females

Often, heat is triggered by maturation of the reproductive cells, and the process ends when the egg is released from the ovary. The duration of the hunt can range from several hours to several days, depending on the breed, the general condition of the animal and the climatic conditions of its keeping.

Determining heat in sheep is quite easy. In addition to genital discharge, the following symptoms are observed:

Loss of appetite;
Nervousness and restless behavior;
The female does not run away from the ram and stands calmly when he tries to cover her.

In most females, ovulation occurs approximately 30 days after the start of heat. The last few hours of the hunt are considered the most favorable for insemination, but since this period is quite difficult to determine, mating is carried out twice: at the very beginning of the hunt and a day after that.

Note: When selecting females for recruitment, it is important to consider that those whose heat lasts less than 24 hours often produce one lamb at a time. If the hunt lasts longer, there is a chance of getting multiple offspring.

If fertilization has not occurred, the ewe will show signs of heat again after a few weeks.

To obtain a healthy and numerous offspring, both females and breeding rams must be properly prepared for mating.

To do this, you need to adhere to the following recommendations:

The queens are given areas of pasture with good food and watered at least twice a day;
It is necessary to include mineral supplements in the diet, and, if necessary, concentrated feed. It was found that queens that ate high-quality green food before mating were fertilized much faster than animals on a different diet (Figure 5).
Breeding rams are fed oats, crushed barley and high-quality hay. In winter, when the non-breeding period begins, the daily ration of a ram should consist of a kilogram of hay, half a kilogram of concentrated feed and 3-4 kg of root vegetables;
Rams must be fed with salt; During the mating period, producers need to be given more concentrated feed (peas, barley, oats), and preparations for mating should begin one and a half to two months before it takes place.

Figure 5. Basic feed for queens and breeding rams (from left to right): succulent, concentrated feed, compound feed and salt lick

As a rule, mating in sheep occurs at the same time of year: from late summer to mid-winter. However, in different climatic zones these periods may differ. When carrying out mating, it must be taken into account that the suckling period should occur during the season with the greatest variety of feed.

Note: On home farms, mating is recommended at the same time as on large farms. To do this, you can enter into an agreement to rent a ram or provide artificial insemination services.

Depending on the type of mating, it is necessary to carry out preparatory work:

Females are collected into one flock and kept in a separate pen near the artificial insemination site;
If free mating is carried out, the rams and queens are kept in the same pen for one and a half to two months. In order for the ram to remain sexually active, it is allowed to the uterus only during the daytime, and at night it is transferred to a separate pen and fed intensively.

You can also give the ram a rest during the day, transferring him to the uterus at night.

Preparation and carrying out lambing

To give birth to healthy and viable lambs, it is necessary to provide nutritious feed to the pregnant ewes. At the end of pregnancy, the need for nutrient-rich feed increases to 75 percent.

Pregnant queens should never be given frozen or spoiled food, and feeders should always be clean. In winter, pregnant females are kept in the yard during the daytime, and are transferred indoors only in frosty weather and at night.

You also need to carefully monitor the condition of the pregnant sheep, and at the first sign of discomfort, seek help from a veterinarian. This measure is necessary because many infectious diseases or helminthic infestations can cause abortion and death of the uterus.

You need to prepare for lambing in advance. About ten days before the expected lambing, the room where the lambing will take place is cleaned. The floor is thoroughly cleaned of manure and covered with clean bedding. The room should not be damp or drafty. The internal temperature should be 15-17 degrees. It is also recommended to trim the hair between the hind legs of the queens.

Figure 6. Natural lambing process in sheep

Sheep often give birth easily. The beginning of lambing is indicated by the restless behavior of the uterus: she begins to bleat, often looks back and constantly lies down. Such an animal must be transferred to a lambing room.

Note: Normal labor begins with pushing, during which the amniotic sac emerges from the genital tract. It quickly bursts and the front legs and head of the lamb can be seen. The average duration of labor for healthy and strong uteruses is 40 minutes (Figure 6).

However, there are times when lambing is delayed and in this case the animal needs help. Possible complications may include the fetus being too large or malpositioned:

The legs emerge from the birth canal, and the head is thrown back;
The legs are tucked under the breast of the lamb;
The lamb comes out backwards with its legs bent.

Possible pathologies during childbirth in sheep and cattle are shown in Figure 7. To facilitate and speed up lambing, you need to thoroughly wash your hands, lubricate them with iodine or Vaseline oil and insert them into the sheep’s vagina. Between attempts, the fetus is slightly pushed back and its position is straightened. If the lamb comes out backwards, the legs should be tied with clean rope and the fetus should be pulled slightly outward while pushing. How to properly carry out pathological lambing in a sheep is shown in a short video clip.

A qualified veterinarian will be able to provide proper care during lambing, so seek help in this case.

Note: About two hours after birth, the sheep should release its placenta. Under no circumstances should it be cut or pulled; it should separate on its own. If the placenta does not come out within five hours, you should seek help from a veterinarian, since keeping the placenta in place can cause blood poisoning and the death of the animal.

Figure 7. The course of pathological childbirth: 1 - turning the head to one side, 2 - throwing the head behind the back, 3 - legs bent at the wrist, 4 - legs bent at the hock joint

After this, the afterbirth and dirty bedding must be removed, the room must be disinfected, and the sheep must be washed with warm soda solution and wiped dry with a clean cloth.

Raising and caring for young animals

Newborn lambs are sometimes very weak, but even if the animal is healthy, it requires careful care. If complications arise, you should proceed as follows::

If the lamb shows no signs of life after birth, its nose and mouth should be cleared of mucus as quickly as possible. After this, the animal is placed on the bedding and air is inhaled through the mouth, while squeezing the front legs and patting the lamb on the sides until breathing appears.
If a lamb is born in an unruptured amniotic sac, the membrane is punctured to prevent the animal from suffocating.
Normally, in newborn lambs, the umbilical cord separates on its own, but if this does not happen, it can be cut 8-10 centimeters from the abdomen, and the edge of the cut can be treated with iodine solution.
Immediately after birth, the lamb needs to be warmed and dried. For this purpose, heaters are installed in the rooms.

About forty minutes after giving birth, the ewe is ready to feed her baby for the first time. The first few portions of milk should be milked into a separate jar and destroyed. In the first few days, lambs suckle from their mother every few hours, and in order for the baby to find the udder faster, it must be held under the uterus during feeding.

After lambing, attention should be paid to the uterus. Usually, after giving birth, animals are very thirsty, so after two hours they need to be given warm water to drink. In the first few days after birth, the queens are not given concentrated feed, and the diet is based on high-quality hay. Juicy feed, concentrates or other components of a complete diet can be introduced only 3-5 days after lambing.

Note: An hour and a half after each feeding, the queens must be given water, and there should always be salt in the feeder. If the lamb does not completely suck the udder, the sheep needs to be milked additionally.

In the first month of life, lambs need a lot of nutrients, which they can only absorb through milk. Therefore, it is important to establish a complete diet for the sheep. As the lamb grows, it begins to be fed additional feed: hay, concentrates and crushed succulent feed. Already from the second month of life, the amount of feeding is gradually increased, transferring the young animals to solid food.

The queens and lambs should be kept separately, and an open pen should be arranged near the premises for the animals to walk around. The area should be warm and windless. Separate housing of queens and babies is necessary in order to preserve lactation as much as possible. With this method of keeping, the queens can feed peacefully, since the lambs do not bother them. The cubs also grow stronger from such care, as they quickly become accustomed to complementary feeding and become more resistant to diseases (Figure 8).

To feed such a lamb, you need to follow these recommendations:

The first step is to plant it in a high-milk ewe that only has one lamb;
In order for the female to accept someone else's lamb, it is coated with mucus from the uterus of a nursing sheep or lightly sprinkled with milk. So the queen will not distinguish the smell of her lamb from someone else’s;
It is better to feed someone else's lamb in the morning or evening, when the sheep are calm and have difficulty seeing;
You can feed lambs from the nipple using goat's or cow's milk. The initial daily norm is 200 grams, and from the age of two weeks the dosage begins to be doubled.

When the lambs reach three or four months, they are separated from their mothers. The young rams are immediately moved to a separate pen, and the females are separated from their mothers for about two weeks, after which they can again be kept in the same pen.

Figure 8. Equipment of the room for keeping and walking queens with lambs

To quickly stop lactation, after weaning the lambs, the queens are given more dry food for a week and watered only once a day. After weaning, lambs are fed succulent feed and concentrates, and watered at least twice a day. It is best to graze lambs during the weaning period close to the paddock so that in case of bad weather they can be quickly moved from open pasture to indoors.

Note: An important step in caring for lambs of fine-fleece and semi-fine-fleece breeds is tail trimming. The procedure is carried out on days 5-7 of the lamb’s life. This measure is necessary because the long tail of lambs is constantly contaminated with feces and urine, which can lead to infection or damage to the wool.

Tail trimming is a fairly simple process. One person holds the lamb by the legs, and the second, using a sharp, disinfected knife, cuts the tail at the border of the third and fourth vertebrae, after which the cut is treated with iodine.

It is also necessary to timely castrate rams that are unsuitable for breeding. Castration is carried out at two or three weeks of age. This will allow adult castrated rams (wallahs) to gain weight faster.

Breeding sheep for beginners

Raising rams at home is no different from raising sheep. Males, like females, require constant walking on pasture in the summer and a warm room in the winter.

The only difference is that in most cases the rams are fattened for further slaughter for meat, selecting one or two for reproduction. The remaining rams are put on a special diet that promotes rapid weight gain.