Raising sheep at home is considered a profitable business. These animals are hardy, have good health and are highly productive. They are able to provide the owner not only with meat, but also with high-quality milk, fat and wool.

Each breed has its own characteristics. A novice farmer needs to decide what is a higher priority for him: obtaining meat, lard, milk or wool.

• Show all

  The best sheep breeds for breeding at home

  Universal meat and wool varieties are very popular among farmers:

  • Romanovskaya. Perfect for home growing. Animals of the Romanov breed are characterized by rapid growth rates and are resistant to many diseases; they provide the owner with meat, milk and wool.
  • Kuibyshevskaya. Long-haired breed of sheep. They produce high-quality meat and wool.
  • Latvian. These are short-haired sheep that grow quickly. It is not difficult to breed them, and the meat is considered one of the most delicious.
  • Tushinskaya. These animals have good meat, wool and milk production.
  • Karachaevskaya. Sheep have strong immunity and are able to withstand frost and rain.

  If the farmer’s goal is to obtain meat, lard and wool that will be used for felt, then he should acquire a fat-tailed breed of sheep. The most common are:

  • Gissarskaya. These are hardy large animals, weighing about 200 kilograms.
  • Edilbaevskaya. An unpretentious breed that can live in dry and windy conditions. These animals, even with poor quality nutrition, are able to eat fat tail fat.

  

  Setting up a sheepfold

  It is recommended to build a cattle pen from brick or wood. The room should be spacious, warm, without drafts and excessive humidity. It requires natural light to penetrate it, and the required temperature is about 10 degrees Celsius. Windows in a sheepfold should be installed at a sufficient distance from the floor so that animals cannot reach them. It is necessary to pay attention to ventilation; it should rid the sheepfold of unpleasant odors and excess moisture. The floors should be made hard and covered with straw. It is worth changing it from time to time and making sure it is dry. The room needs regular ventilation and cleaning.

  

  There should be about 10 square meters per animal. If individuals live in crowded conditions, this can cause a number of diseases.

  

  Sheep nutrition

  In summer, animals spend most of the day grazing and eating grass. You can feed them with corn silage and hay. The following additives should be used:

  • chalk, which is a source of calcium;
  • salt (10 grams of product per adult per day, and 5 grams per lamb);
  • bone flour.

  During the cold season, in addition to hay, the following products should be included in the animal’s diet:

  • wheat bran;
  • vegetables (carrots, beets);
  • beans;
  • cereals;
  • sunflower cake.

  Animals need plenty of nutrition to help them gain weight faster and be healthy. Queens need high-quality fortified feed. 30 days before lambing, you should give not hay, but compound feed. In the first month of life, lambs can only eat their mother's milk. Then concentrated mixtures are gradually introduced into their diet. Rams must be provided with roughage food, which must contain a large number of squirrel.

  

  Common diseases

  Sheep have strong immunity, but if not properly cared for, they are susceptible to diseases.

  1. 1. Dampness causes pneumonia in animals. Its symptoms include:
  • increased body temperature;
  • cough;
  • labored breathing;
  • loss of appetite.
  1. 2. Rumen flatulence occurs due to improper feeding. Symptoms of this common disease:
  • bloating;
  • refusal of food;
  • nervousness.

  Sheep are treated by puncturing the rumen.

  1. 3. Poisoning occurs when an animal has eaten a poisonous plant. Its signs are:
  • reluctance to eat;
  • diarrhea;
  • vomit.

  

  In case of poisoning, the animal's stomach should be rinsed.

  1. 4. Purulent growths appear on the hooves of sheep and rams, which lead to lameness. To avoid this, you should give animals nutritious food and keep them in a clean and warm room.
  2. 5. Bezoar disease is a condition in which a sheep begins to eat its wool, which clogs the animal's gastrointestinal tract. The reason lies in insufficient feeding.
  3. 6. The infectious disease listeriosis is caused by bacteria, has practically no cure and can destroy the entire population of sheep.

  Features of lambing

  Sheep are highly fertile; large breeds bear five lambs at a time. The offspring quickly adapt to the conditions of detention and do not require additional care. Females have a maternal instinct, so the owner does not have to care for young animals.

  It is advisable to be present at the birth of lambs veterinarian. This will avoid possible complications and save offspring.

  Lambs should receive their first milk no later than half an hour after birth. If the mother is weakened and cannot feed her offspring, the owner must milk the milk and give it to the young.

  During this period, sheep bring up to 150 liters of milk. Some farmers get rid of the newborns and sell it to cheese factories.

  Sheep's milk has a high fat content, but it contains fewer nutrients than cow's or goat's milk.

  Shearing

  In coarse-haired and semi-coarse-haired breeds, the fleece should be removed in early spring. It is important to choose the right time, since in the summer the animals begin the molting process. Re-collection of wool should be carried out in the fall.

  

  Fine-wool sheep should not be sheared early; in summer they practically do not shed. It is enough to remove their fur once a year.

  Lambs that were born in the spring are sheared after a year, and winter offspring - in the fall.

  It is important that the animal's fur is not wet during cutting. Two weeks after removing the cover, the sheep are washed with disinfectants to avoid diseases.

Breeding technology - basic issues

Under no circumstances should the terms “sheep for breeding” and “sheep for fattening” be confused.

Sheep for fattening, as mentioned above, are kept in stalls. Sheep for breeding can be kept either in stalls or in pastures. And in some cases, stall-pasture. For example, if we take central Russia, the climate here is quite different. In winter, due to snow and low temperatures, naturally, the sheep will have to be kept in a stall on dry feed, and in the spring, thanks to the massive grass, they can be driven out to pasture. This is the simplest and most reliable method of keeping sheep - in a stall in winter, in a pasture in summer.

Breeding and raising rams and sheep may well become a good home or family business. First important factor Here lies the greatest adaptability of this particular type of farm animal to a wide variety of climatic conditions. The second is, again, their greatest lack of pickiness when it comes to food. On the territory of Russia, sheep and ram breeding is carried out almost everywhere - in high-mountain, desert and steppe zones.

At the same time, among the many plants growing in different climates (about 800 species), about 400 are edible for rams and sheep, while only about 150 species are suitable for cows and goats, and less than 100 for horses. Today, raising rams and sheep is profitable and in terms of the quantity of the final product. Among domestic animals, there is not a single species that, like sheep, would serve as a source of meat, milk (including products made from it), and high-quality wool and fur. At the same time, sheep's milk is digested much better than cow's milk and surpasses it in the content of dry substances, proteins and fats, and meat is the least saturated with cholesterol.

Where to find young animals for breeding

If you decide to buy rams for breeding, you can do this either on professional sheep farms, or from closed collective farms selling their herds, or from private individuals. Of course, the first method is preferable, and the second and third will simply be cheaper. You need to understand the difference in terms of “sheep for fattening” and “for breeding”. Those animals that are fattened for slaughter are kept in stalls, because the most important thing for them is to quickly gain marketable body weight. The requirements for breeding sheep and rams are different. The main thing from them is to get healthy offspring. Therefore, the conditions of detention are different - in winter, stalls on dry food, and in summer time- on pasture grasses.

Subtleties of sheep breeding

It is best to learn how to breed sheep from specialists. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to study specialized literature. Video can also provide some assistance in the science of sheep breeding - after all, according to the saying, seeing 1 time is still more effective than hearing 7 times. And, of course, you can’t do without a whole range of advice from professional veterinarians, livestock specialists and shepherds - at least if you intend to breed rams and sheep mainly on your own.

There are no fundamental differences in how to raise rams (compared to raising sheep). However, it should be remembered that the main purpose of the former is to inseminate sheep in order to produce offspring. In this regard, rams must be kept separately from sheep, and brought together only during the mating period. To obtain healthy, high-quality offspring, rams need good health, high-quality sperm and normal sexual activity - for which in the spring and summer it is preferable to keep them not in closed pens, but on pastures (of course, under the supervision of an experienced shepherd). In this case, matings carried out in the fall will be successful and will subsequently produce good offspring. But even in this case, breeding rams require fairly long walks twice a day.

Features of sheep breeding

Breeding and keeping sheep is also a long, complex and sensitive process (to obtain effective result and profit) many different factors. These include knowledge about pregnancy and childbirth in sheep, the most important components of their proper nutrition, organization of pens and fences, diets at different times of the year, grazing techniques, hoof care, rules for washing and trimming them, wintering features, mating, milking and a few dozen more nuances regarding how to raise sheep.

Raising young sheep also stands apart in this matter. Immediately after birth, the lamb must drink its mother's colostrum. If this does not happen within 2 hours, it is necessary to milk the ewe and give the lamb milk from an ordinary mug. Newborns should be kept warm, in the same stall with their mother, for several days. Then it is possible to unite with other sheep and their offspring - until, after 3 months, the young sheep and lambs begin to graze on their own.

Not superfluous for anyone who has seriously decided to devote himself to breeding rams and sheep, but does not plan to purchase a professional large enterprise, check out some practical advice an experienced sheep breeder - taking into account our Russian realities.

Close to ideal option for initial stage is the rental or purchase of land - with pasture and ready-made premises for sheep. Their quantity is ideal for a small family business- up to 1000 heads. Of course, they will need a shepherd and several workers. Having organized the work, all that remains is to deliver everything you need to your farm every week.

This approach can produce up to 700-800 units of offspring by the fall, the sale of which will allow us to pay off hired personnel, and make repairs to the sheds, and survive on the proceeds until the next annual cycle. But this is the ideal option. Real ones, as a rule, differ slightly (or not at all) from it.

Emerging problems and issues that need to be addressed by a sheep breeder

1. Money for starting a business. Their quantity will be needed in direct proportion to the number of purchased heads and the size of the future farm.
2. Location of the sheepfold. Which today exists in the Central zone and the Black Earth region of the Russian Federation. But it is practically absent in Kalmykia, the Astrakhan Territory, the North Caucasus region, or the Stavropol region - here all the lands and pasture places have long been occupied/divided. True, the advantage is more low prices for grain - with slightly worse pastures.
3. Livestock. There may not be money for 1000 - and in this case you should focus on at least 200 animals (the minimum amount, according to experts, that can bring profit in an amount sufficient for existence and development during the year). Otherwise, you can start with 5 sheep - but do not count on full payback until the above figure is reached.
4. Shepherd. Alpha and Omega have a prosperous existence. Sheep farmer, not just a shepherd. Speaking in modern language- a real top manager with knowledge of a livestock specialist/veterinarian/haircutter, etc. This must be a person who knows how to find understanding with sheep - and therefore is literally worth his weight in gold. SUCH a shepherd can really make money for you. At the same time, usually taking as payment the right to own 50 sheep and a percentage of the profit - but guaranteeing a significant offspring, the safety of each sheep and, above all, valuing self-confidence. In case of the option described in paragraph 3 with the number of goals less than 200 the best option will learn to be “your own shepherd.” The complexity of this for a beginner is very high - but the effectiveness of knowledge on how to breed rams and how to raise sheep will return a hundredfold after a few years.
5. Workers. In our Russian reality, they most often belong to the “homeless” class, who do not shy away from dirty work (and indeed there will be such). Who, under the command of a shepherd, will feed, graze and care for the livestock. But the main problem you will have to face will be vodka. In this connection, it is necessary to count the money and hire workers from a different class - as soon as the amounts allow.

Sheep have been raised as domestic farm animals for thousands of years. At the same time, depending on the breed, sheep are bred to obtain meat, milk, sheepskin and warm, high-quality wool.

In the conditions of a personal farmstead, keeping sheep will not be difficult. Hardy, unpretentious animals rarely get sick, are quite fertile and, compared to cattle, are extremely precocious. At the same time, sheep do not require capitally built premises:

1. In summer they are content with paddocks and grazing areas.
2. In winter they are kept in sheepfolds, where the temperature is slightly above zero.

Animals grow well on food, which is clearly not enough for other species to meet their physiological needs. For sheep, even sparse vegetation is enough to grow, produce wool and gain weight.

With due attention to animals, sheep breeding at home and for novice sheep farmers will not seem like a difficult and burdensome task. Good care, compliance with the rules of keeping and feeding will certainly result in high meat productivity, production of tasty fatty milk and domestic wool in the first year.

Biological characteristics of sheep

Modern breeds of sheep for raising at home can show high productivity in meat, milk and wool. Most often, the attention of sheep breeders is attracted to varieties with high fertility, rapid weight gain, pronounced unpretentiousness and good health. But in order for the animals to show the expected results, their needs and the biological characteristics of the sheep must be taken into account.

Among barnyard animals, sheep are famous for their herd behavior and forgetfulness. Often sheep farmers are faced with the fact that the livestock that has left for grazing cannot find its home. Therefore, sheep and rams are taken to walking areas together with intelligent ones or cows. In this case, as soon as one sheep follows the “leader”, the whole flock will follow it.

The average lifespan of sheep is 20 years. However, when keeping sheep in a private farmstead, only sires and purebred ewes can live up to 8 years. Young animals raised for meat are slaughtered until they are one year old, and animals with wool are kept on the farm for a little longer.

One of the indicators by which the merits of a breed or an individual are judged is the number of lambs per year and the number of lambs produced.

Most often, breeding sheep give birth once a year at the end of winter or in the first days of spring. Pregnancy lasts about five months, with most breeds having one lamb is the norm. But there are also exceptions.

For example, it is popular among Russian sheep breeders due to the frequent birth of several lambs at once and the ability to kitt twice a year. This feature of the breed and the precocity of the species as a whole makes it possible to develop a completely successful, quickly paying off business plan for sheep breeding.

What living conditions do animals need? How to organize their feeding? Where to start raising sheep at home for beginners?

Raising sheep at home in summer

Pasture keeping of sheep is the basis of their high productivity. By depriving animals of the opportunity to go out for a walk, a sheep farmer can seriously reduce his profit. In this case, costs increase:

• for feed, the collection and preparation of which is now a human concern;
• for the equipment of premises and pens for sheep.

If there are no suitable pastures near the farmstead, sheep are provided with walking areas, fencing the areas with shields. After the grass cover is depleted, the flock is transferred to a neighboring territory. Since sheep can bite grass lower than goats or cows, even in the most meager places, they find enough of their favorite food. In addition, moving grazing to another part of the pasture helps prevent infection of animals with helminths.

At home, when raising sheep without walking, the animals are given cut pasture grass.

It is also advisable to give the flock short runs, driving them out of a limited space for a walk. It is possible to keep sheep on a leash with regular transfer to a new site.

Sheep are released onto pasture with the arrival of spring and the appearance of the first vegetation about 8 cm high. If it is cool outside, the animals must be protected from excessive moisture, be it rain or dew. Wet wool does not dry out and becomes the cause of various animal diseases. The same rule is followed with the onset of autumn coolness. In the hot summer, on the contrary, going out to the meadow early will help the sheep find the lushest vegetation.

Despite being kept on pasture, the sheep are always offered water. The drinking bowls are replenished twice daily, and in especially hot seasons - three times a day.

This measure will help protect animals from dehydration and weakening. For the same purpose, sheds are equipped where the flock can wait out the hottest hours. Here, not only water bowls and feeders are placed for the sheep, but also pieces of salt lick.

Pasture grass is the most desirable and healthy food for sheep. However, sheep breeding also requires keeping them during the cold season. Therefore, the sheep farmer needs to prepare hay on time, and in the autumn, fallen leaves will be a good help in case of grass shortage.

In the summer, sheep can suffer from blood-sucking insects, which not only use the sheep as a source of food, but also lay eggs on damaged areas of the skin. To avoid diseases associated with this and make life easier for the wards, animals are examined, wounds are cleaned and disinfected, and special surveillance is established for weakened sheep.

The arrival of autumn for the sheep farmer means that the flock will soon move to winter sheepfolds and sheep pens. It is extremely important to protect children from drafts, excess humidity and crowded conditions. That's why:

1. The premises are equipped with ventilation.
2. Provide the animals with dry, deep bedding.
3. From 2.5 to 3 meters of area is allocated per individual.
4. The temperature inside the sheepfold is maintained at 6–8 °C during the stall period. This is quite enough for healthy, strong animals to feel good and, with a well-chosen diet, to grow.
5. During the most critical period in sheep breeding - during lambing, the air in the sheepfold should be heated to 15 °C.

In winter, the sheep's diet consists of silage hay harvested in the summer, chopped root vegetables and a small amount of concentrated feed. For 500 kg of grass hay and the same amount of root vegetables there should be only 100 kg of feed. This norm is enough to feed one adult during the stall period.

In the cold season, it is best to feed the livestock at fresh air in an open sheep pen. IN bad weather food is given under a canopy. Do this 3-4 times a day. First the sheep get hay. For weight gain and growth, it is useful to feed hay from cereals and forage legumes.

The sheep are then offered succulent feed. This can be a mixture of chopped root vegetables, for example, carrots, turnips, potatoes with bran. Another option is silage. After such a meal, the herd is given a drink, and then it is the turn of concentrated and roughage. When raised at home, sheep quickly become accustomed to one feed distribution schedule. In the evening, hay and brooms prepared in the summer are placed in the feeders.

Sheep farming - video

Sheep farming works well for those people who love animals, sheep in particular. Sheep are herd animals; they always graze together and do not scatter far. They can be grazed on any grass, even after the cows have passed. Many people allow a goat into the flock so that there is a “leader,” because the sheep and rams do not know their home well and will not go anywhere until someone confident in themselves leads them.

They are divided according to the quality of their wool into fine wool (their wool consists of only downy wool), semi-fine wool (the wool is not so fine) and coarse wool (they are bred for meat and sheepskin).

The most popular breed in central Russia is the Romanov. She gives 4-5 lambs per litter, while others give 1-2 lambs. This breed is also advantageous because their sheepskin is more valuable.

They live for a long time, up to 22-25 years, but they mate until they are 8-9 years old to produce strong, healthy offspring.

Raising sheep during the grazing period

The grazing season begins in May, when the grass has already grown a little. In the morning they are given water and driven to pasture. At the beginning of the grazing period, they are accustomed to fresh grass, that is, they are turned out to graze not for the whole day, but for 2-3 hours, then returned to the sheepfold. And so on for several days in a row.

When the grass has already grown well, all the herbivores are driven out to pastures for the entire long summer day, and they are left to spend the night in pens with a rain shelter. Despite the fact that young grass is quite juicy, they still need to be watered at least 2 times a day.

Stall period

For the stall period, it is necessary to prepare at least 500 kilograms of good hay per head, 500-700 kilograms of succulent feed (potatoes, root vegetables, silage) and 100 kilograms of concentrates, including salt, chalk, bone meal.

In the sheepfold, everything should be repaired by winter, the walls should be sufficiently insulated, doors and frames should be adjusted so that there are no drafts. If it’s stuffy in the sheepfold in winter, then the glass is removed from the windows, and the opening can be covered with fabric, then the air will pass through and there will be no draft. By the beginning of the stall period, you need to install feeders and drinking bowls. The room should not be cramped to avoid injury and disease to the livestock.

In an insufficiently insulated and equipped barn, they may not tolerate the stall period well, because in central Russia it lasts up to 7 months. The air temperature in the sheepfold in winter should be no lower than 6-8 °C, and when the lambs appear, then up to 15 °C. Suspended sheep must be kept separately. The sheepfold must be dry, clean, it must be cleaned regularly and the bedding must be changed.

Feeding during the stall period

It is better to feed lambs outside, in a pen, or under a canopy in bad weather.

It's best to do it 3-4 times a day. If you feed them at a certain time, then between feedings they behave calmly and do not scream. At night, each tree is left with 1-2 brooms from branches with leaves harvested in the summer. You definitely need to water them a lot, as they feed on dry food.

It is better to distribute feed over time: give hay in the morning, in the afternoon - hay, brooms plus succulent feed, cut into pieces and sprinkled with bran, in the evening - concentrates and hay. Individuals destined for meat are fed hay, mainly legumes and cereals. Don't forget to give them salt.

Possible diseases

To prevent lambs from getting sick, it is necessary to adhere to the basic rules of sanitation, treat the premises in which a sick animal was noticed with special substances, about which it is better to consult a veterinarian. Sick animals should be separated from others and should not be allowed to come into contact with healthy animals.

1. Diseases are not contagious

• Nutritional imbalance. Lambs may lack some minerals, and as a result, they begin to eat wool from other lambs. After this, they die because the abomasum (part of the stomach in ruminants) becomes blocked. A lack of phosphorus and calcium can cause rickets, and in adults – osteoporosis.
• Cold. One of the main enemies is dampness. It should be avoided in every possible way, both in winter and summer. Animals get sick from it. Colds may appear if they are exposed to rain, since wet wool cannot dry for a long time, and everyone will get sick.
• Poisoning. They can be poisoned by low-quality feed, some herbs, and excessive amounts of sugar beets.
• Wounds, fractures, bruises, mastitis in the uterus. In the summer, flies and other blood-sucking insects (horseflies, gadflies) lay their eggs in any wound, from which larvae grow. They begin to corrode the skin, causing the animals to experience pain and itching, and they are no longer interested in grazing. These larvae are removed and the wounds are lubricated with iodine or another disinfectant solution. It is best to lubricate wounds on the same day; for this, animals need to be examined more often for their appearance.

2. Contagious diseases

• Scabies
• Brucellosis
• Coccidiosis
• Worms. To avoid infecting your animals with worms, you need to graze them in a new place every week.

In all cases of malaise, which is expressed in lethargy, poor appetite, you should immediately contact a veterinarian.

And we should never forget that sheep are the most defenseless animals; a wolf or a large dog can not only frighten them, as a result of which the ewes may lose milk, but also destroy an entire flock, as has happened more than once.

They are ready for fertilization after six months of life, but this should not be allowed so early, as they may not be able to withstand the load on their fragile body and get sick or die. Low-quality offspring may also be born. Mating can be done at the age of 9 months and older. Best of all, after a year and a half.

Most people begin to feel the heat from the second half of summer to the end of September. This depends on the length of daylight and air temperature.

Hunting is expressed by the fact that the genitals increase significantly in size, and in some sheep they secrete mucus. Ewes become restless. This condition lasts from 18 to 36 hours.

With signs of heat, animals are separated from the flock and mated - left with the ram. In one day, a ram can cover 2-3 females. It’s not worth giving more, so that he doesn’t become overtired, which can affect the quality of the offspring. If yamkas graze in a large flock, then there should be 1 ram for every 30-40 females. In small flocks, a ram is needed for each flock.

We must not forget to ensure that there are no closely related matings, as the offspring suffer from this. To avoid this, it is necessary to replace the ram every 2-3 years. You can also change rams between flocks.

To ensure that no one gets infected with infectious diseases during mating, it is necessary to check them for these diseases at the veterinarian before this process.

Artificial insemination

If necessary or at the request of the owner, sheep are artificially inseminated. This is the highest quality insemination performed by qualified insemination technicians. This is done using special devices.

To do this, an individual is identified during the hunting period and placed in a special pen; it is located in a room with a temperature of 20-24 ° C. The sperm, tested for quality and health, is injected into the uterus. Then they mark it with easily washable paint and release it into the flock. For getting best result, insemination is carried out again after a day, if she is still in the heat period. After that she is watched.

If you don’t fertilize the yarka during the first heat, she may want to breed again in 15-18 days. If she remains unfertilized the second time, then she may no longer be able to be fertilized, that is, she will become barren.

Pregnancy and childbirth

Many people do not know how long a pregnant sheep walks. The gestation period is about 145-155 days. Depending on the breed, there are 1 to 5 lambs. Ewes lamb in the middle of winter, because... They roam at the end of summer - beginning of autumn.

Towards the end of pregnancy they become more rounded and slower. Three weeks before the sheep gives birth, the diet should become more easily digestible and plentiful.

The udder 1-2 days before birth significantly increases and fills with milk. The skin under the tail becomes redder and swollen. The tail becomes soft and thick.

Before lambing, the queens begin to show anxiety, refuse to eat and look for a secluded place. They need it for a smooth birth. If possible, at this time the animal is moved to a separate lambing area or to a fenced area.

The ewe gives birth to her first lamb lying down. The birth lasts several hours in total, depending on the number of lambs and the health of the uterus. The birth of one lamb lasts up to 50 minutes. After the birth of the first lamb, the lamb licks it, licking off the waste of its birth: amniotic fluid and others. In the process of licking, she remembers his smell, so that later she will not confuse him with anyone else. She gives birth to the rest while standing. They fall onto the litter, but the fall does not harm them. She also licks the rest of the lambs. 3-6 hours after the birth of the last lamb, the placenta comes out. This means that lambing has been completed successfully.

If a ewe has problems with the birth of one of the lambs or the placenta does not pass, not to mention bleeding, it is necessary to urgently contact a veterinarian or an experienced sheep breeder.

Newborn lambs begin to suckle from the udder. This first milk (colostrum) is very beneficial for them. It contains many substances necessary for newly born babies. After 30 minutes, stronger babies can already stand, although, at first, swaying a little.

Ewes stand quietly while feeding, waiting until the lambs are full. When this happens, the babies fall asleep. In the first few days, they nurse and sleep almost all the time. The ewe is also resting; she is also very tired.

People have been farming sheep since ancient times. Today this branch of livestock farming is also popular. Many farmers start their farming by breeding and raising sheep at home, because this is a profitable and uncomplicated activity.

The method of breeding animals depends on the climate and conditions of the region. For example, sheep can be kept in stalls, stall-pasture and grazing methods. It is clear that in regions with a warm climate, animals can spend most of their time on open pastures and in paddocks. But in those places where winters are cold and long, it is impossible to cope without a properly organized warm room.

The most convenient and The right way breeding is stall-pasture. It lies in the fact that in the warm season the animals will spend more time outside, and in the winter - in the stall. Also, success will largely depend on how to care for the sheep. Although animals are unpretentious, they still require certain conditions. Also learn about this from the video.

Raising lambs requires some mandatory conditions. Firstly, it is best if the babies grow under the uterus. This will save you from the additional hassle of feeding the animals. Lambs can grow under the uterus for up to 3-4 months. After this period, the young animals should be weaned and transferred to an adult feeding diet.

Secondly, maintenance requires a warm structure. The babies are kept in the same stall with the queen. They must have constant access to clean, fresh water. You also need to carefully monitor the health of the lambs. At a young age, they are susceptible to various viral diseases and colds.

How to maintain?

During the warm season, sheep should spend more time outdoors. This could be a pasture or a special paddock. Such conditions contribute to the proper development of the body and stimulate hair growth. Animals are not afraid of the cold, but their bodies are vulnerable to dampness, drafts and rain. Therefore, not far from the sheepfold there should be a special paddock under a canopy. Animals must hide in it from the rain and scorching sun.

In order for sheep to feel comfortable, they need space. So, in open areas, 2-4 square meters should be allocated for each individual. A walking yard is best made from poles. In winter, in dry weather, sheep are driven into the pen for 2-4 hours a day. Nursery feeders and water troughs must be installed on the walking area. See the video for more details.

Containment room

The building for animals should be dry and light enough. It is better to choose wood and brick as the main material for construction. The floors must be made of adobe. Light is very important for the proper development of animals, so the barn must have windows. According to the rules, the floor area must be 15 times larger than the glazed surface area of ​​the windows.

To maintain a good microclimate, the room must be spacious and ventilated. For one individual, the house is allocated about 2 square meters of area. For lambs, 0.7-0.8 is required, and for a ram - 3 square meters of free space. The temperature in winter should not be lower than 6-7 degrees for adults, for young animals - not lower than 10 degrees Celsius.

Feeding ration

Just for one adult sheep per household The following amount of feed will be required:

• 150 kilograms of hay;
• 100 kg of straw;
• 200-250 kg of succulent feed;
• 100 kg of concentrates.

Video “Everything about caring for and raising sheep”

In this story you can learn in more detail about the history of lamb breeding. Experts will also tell you about all the nuances that every beginning livestock breeder should know about.

home » How to earn » How to breed sheep at home. Feeding ewes and young animals. The best sheep breeds for home breeding