We had twins born yesterday morning.

This is the boy with one black ear

Hi! New to sheep, just put them in the pasture today. The pasture used to be used for cows and there's giant patches of Alfalfa growing. There's conflicting things on the Internet, is fresh alfalfa as toxic to sheep as the Internet is saying? Or will they be fine? The pasture ground cover is completely grass, but big patches here and there of the alfalfa.

These two are the best things I’ve ever bought, really good natured and fun to have around! Left is a ewe lamb and on the right the ram lamb

Can’t resist sharing my sweet girl!
She’s the start of my purebred Valais Blacknose breeding

One of my pet Sheep (George) is lame on his front right so i wanted to check on him before calling the vet. He's quite a big sheep (definitely weighs more than me) which makes it really hard for me to sit him down alone. I've watched numerous videos on the techniques but i feel like none of them really work for me. If i try to hold him at the nose/mouth he just pulls his head down. I did manage to sit him down eventually and look at the hoof but it would have been way nicer with the right tecnique.

We usually do it with two people which works okay, but I'd like to be able to also handle my sheep alone.

Do you have any tips or tricks for me to sit down big boy George? ;)

Hi!!

I’m looking for a job to work with sheep!
I’ve already worked with them before, I’m not a total newbie but I do have some more to learn.
I volunteered as a shepherd in British Columbia for a summer (100 sheep and goats), in Romania (15 goats) and I worked with 10 sheep this summer.
I know how to cut their nails, move them around, clean their sleeping areas, I helped giving worm medicine to a herd and I also helped cleaning a open wound from a coyote until it healed (while giving the sheep proper medicine and flys repulsive).
I fluently speak English even tho I understand way better than I write or speak haha
My native language is French.
I would love to travel wherever and I don’t mind volunteering in exchange of food and shelter (I am not homeless I just love sheep and traveling).

If you’re looking for a shepherd and I qualify to what you need, please message me in private and we can discuss more! :))

Ps: I hope I don’t sound creepy or anything, this is my first time using this platform and it’s just hard to find someone who need a shepherd so I’m trying something new.

That was actually just a random location in Norway. Saw the greenish ponds from the car and thought they would be worth a photo, parking nearby and got lucky with the sheep chilling there :) Still one of my favorite photos I have ever captured.

There are several sheepdog simulator games. This is mine. It runs in a browser and is free to play. I have been working on it on and off for a year. It has been rebuilt several times from scratch. The controls need some tuning but i am happy with the art style.

Maybe a new feature would be to let players name the sheep and have some campaign mode. I have had live multiplayer modes and survival campaigns but nothing outside the core loop of herding has been "fun". I hope you all like it and if you have any ideas or feedback feel free to let me know. I move fast so you might even see it incorporated into the game in no time at all.

Link: https://sheepdogsim.com/

I just picked up 4 yearling corsicans. They run away when you try to catch them, but once you’re holding them they are calm and sweet. Now that they are home and in their pen, how can I help them become familiarized so I can keep up with their health and tend them (and love them)? If I sit with them every day will they get used to me and allow me to pet and tend them? Do I need to train them in some way? Obviously a massive amount of sheep husbandry involves handling them and I want that to be as low stress as possible for them

This is Carl Wether. He’s a pretty chill guy

He's a week old already. Really love scratching his head

My sheep having a late winter frolick... Enjoying life. I have never seen them do this before..is play within a flock normal behaviour

Can someone help me set up a diet plan for a lot of sheep I am going to purchase?

I posted a quick photo reel of my favourite ram who moved to my sisters farm the other day, and here's a quick update on how he's doing :)

My sister's been taking great care of him and placed him on a seperate field with two of her (intact) ram lambs!

First 3 days they were a bit scared of him, but considering he's a 3 year old ram (on his 4th year now I think?), alongside the absoloutely massive size difference. No wonder they were scared of my guy !!

But now they're eating from the same hay, and they've been caught sleeping huddled together! So happy for my lil guy, glad he's fitting into this mini flock heh.

Planning on visiting him next weekend! I'll probably make another post when I visit him just to show off how he's doing, he's an absoloutely gorgeous guy. 🫶❤️

(*Fun little side note: It's very likely he's c.a 25% Spælsau, meanwhile he's 75% Old Norwegian sheep. But that's an assumption! One of the other farmers in my area suggested that he could be a lamb of their previous ram that got sold to 5 seperate farmers, they said he had similar colours, the size & overall features.)

I keep seeing this cute little guy and was wondering what kind of sheep it is? The location seems to be Brazil or another country in south america. Thanks!

Hello everyone!!

Looking for some good reccomendations for wool centric combs/brushes, specifically for double coated shedding sheep with varying wool textures?
I spend a lot of time brushing/combing my rams, makes them easier to handle in my experience. (Especially when it comes to medicating, transport, tick/parasite removal, etc.)

The breed I handle (Old Norwegian Sheep) is both double coated (under/overcoat), and naturally shed their own wool during spring/summer. When they shed it's their undercoat that goes.
Not only that, but the breed itself has a lot of variety between each individual sheep's wool texture; I've provided pictures of two rams I'm frequently working with for additional info, alongside a quick chart attached at the end I found (credit to Wikihow) of different hair textures.

(\Albeit, the chart is intended for human hair, but I thought it'd work to describe their coats in this case.*)

Breakdown of their individual coats:

The white/lighter coated one, nicknamed "Ein", has an overcoat that consists of 3A textured wool. Around his shoulders/back it shifts over to a course, yet sparse, 3C type texture.
His undercoat is closer to a 4A type texture, hard to see in the photos provided since it's relatively short still.

The grey guy, nicknamed "Stein", is closer to a 1C texture (with the exception of the curlier wool around his front elbows/sides being closer to 3A)
Meanwhile, his undercoat is a thick 4B, nearing 4C on the chart/scale (Again, very hard to see in the photos provided)

Biggest issue I have, especially when it comes to grooming Stein(grey ram), is that debris gets caught on the shorter undercoat wool and the overcoat traps it. Since the undercoat is so curly & dense it's incredibly hard to comb or brush out.

So far my solution has been to use a long-pinned broad slickerbrush to brush out the debris from the undercoat, followed by combing it out of the overcoat-- But especially on Ein(white ram) the comb I use gets stuck more easily in the curlier wool. Any suggestions?

Newbie sheep owners seeking advice. We have a small flock of mixed breeds.

Our three year old Romney ewe has over the last week suddenly slowed down. She is unsteady on her feet, unable to stand for more than five-ten minutes. She is sitting down to eat. She is trembling quite a lot, panting heavily and licking her lips. She is eating, though not quite as much as normal, pooping and peeing. She is otherwise attentive.

We have given her selenium and probiotics. We have flipped her to check for injuries and hoof issues. No sign of anything.

It has been warm, mid 20s Celsius for the last couple of weeks. It’s been hotter before and she’s been fine.

One more thing to note is that one of our other ewes (different breed) was sick for 3 days last week. We called the vet who said her rumen was not turning. We have her probiotics and she recovered and is back to normal.

Any advice or suggestions about what it could be would be much appreciated.

EDIT: Her dirty tail is stained wool from urine. She always has a discoloured tail. Her poop is normal. Her tail was not docked by the previous owner. We wash her tail a few times a year and trim the wool by hand on the backside of the tail and around her underside.

EDIT: She is out in the field all day and I have been moving them around with mobile fencing to areas of grass/meadow/brush. Consisting a mix of short and tall grass, various types of wildflower and weed, wild rose, and etc. I don’t think there’s anything there that is toxic or that she hasn’t eaten before. She is a forager. She has access to dry hay overnight.

The only thing that has really changed in the last few weeks is that we switched from oats to ewe pellets for shepherding. She gets a handful of pellets at the start and end of the day to live her around.

Hi all! I’m looking for a way to get the type of wool that is normally discarded. I’m in central TX but willing to drive a few hours. I’m aware it’s not shearing season, but figured I’d ask/ plan ahead.

Thank you!

Hey guys, stuff has kinda gone to shit on the farm so I’m moving on and bringing my portion of the flock with me. A couple pregnant ewes, twin ram lambs, and my pet only ewe. I will just be keeping them as pets/wool sheep now and if I get any ram lambs out of my girls next year they’ll be weathered young as standard HOWEVER, this years boys were supposed to be show rams/breeders so are intact. They were my first lambs of my own, I was there for their birth and won rosettes over the summer. I know I shouldn’t get attached but these boys are very special, especially since I’m having to leave my favourite ram behind.

I will be keeping them separated and getting them castrated by a vet as they’re too old to band now but I’m wondering about the long term impact and any management allowances they’ll need. The only castrated rams I’ve met were either done as newborns or were vasectomised as teasers rather than a full castration. I’ve worked with plenty of ex stallions, rigs, and proud cut horses but I’m not too proud to admit I’m kinda lost about late cut rams. I ASSUME they’ll just slot into the flock but I’d rather not find out the hard way.

Will they be able to peacefully live with the girls full time once they’re healed up? I’m planning to separate out the 2 pregnant ewes and their lambs for a bit, and then wean the lambs in may, and then have them all live together again this time next year. Has anyone had fully castrated males causing issues at certain times of year? For anyone who has had both, did you notice a difference in males that had or had not covered ewes before being snipped?

Additionally I’m assuming it’d be best to do them around lambing (February ish) when it’s starting to get dry again but the flies aren’t too bad yet. I’d hope to do it a bit sooner if possible if I can create a good enough dry standing for them though. Please correct me if wrong.

FOR CONTEXT: we’re in the uk. They have never covered but they did get into the commercial breeding flock once, small numbers, apparently they were interested but they and the working ram (half brother) were all very peaceful (I found them napping together when I went to remove them) so I think their temperament is good for it. They’re a breed known for being pretty soft and laid back, when I took my guy to a show he was unbothered about literally everything so I don’t think they’ll cause any trouble. I will have a small area penned off for handling/isolation (eg medical) just in case.

Thanks as always ♥️

Sheepies when the task requires no sheepies (I love her so very much)

Patches is the brown and black one. CC, (Cookies & Cream is his government name) is, well, you can tell. Both rams at my friend's farm.