# ideas for sheep corral



## catdance62 (Dec 7, 2008)

Wow, I haven't posted anything on this site in a long time! Anyways, I have been successfully raising dairy goats for about 5 year now, and got into sheep by accident. We were given 3 sheep (a ewe and her 2 lambs, one of each sex) about 2 years ago. We decided to get 3 more ewes of some dubious breeding (Barbado and Painted Desert) because we had a large field were weren't using. Well, you know what sheep do when they get together....they multiply. Especially if you don't separate the ram. These sheep are all pretty wild, unlike my goats which are totally handlable (they have to be, they are dairy goats). I honestly have never given them any special care other than feeding them alfalfa pellets every day (that is what the goats get), loose sheep mineral, hay, and fresh water. They seem to be pretty hardy and are healthy-looking and have babies with ease. I have decided that since there are quite a few now (10 adults and now 5 babies born within the last 2 weeks) I need to be able to round them up and tag them, or give them some kind of care etc. We generally eat the boy lambs or sell the meat, just keeping one ram to service the does. To cull the lambs when they are big enough we just shoot them so we've never had to round them up for any reason. So far they seem to be seasonal breeders like the goats, coming into heat in the early fall. (we control the breeding of our goats). SO, here's the question: I am looking for plans for a sheep corral and a chute. These need to be EASY to understand plans, or if someone can just tell me the dimensions I need that would be great. I know that the sides need to be solid (I watched some sheep-handling videos). Any suggestions would be great. Thanks in advance.


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## houndlover (Feb 20, 2009)

I just use a pile of 16' hog panels in different configurations and pound in a metal fence post here and there to support them. Attach with heavy zip ties. Been using this system for years with no problems. When sheep working time is over, pull the posts and pile up the panels until next time. We also use an older horse round pen (that we used for horses). We lined the panels with pieces of field fencing, again attached with zip ties.


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## jklloyd (Mar 28, 2011)

I built a pen with a chute on the side made with planks on wooden posts. The chute is narrow so that the sheep can not or barely turn around. This allows me to pile them together and grab the one I want for worming etc. It also makes loading in trailer or separating them easy. The chute is probably 12 ft long and two feet wide with gate on each end. I can get all the sheep in the chute (about 15 max) and push them in with a cattle panel that sweeps them in once they are in the pen. Prior to that it was very difficult to work the sheep. Now I can do it by myself.


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## catdance62 (Dec 7, 2008)

jklloyd--approximately how big is the pen? Is it square or round? also, how high are the sides? it is obvious that my sheep can jump like deer, but I assume that is because they can get a running start, so the pen should not be too big.


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## Laura Workman (May 10, 2002)

I went to pick up a couple Barbados ewes. They were in a horse stall with solid walls, thank goodness! Those girls went up those walls like they had wings! With stock panels, they just tried to run through them. Seems like maybe see-through is better.


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## catdance62 (Dec 7, 2008)

Yeah, we have an old corral and chute leftover from when we had cattle made from cattle panels and there was no sense in doing anything with them in there.


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