# Grass fed only sheep



## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I am looking for a breed of WOOL sheep that can be grass fed only - without an expensive special forage mix meadow. I have grass - lots of it. But it's just your old basic grass with "some" clover and alfalfa in. Is there a breed that can be raised grass only easily? I know Jacobs can be - OurLittleFarm here does it. I bought Finns for their wonderful fleeces, size, mothering ability, etc. i talked with everyone I could find about them. Breeders I bought my ewes from assured me that they don't feed anything but grass. Now, they are saying how you can't raise them on grass alone due to the multiple births. Hum? I will feed my sheep a bit of grain anyway as long as I can afford it and it's available. But if it isn't available, or becomes too expensive, I'd like to know that I am building a flock that I can keep. 

Anyone want to brag on their breed?


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

You "can" do most any breed, but their reproduction/milk production will be less without grains, and you run the risk of prenancy toxemia in late gestation, and "milk" fever while they are nursing.

When not in late gestation or nursing, they can do fine on just pasture


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## Curtis B (Aug 15, 2008)

I will go with OLF on the Jacobs, mine never get grain. I also have a corridale that seems to do just as well w/o grain.


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## wendle (Feb 22, 2006)

It isn't just the breed you are looking for, but the bloodlines. I found it best to stay away from buying sheep from flocks that are fed a high percentage of grain/bag feeds. They seem to need all that extra to thrive. I have had the best luck with crossbreeds out of nice purebreds. This way you get some good wool genetics and the hybrid vigor.


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## Our Little Farm (Apr 26, 2010)

Well again, I will brag on the Jacobs as mentioned. Very hardy breed. Easy to work with. You should see the size of my lambs born end Jan. Stocky big and fat! LOL
An HT member came here today and picked up the ram lamb she had bought. She seemed very pleased with him.  She also raises Jacobs.


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## PNP Katahdins (Oct 28, 2008)

Production Dorsets (not show ones) could do well for you. Talk to Jason Alberda at Twin Maple Farms at Zeeland, MI. His website is http://www.twinmaplefarms.com/

If he isn't doing grass-only, he should know someone with production Dorsets who is. We have a nice Yahoo group that is really active at http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ProdDorsetBreeders.

Our wool meat flock is mostly Dorset- and Polypay-based with some Ile de France and black-face mixed in. I really like what we are getting from the production Dorset and Ile de France crosses. However we are moving towards more registered Katahdins amd fewer wool sheep every year.

Peg


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## birchtreefarm (Jul 22, 2007)

Callieslamb said:


> I am looking for a breed of WOOL sheep that can be grass fed only - without an expensive special forage mix meadow. I have grass - lots of it. But it's just your old basic grass with "some" clover and alfalfa in. Is there a breed that can be raised grass only easily? I know Jacobs can be - OurLittleFarm here does it. I bought Finns for their wonderful fleeces, size, mothering ability, etc. i talked with everyone I could find about them. Breeders I bought my ewes from assured me that they don't feed anything but grass. Now, they are saying how you can't raise them on grass alone due to the multiple births. Hum? I will feed my sheep a bit of grain anyway as long as I can afford it and it's available. But if it isn't available, or becomes too expensive, I'd like to know that I am building a flock that I can keep.
> 
> Anyone want to brag on their breed?


Well, Icelandics are a breed that is well-suited to a grassfed situation. They evolved in Iceland where grain was never grown, so they had to survive on what they had. That doesn't mean that some breeders don't use grain or supplements (we use beet pulp sometimes, or alfalfa pellets or sometimes sheep pellets). Many only use alfalfa pellets or something on occasion or as a bribe to move the sheep around. But I don't think very many people use corn for example - they'd get really fat!

There are lots of Icelandic breeders in MI so you should be able to talk to several and get an idea. I think if you have good native pasture and access to good hay (first cut is fine) for the winter, Icelandics would be a good choice.

Edited to add: One of the biggest Icelandic breeders (she has now unfortunately passed on) did believe strongly that you needed legumes in your pasture. She never grained, as far as I know, and lambed on pasture, and did not "baby" her sheep (she had a few hundred of them), but she did believe in seeding in some legume if you didn't already have it.


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## VA Shepherd (Dec 26, 2010)

Cotswolds! If you want them for milk, as bearfootfarm said, a little supplementation during lactation is good, but they are built for lean pastures, produce a LOT of wool, and the meat is mild. Mine are really easy keepers; they get dangerously fat on grain, entertainingly plump on alfalfa, so all I give them is grass outside of flushing/lactation (I do milk them). 

Plus, they're cute.... 

Black Welsh Mountain Sheep are also good on lean pastures, they're smaller than Cotswolds, as smart as Icelandics, great flavor even in mutton, and great if you don't mind all black wool and horns.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I have looked at Icelandics and Cotswolds. I will look further. I do feed grain and will for as long. I'm not worried about color - just raising them well and being able to sell them. I'm not planning to milk a sheep for MILK....but like a milky line of ewes for the lambs. 

What is dorset wool like?

Thanks Wendle - good thought.
OLF- if I lived closer, I'd relieve you of a few of those lambs too. Do they cause any trouble for you with the horns...besides being handles for working them?


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## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

Callie, *all* wool breeds can be successfully reared on grass, it's the management of doing so that can cause the problems.

I have always grass farmed sheep and have never grain fed, not even during pregnancy and this is where management comes into it - learning when and how to save pasture so that ewes in the latter stages of pregnancy can go on to a rising plain of nutrition so that sleepy sickness (pregnancy toxemia) doesn't occur, knowing when to shear so that ewes don't go into winter with too much wool but enough to give a good covering given that they will be pregnant. 

Over the years I've had various breeds of sheep but have come back to the Romney and will stay with them. They are not a big sheep (or shouldn't be) but are the ideal dual purpose in that they produce a good carcass and a good fleece. They deal well with heat, humidity and cold, have few foot problems, make good mothers and are not flighty. No sheep with wool is ever going to be "easy-care" but my personal opinion is that this breed is probably one of the best. I also feel that with the "fancy" breeds out there, this old fashioned breed is now overlooked when in fact it would suit most smallholders needs very well.

And as an aside, I don't have good grass either - mainly Kykuyu - and sheep do very well on it.

Cheers,
Ronnie


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

As always you have to ask locally whats going to work and then try not to stray too far off what they do. SW Michigan sounds like a cold place, where you're going to need a little supplimental grains to offset the unheard of cold, places like New Mexico or Texas never get.


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## Our Little Farm (Apr 26, 2010)

Callieslamb said:


> I have looked at Icelandics and Cotswolds. I will look further. I do feed grain and will for as long. I'm not worried about color - just raising them well and being able to sell them. I'm not planning to milk a sheep for MILK....but like a milky line of ewes for the lambs.
> 
> What is dorset wool like?
> 
> ...


We used to have one 4 horn ram that had to have a small part of his horn nipped off as it was curling under his chin. He had been kept with many rams before we got him and had been in fights that made that happen. 
Other than that, no problems at all. They make great handles for holding them for cd&t shots etc..

I also love Romney sheep and have worked with huge flocks.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

Okay - great ideas. I'd like to stick with a small sheep. No 300 lb rams to deal with, please! LOL! We are so cold here for so long - no grazing yet, though they try. I can graze may through most of Sept - if we don't have a drought. Not many sheep here at all. I have to get my feed store to order the feed for them special. A few suffolk. I think I'd like a softer fleece than the Romney. My sheep got really fat just on grass last year. They are more 'normal' looking now nursing twins and on hay and scant grass.


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## Our Little Farm (Apr 26, 2010)

So why do you want to change breeds? Sounds like your Suffolks are doing well.


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## sbanks (Dec 19, 2010)

check out this guy in Olivet, MI. He raises Icelandics and they look wonderful. I talk to him often about a ram that I purchased here locally and he is very knowledgeable.
Queso Cabeza Farm - Llamas and Icelandic Sheep
www.QuesoCabezaFarm.com


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## birchtreefarm (Jul 22, 2007)

Callieslamb said:


> Now, they are saying how you can't raise them on grass alone due to the multiple births. Hum? I will feed my sheep a bit of grain anyway as long as I can afford it and it's available. But if it isn't available, or becomes too expensive, I'd like to know that I am building a flock that I can keep.


I just re-read your post and focused on this part. If you want to build a flock that you can keep without needing any grain, then don't feed any grain, and keep the animals that thrive, and cull the rest. I don't mean you have to butcher them if they are otherwise good sheep - you could sell them to folks who like/want to feed grain. But if you don't want to have to grain, then start now, NOT graining, and keep the ones that do best under those conditions.

Use alfalfa pellets or something like that for bribes. It's not grain, and will achieve the same results of getting your sheep to follow a bucket.


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## bruce2288 (Jul 10, 2009)

Look at the grazing in the arid mountain states and get an idea what sheep can survive on. Rambolliet are one of the major breeds used in those areas, fine, soft wool, very high on the scale for commercial wool. I do not know about hand spinning. Multiple birth sheep would not be my choice if I did not want to feed supplements.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

birchtreefarm said:


> I just re-read your post and focused on this part. If you want to build a flock that you can keep without needing any grain, then don't feed any grain, and keep the animals that thrive, and cull the rest. I don't mean you have to butcher them if they are otherwise good sheep - you could sell them to folks who like/want to feed grain. But if you don't want to have to grain, then start now, NOT graining, and keep the ones that do best under those conditions.
> 
> Use alfalfa pellets or something like that for bribes. It's not grain, and will achieve the same results of getting your sheep to follow a bucket.


Good idea.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

Our Little Farm said:


> So why do you want to change breeds? Sounds like your Suffolks are doing well.


I have Finns. They are doing well. I love, love, love their fleeces....however, if I absolutely HAVE to feed grain....that might cause trouble up the road. So rather than get all set with Finns - maybe I need to start slowly switching to a cross-breed or something to develop a flock I could sell as able to be raised on grass. Better start switching now before I put any more money into what I have.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

Why do such small sheep cost so much? that's my complaint with Finns/Icelandics/shetlands.....I'm selling mine for $200 - and they are from great lines.


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## houndlover (Feb 20, 2009)

Callieslamb said:


> Why do such small sheep cost so much? that's my complaint with Finns/Icelandics/shetlands.....I'm selling mine for $200 - and they are from great lines.


Cuteness factor. I was thinking of some of those babydolls, but every breeder on the west coast wants as much for ONE as I'd pay for 3 good suffolks or hamps.


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## VA Shepherd (Dec 26, 2010)

Some of the smaller breeds, Babydolls in particular, are really in demand right now. A lot of vineyard owners have gotten the word that small sheep will control weeds but cannot reach the vines, and there's been a boom in the short sheep market. I've seen them use Icelandics, Babydolls, and Black Welsh Mountain, but anything short will do. There's been interest among fruit growers, too, for the same thing in orchards.

And yeah, definitely the cuteness factor!


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## bruce2288 (Jul 10, 2009)

Houndlover. I don't see many hamps around here anymore and the ones I do see are vurtually identical to a suffolk. Do you have old style hamps in your area still, brown sock wool, wool on faces and broad heads and backs ?


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I have to admit- mine are really cute. But I just won't put that price tag on them. The sellers will run themselves out of business - like llamas and alpacas.


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## ajaxlucy (Jul 18, 2004)

Are Shetlands too small for you? Mine do fine on just ordinary grass/browse/hay. I don't flush or supplement, save for treats to keep them friendly. The yearling ewes had single lambs and the older ewes all had twins this spring, even after the drought last year. I have had some horned ewes that had first-time birthing difficulties, but got rid of that line and have had no problems since, just east lambing and good mothering (thank goodness!).


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I am not sure about shetlands. They are one I am considering. I think it would more depend on their fleece than their size. I don't want BIG - 175 lbs knocked me off my feet last year. That's about as big on a ram that I want to go. But I doubt I can make many meat sales with them. I know some do, but not where I live.

From reading here, I remember when I bought my corriedale/Finn cross ewe, the seller said all they need is corn. I thought he was making a statement on ALL sheep. He was a shepherd for 50 years. He culled heavily those that didn't have triplets, needed help lambing, couldn't raise their own babies, etc. I think he had a line that he had worked with that he knew could raise 3-4 lambs on pasture, hay, and some corn. YThat makes more sense to me now than when I first heard it. I just didn't see how they could make decent fleece and raise that many lambs on corn.


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