Keeping Sheep: What You Actually Need to Know
Sheep are an easy to moderate choice to keep, known for being calm, flock-oriented, skittish if handled roughly with a typical lifespan of 10–12 years.
Thinking about adding sheep to the homestead? Here's the fuller picture behind our printable guide.
Rotate the pasture
Sheep are efficient grazers and, like most ruminants, do best on rotated pasture — moving them between paddocks improves pasture health and helps manage worm burdens.
Getting Set Up
Shelter — simple shelter or shade — sheep are generally hardy and need less housing than pigs or goats. Fencing — standard stock fencing; sheep are less prone to escaping than goats. Bedding — straw if housed overnight, though many setups rely mainly on shelter belts and shade.
Looking After Them Day to Day
Worth paying attention to:
- Rotate grazing paddocks to manage pasture and parasite load.
- Provide hay when pasture is poor, especially over summer dry spells or winter.
- Shear annually if keeping a wool breed.
- Keep in groups — sheep are strongly flock-oriented and stressed when alone.
Keeping Them Healthy
Keep these points in mind:
- Worms — manage with pasture rotation and monitoring; resistance is a growing issue, so avoid over-reliance on drenching alone.
- Flystrike — particularly in wool breeds in warm, humid weather; regular checks and shearing help prevent it.
- Footrot — in wet conditions; keep ground as dry as practical and trim hooves as needed.
- Predator risk to lambs — secure paddocks at lambing time.
Production and Harvest
Processing age: 4–12 months for meat breeds depending on target size. Wool — shorn annually, typically spring, for wool breeds. Yield — roughly 40–50% of live weight as dressed meat. Storage — meat: fridge a few days, freezes well. Wool: store clean and dry until processed or sold.
For the quick-reference printable version of everything above, see the main sheep guide page.