Some breads of sheep have horns. There are breads where just the rams have horns and others where the ram and ewe have them. The sheep's horns will grow throughout their life with most growth during the first three years of their life. The horn has blood flowing through it and will bleed alot if cut. The sheep's horns curl and spiral. Partial horns are called scurs. Many are of the opinon that the horns give more beauty to the sheep.  You must be extra careful when dealing with horned sheep. A puck from a horned sheep can do more damage than a polled headed sheep. Don't bend over when feeding or maintaining the horned sheep, even the quiet sheep are capable of an unpredicted attack. There must be care and maintenance done with the horns of the sheep. The horned sheep can get themselves into trouble by getting their horns stuck in fences, feeders and trees. This can be distressing for the sheep if caught too long. It can put their lives at risk from...

Docking is the shortening of the lambs tail. A high percentage of farmers dock their lambs tails. The sheep's tail protects its udder and vulva from weather extremes. Some buyers do not like a docked lamb they prefer undocked especially some ethnic buyers. Not all breads of sheep need to be docked, some breads have short tails such as the Icelandic and Shetland. The docking of the lambs tail prevents fecal matter gathering on them.Docking the tail reduces the occurrence of wool maggots. A lambs tail should be docked before they are 6 weeks of age. You should not dock a wet lamb or in wet conditions to prevent infections. The most popular and known as safest way to dock a lamb is to use RUBBER RINGS known as Banding The lamb will experience some pain for 10 to 20 minutes It is the best method for lay people You use rubber rings and an elastrator tool to apply the rings Be hygenic and do the procedure in a clean area to prevent infection The tail is pulled thro...

You can estimate the age of a sheep by looking at its teeth. The lamb is usually born with no teeth.At one week the baby teeth will erupt. They will be on the front lower jaw. At 2 months the lamb will have 8 baby teeth. These baby teeth will be replaced by permanent incisors. When the lamb is one years old to 19 months old it will have 2 central incisors and 6 baby teeth. From 18 months to 24 months it will have 2 central incisors, 2 middle incisors and 4 baby teeth. From 24 to 36 months it will have 2central incisors, 2 middle incisors, 2 lateral incisors and 2 baby teeth. At 28 to 48 months the lamb will have 2 central incisors, 2 middle, incisors, 2 lateral incisors and 2 corner incisors. All the baby teeth have been replaced at this stage. When a sheep is 5 years their teeth will begin to move apart, break and fall out. At 6 to 8 years old there will be wide spacing between their teeth. A sheep has no top teeth just a dental pad. Old sheep with aged teeth will n...

A healthy lamb that has a good bond with a ewe who has adequate milk can be put out to pasture at one to two weeks. If you have a smaller paddock close to your home with nowhere for predators to hide in it would be ideal for a newborn and ewe. Foxes like to stalk their pray behind coverage like tall grasses, rocks,  bushes and trees. If you want to put the lambs  with the ewe out  into pasture ensure that the field is small flat and closely cropped. Dont put too many new lambs and ewes into the same field as the lambs and ewes can get confused and loose each other. You should number the ewes and lambs with each other. As the lambs get older they can be put into larger groups of ewes and lambs. Try not to pasture the new lambs near streams or rivers as there is a high chance of losing lambs to drowning. Ensure that there is some form of shelter in the field as with bad weather conditions there could be lambs lost to chilling and hypothermia.   ...

One of the first things you must consider when managing a sheep farm is when to have your lambing season. You must decide weather to have early lambing or late lambing. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.You need to consider the interaction between lambing and your other farming activities. Your labour resources, the food markets, your farm buildings, your farm budget, feed prices, state of the world economy and many other factors should effect your decision. In the past decade there has been and increase in late lambing. Early Lambing Early lambing occurs in winter and the start of spring. Early lambing fits in better with the full time farmers schedule. With early lambing there is more time to do the spring schedule of land planting, calving, setting the seeds for the summer harvesting.With early lambing you have money in the bank by the time the summer months arrive. Lambs born in winter are usually sold for a higher price than those born in the spring...