There have been some hard lessons learned on the homestead since we have moved here. The one that was most painful and stressful were the sheep we tried to originally raise here. I was convinced that I wanted to raise my animals naturally without medicines, wormers and being grass fed as much as possible.
Our mistake was picking the worst possible sheep breed for that challenge. We were doomed before we ever began. Literally, one of the two sheep we were gifted early on died before we even got to the land we live on now. When we finally moved on our current location, we bought more sheep of the same breed. One by one they kept dying. Our animal investment that was supposed to slowly multiply was instead quickly diminishing! This wasn't working out how I had imagined.
Commercial Breeds
Then someone very wise came and told me that this was cattle country and that the problem was worms in the ground. We had purchased what are called Commercial Breed Sheep. The breed was Shropshire and they are known for heavy meat and wool production. But they are grown on commercial farms where they only survive because they receive heavy doses of wormer and medicines and they basically live out of the GMO feed bucket. Over the centuries they were bred to the productions levels they are at now but during that time, all of their beneficial hardiness was also bred out of the animal. Sure they produced lots of meat and wool but their bodies could no longer fend off attacks of parasites or pull out of certain sicknesses. They were WEAK!
Heritage Breeds
So I started searching out Heritage Breed Sheep. I found a breed called the St. Croix which originates from the Virgin Island's island of St. Croix. They are a medium sized sheep and while they don't produce as much meat, they are hardy and resist parasitic infections.
After our disastrous bout with the Shropshires, a friend @shalomacres with a herd of St. Croix offered to give us two wether sheep (meaning males no longer in tact) to test for about 6 months. Because of the other sheep disaster, we thought maybe our pastures were too parasite infected to keep any breed alive. But the St. Croix did great and 6 months later we went back and purchased 2 breeding ewes and a ram. The only wormers I've given these sheep were some locally grown tobacco leaves. And not because they needed it, I just worked it into their diet every so often.
This week, the first of those females dropped two healthy females. Females are important as they will be needed to expand the herd in the years to come. So having two extra breeding females really is fantastic!
The weather this week hasn't been too cold so that will be good to get these girls going strong. But its really been wet with lots of rain. So we are trying to keep them separated and dry.
We are giving them fresh straw bedding every day and momma is happy with the alfalfa pellets she is getting. The lambs are happily wagging their tales when they are feeding from momma. When the weather dries out, we will take them out and get more pictures. The rest of the sheep pen is a messy swamp with all the rain we are getting.
One more thing I will add. We like natural products here on the homestead. You will often see it recommended to disinfect the naval of newborns and the remaining cord stump. People will suggest a variety of disinfectants for this task. We have chosen to use Nixall. It's a natural product that is a disinfectant that is actually found in the human body that destroys bacteria, viruses and pathogens. You can learn more at their website. We are looking forward to visiting with the Nixall team at the spring planting festival at Baker Creek in May. We hope to see you there!
So we have new sheep on the homestead! YAY!
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