My youngest son (age 13) has just started into 4H this year. Today we went to lease the animal he is going to raise for the county fair -- a Suffolk breed sheep. Being city folk, we have never worked with livestock before so I was wondering if anyone had any sheep tips they could pass along. There will be a clinic he can attend in a couple of weeks but I was hoping that someone would have some tips that would help him as he learns to work with his sheep. Any help would be appreciated.

Fences. GOOD fences. Watch out for neighborhood dogs who, singly or in packs, love to chase anything that will run from them. Packs of "nice" dogs do a hellish lot of damage, even while their owners are swearing they are sweethearts and would never touch an animal. If seen, they can be discouraged with strong sprays of water mixed with ammonia, which burns but won't do much damage. Otherwise, always be alert for any dogs not in their owners' yards.

really??? u can LEASE sheep for 4 H projects??? I had no idea.....

Sheep - I love them.
Have good fences.
Save all your receipts for feed - even the tags on the bags - some companies five $$$ back if you turn them in with how you did.
Sent a pm

"Fences. GOOD fences." We let a friend keep his sheep in our pasture. The little buggers found a spot where our cattle had pushed on the page wire to get to the greener grass on the other side of the fence. No matter how I fixed that fence, the sheep would work that same spot till they got out again into the soybean field. They remember the weakest spot!

I don't know whether this would be the same for sheep but I have heard this said about goats-- "if it will hold water...it will hold a goat"!!

Buy a good quality sheep feed mix from a feed mill, not a farm store. Plenty of fresh water 24/7. Keep plenty of fresh straw in the stall to keep it warm and dry. Work with the animal daily to form good habits and training while it's still very young. If it's really young and still needs milk, be sure to use a good quality milk replacer for sheep only. They need a super rich formula that you can not get from other milk replacers. Best of luck! Raising animals is great for kids, they learn so many life skills doing this. Patience, empathy, kindness, perseverance and more.

You can here though I don't know about other places. It is really the only way the suburb dwellers like us could do 4H since you can't really keep livestock in the back yard. We're really lucky because one of the nearby school districts has a farm project and they have a 4H group.

I know virgin wool comes from ugly sheep. :XD: :XD: :XD: :XD:

All I know about sheep is Lil BoPeep lost hers! :oops: