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Wooly Lawn Mowers for Fun and Profit

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by Allena Jackson

You will want to separate your sheep from your personal use areas, as well as from shrubs, trees and yard plants that you don't want consumed.  You will also need to check to make sure you aren't growing anything that is toxic to sheep.  The manure will be dropped here and there, and is usually dry and pellet like, such as what deer leave.  It has a very low odor and is easy to clean up, but can be profuse.  A small fence around children's play areas and your house might be nice, so that you can avoid the mess and clean up of the manure in these areas.  Most areas of lawn are not an issue, but you will want to keep your entrances to your house, walkways and high use areas off limits to the sheep, unless the frequent piles of pellets are not bothersome to you.  It should not be a problem except in areas for barbecuing, swing-sets and other places where people will be walking, sitting and enjoying the grassy area regularly.  It is a very good idea to fence these areas off, so that manure is not a problem to clean up, and you can avoid constantly tracking it into your home. 

In other areas, the manure will wash down into the ground nicely with each rain and is perfectly suited to be applied directly to gardens and beds.  The area where the sheep bed down and chew their cud will accumulate a large amount of manure, so be sure to make this place somewhere that this will not be a problem.  They will provide your lawn with excellent fertilizer year round, and your grass will look green, very healthy and lush if you ensure that it is not overgrazed and gets plenty of water.  Any manure that needs to be removed is easily raked up and applied on the garden, flower beds or around trees.  If you place a bit of straw or mulch on top of it, it will make a wonderfully rich and nutrient rich place for optimum growing for almost all plants.  It need not be aged, or composted before application as it is a very neutral type of manure, perfectly suited to this sort of application.

Your sheep will have some basic needs that must be provided, besides food and health care.  They need plenty of fresh water and shady areas during the warmer times of year.  They also require shelter from wind and rain throughout the year.  These are the minimum environment requirements for most breeds of sheep.  You can make small shelters for them, out of unusual and often free materials.  We have very successfully made shelters from old camper shells people have given us.  The cost of these structures is minimal, a platform to raise them high enough for the sheep to enter, and often we needed to board up a missing window.  These are wonderful because you can open the working windows in summer for good ventilation.  Hoop houses can also work well, and some shepherds even use old trampolines with tarps and other odd things to make inexpensive and useful shelters for their sheep.  Depending on what you have around, and how inventive you can be, shelters can be very inexpensive.  Existing sheds, lean-tos and equipment buildings or barns also work very well for sheep.  The basic need is for shade outside in the warm seasons, and shelter from wind and rain all year around.  The basic shelter needs of sheep are easy to provide, and can often be made with little or no expense.

Your sheep will also need some basic mineral supplements, none of which need to cost much.  It is very good to provide sodium bi-carbonate (baking soda) for them all year, but especially when the grass is growing fast as this will help prevent bloat, which can be deadly.  They should also be given a mineral mix, or mineral block formulated just for sheep, as well as salt.  It is necessary to always give sheep foods that are formulated just for sheep, as they have a low copper tolerance, and can die from too much in their diet.  Goat feeds, dairy and many other feeds have much more copper than sheep can safely tolerate. 

Sheep do not require intense preventive care that requires special equipment or Veterinarian assistance.  Most shepherds can administer one or two types of shots, along with regular worming for optimum flock health.  Some areas may require more medical and preventive care than others, but it can all be done by the shepherd.  Good pasture rotation and avoiding overgrazing will eliminate many worm problems.  Regular worming and vaccinations are not expensive, and are well worth doing to prevent problems with health in your flock.  When worming and vaccinating, it is a perfect time to trim hooves, which should be done twice a year or more often as needed.  This is all easily done by the shepherd, and supplies are usually readily available.  Heavy pruning scissors can be used for trimming hooves.  The process of giving shots, worming and hoof trimming is about a 5 minute job for each sheep.  Shots are usually given once or twice a year to adult sheep, and lambs receive several doses at a young age.  The routine medical needs of sheep are few and not expensive to provide, and anyone can easily learn how to do these things themselves.

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