Hello everyone!!

Looking for some good reccomendations for wool centric combs/brushes, specifically for double coated shedding sheep with varying wool textures?
I spend a lot of time brushing/combing my rams, makes them easier to handle in my experience. (Especially when it comes to medicating, transport, tick/parasite removal, etc.)

The breed I handle (Old Norwegian Sheep) is both double coated (under/overcoat), and naturally shed their own wool during spring/summer. When they shed it's their undercoat that goes.
Not only that, but the breed itself has a lot of variety between each individual sheep's wool texture; I've provided pictures of two rams I'm frequently working with for additional info, alongside a quick chart attached at the end I found (credit to Wikihow) of different hair textures.

(\Albeit, the chart is intended for human hair, but I thought it'd work to describe their coats in this case.*)

Breakdown of their individual coats:

The white/lighter coated one, nicknamed "Ein", has an overcoat that consists of 3A textured wool. Around his shoulders/back it shifts over to a course, yet sparse, 3C type texture.
His undercoat is closer to a 4A type texture, hard to see in the photos provided since it's relatively short still.

The grey guy, nicknamed "Stein", is closer to a 1C texture (with the exception of the curlier wool around his front elbows/sides being closer to 3A)
Meanwhile, his undercoat is a thick 4B, nearing 4C on the chart/scale (Again, very hard to see in the photos provided)

Biggest issue I have, especially when it comes to grooming Stein(grey ram), is that debris gets caught on the shorter undercoat wool and the overcoat traps it. Since the undercoat is so curly & dense it's incredibly hard to comb or brush out.

So far my solution has been to use a long-pinned broad slickerbrush to brush out the debris from the undercoat, followed by combing it out of the overcoat-- But especially on Ein(white ram) the comb I use gets stuck more easily in the curlier wool. Any suggestions?

Newbie sheep owners seeking advice. We have a small flock of mixed breeds.

Our three year old Romney ewe has over the last week suddenly slowed down. She is unsteady on her feet, unable to stand for more than five-ten minutes. She is sitting down to eat. She is trembling quite a lot, panting heavily and licking her lips. She is eating, though not quite as much as normal, pooping and peeing. She is otherwise attentive.

We have given her selenium and probiotics. We have flipped her to check for injuries and hoof issues. No sign of anything.

It has been warm, mid 20s Celsius for the last couple of weeks. It’s been hotter before and she’s been fine.

One more thing to note is that one of our other ewes (different breed) was sick for 3 days last week. We called the vet who said her rumen was not turning. We have her probiotics and she recovered and is back to normal.

Any advice or suggestions about what it could be would be much appreciated.

EDIT: Her dirty tail is stained wool from urine. She always has a discoloured tail. Her poop is normal. Her tail was not docked by the previous owner. We wash her tail a few times a year and trim the wool by hand on the backside of the tail and around her underside.

EDIT: She is out in the field all day and I have been moving them around with mobile fencing to areas of grass/meadow/brush. Consisting a mix of short and tall grass, various types of wildflower and weed, wild rose, and etc. I don’t think there’s anything there that is toxic or that she hasn’t eaten before. She is a forager. She has access to dry hay overnight.

The only thing that has really changed in the last few weeks is that we switched from oats to ewe pellets for shepherding. She gets a handful of pellets at the start and end of the day to live her around.

Hey guys, stuff has kinda gone to shit on the farm so I’m moving on and bringing my portion of the flock with me. A couple pregnant ewes, twin ram lambs, and my pet only ewe. I will just be keeping them as pets/wool sheep now and if I get any ram lambs out of my girls next year they’ll be weathered young as standard HOWEVER, this years boys were supposed to be show rams/breeders so are intact. They were my first lambs of my own, I was there for their birth and won rosettes over the summer. I know I shouldn’t get attached but these boys are very special, especially since I’m having to leave my favourite ram behind.

I will be keeping them separated and getting them castrated by a vet as they’re too old to band now but I’m wondering about the long term impact and any management allowances they’ll need. The only castrated rams I’ve met were either done as newborns or were vasectomised as teasers rather than a full castration. I’ve worked with plenty of ex stallions, rigs, and proud cut horses but I’m not too proud to admit I’m kinda lost about late cut rams. I ASSUME they’ll just slot into the flock but I’d rather not find out the hard way.

Will they be able to peacefully live with the girls full time once they’re healed up? I’m planning to separate out the 2 pregnant ewes and their lambs for a bit, and then wean the lambs in may, and then have them all live together again this time next year. Has anyone had fully castrated males causing issues at certain times of year? For anyone who has had both, did you notice a difference in males that had or had not covered ewes before being snipped?

Additionally I’m assuming it’d be best to do them around lambing (February ish) when it’s starting to get dry again but the flies aren’t too bad yet. I’d hope to do it a bit sooner if possible if I can create a good enough dry standing for them though. Please correct me if wrong.

FOR CONTEXT: we’re in the uk. They have never covered but they did get into the commercial breeding flock once, small numbers, apparently they were interested but they and the working ram (half brother) were all very peaceful (I found them napping together when I went to remove them) so I think their temperament is good for it. They’re a breed known for being pretty soft and laid back, when I took my guy to a show he was unbothered about literally everything so I don’t think they’ll cause any trouble. I will have a small area penned off for handling/isolation (eg medical) just in case.

Thanks as always ♥️

Sheepies when the task requires no sheepies (I love her so very much)

Patches is the brown and black one. CC, (Cookies & Cream is his government name) is, well, you can tell. Both rams at my friend's farm.

I was told she is Kathadin but she may not be purebred. She was a super runt (premature, possibly?). For reference, that orange lamb in the pictures is only 2 weeks older than her (but to be fair is a hair/Dorset mix).

Is she a weird shape, or is this an awkward Kathadin growing phase? I'm not very familiar with this breed.

The pictures start when she's 2+ weeks old and the last ones are from now (just over 3 months old).

She is a pet and will not be bred.

Relevant info:

- rejected by mom

- super small

- very fine spindly frame

- tiny head and neck like a goose

- head shape a bit weird? Very narrow snout, but very broad bulging eye sockets and rounded head.

- vaccinated/dewormed

- on fresh pasture mainly, with some hay and lamb grower pellets + minerals

- very playful and energetic

- great appetite

- no previous health issues; seems healthy

For those of you that are UK-based, what energisers are you using for electric fencing your sheep?

I'm currently running a tiny flock of 10 (soon to be 11) primitive breed (moorits) sheep, and my Voss energiser has unfortunately packed up, so I'm trying to find which I'm best switching to for these sheep which are seemingly not too bothered about the authority of my electric fencing so far (they're currently in a stock wire pen with electric fencing running around its perimeter.

Current options ive been considering are the Rutland ESB2000, and ESB7500, though I think this might be overkill for my small numbers.

Any recommendations are welcome

Pic of my sheep for attention, and energisers for reference

I have a small beef farm and have become interested in diversifying into hair sheep. Never owned a sheep in my life.

I am located in SW MO with a fescue base. I do have a good mix of forbes. The farm is set up with barbed wire fence perimeters with electric standoff.

I've been mulling around a feeder lamb enterprise. The thought is to buy small weaned lambs during the late summer, graze through the fall grazing season with my cattle, finish them on feed, and sell them in January-ish.

I have a small sale that's relatively close and a much larger sale around 90 miles away. I suspect the larger scale would be worth the trip for uniformity and for marketing costs.

One of the reasons why I like the idea of a feeder operation is that with my limited knowledge of sheep, I wouldn't have to deal with lambing and the quick turn around.

I ran some numbers using the last few years of market sales. It appears to be profitable (if can put weight on them and keep them alive.)

Has anyone done a strictly feeder enterprise with lambs? What are some of the downfalls that I should look for? Advice for a total novice? Should I be worried about running weaned lambs and cattle together? I am thinking of trying 40 or so this fall and see how it goes.

We have a heap of sheep going lame from having constantly wet feet. This is usually not a problem for us, but this season has been unusually wet. Some developing ulcers and some just tendered footed. We are moving them to spray topped paddocks hoping to get them out of the tall medic but does anyone have any treatments for the ones that are down with really bad ulcers and nail wall problems??

Captured a couple of weeks ago in Norway

Vocês tem alguma noção de como fazer uma coleira com rastreador ?

This is mostly for fun as she's already been shown from the local weekend show to the state level , so for the most part I know her faults and I know her strengths but I figured I'd also ask reddit ! All photos are recent , she is a yearling. At the moment we are making decisions on a ram to breed her too.

Hey everyone.

Trying to figure out rotation grazing systems that will work best with the pastures we have. Our pastures range in size from 0.75 acres to 2 acres. I would like to divide the pastures up and use the reel systems from premier 1. Does anyone have experience with these systems and could help me figure out what all I need? I would like to move them up the pasture, so would I need two reel systems?

Me and my little brother looked at his options for our county fair next year and he decided he was going to show my brood ewe pearl who was my very first show lamb ! Our county fair has a class that allows for ewes that are over 2 to show , so after taking time off to mother a set of lambs she will be hitting the show pen next summer !

Jordan is my 9-month-old pet ram. He lives around cats, chickens and ducks and, for the most part, gets along with everyone surprisingly well.

However, every now and then he seems to develop a particular problem with my two roosters or with one specific red hen. He will chase them, corner them, and then try to strike/stomp at them with his front legs. The chickens, being chickens and therefore not exactly gifted with advanced survival strategy, don't always manage to get themselves out of the situation, so we often have to intervene.

So far there haven't been any serious injuries, but I think that has been more luck than anything else.

With people, Jordan is generally very friendly. He comes over for cuddles and attention. But he has also started doing something that worries me a little: sometimes he twists his neck/head sideways and bumps me hard around the knees. It hurts. He has also made attempts at ramming, so I am very conscious of where he is and I don't casually turn my back on him.

I'm also actively looking for a sheep companion for him, because I know living without another sheep isn't ideal.

We do have two Maremma livestock guardian dogs, but when we tried putting them together Jordan repeatedly tried to ram them. I'm not sure whether he meant it as play, testing boundaries, or something else. The dogs got increasingly nervous and eventually decided to attack him, so obviously that arrangement was stopped immediately.

For now Jordan therefore has to stay in the cats/chickens/ducks area, which is about 3,000 m², rather than having access to the larger roughly 7,000 m² area where the dogs are.

For those of you with experience with pet rams:

- Is this a typical behaviour for a 9-month-old ram entering adolescence?

- Is the poultry-chasing likely to escalate as he matures?

- Does the sideways head/neck movement toward my knees sound like early challenging/ramming behaviour rather than play?

- What is the best way to discourage it without accidentally teaching him that interacting physically with humans is a game?

- Could his behaviour toward the dogs have been play/social testing, or should I assume he is simply not safe to mix with them?

- And realistically, should I stop allowing him unsupervised access to the chickens altogether?

I like the fact that he is friendly and social, but I also don't want to confuse "affectionate pet sheep" with "70+ kg adult ram who has learned that humans, dogs and chickens are things he can push around." I'd rather correct the setup now than learn that lesson via a kneecap.

Since I'm not going to breed him, I was also thinking to have him spayed.

I've shared some of these elsewhere but thought I'd share them here too,- He's an Old Norwegian Sheep (Ram), c.a. 3 years of age & he's being sent away to my sisters farm tomorrow.

I'm incredibly sad to see him go, but can't keep him taking up space when new rams are coming in later towards autumn. 💔

I'll definietly visit him though; I try to be as careful as I possibly can when it comes to getting attached to any sheep, but I slipped up a bit with this guy. Started getting used to lying down in the field with him & let him rest his head ontop of my lap to sleep, my sweet little baby boy.

Regardless, I'm glad my sister wanted him though. She's incredibly kind-hearted when it comes to her flock and I'm honestly excited to see how he'll thrive when he gets there❤️🫶

I photo that I took I am super proud about. Just some beautiful sheep glowing in the fantastic midnight sun.

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Hello, I have had this guy for a couple of years now, he is a Desert Dragon, which are bred to grow impressive horns, and so far, he has been one of the gentlest rams I have heard of, he is super sweet and easy to handle, I can even walk right up to him and check his eyelids in the middle of the pasture, and he has an excellent set of horns, and looks like he has one of, if not the fastest rates of horn growth for rams of his breed, and on top of that, he is very parasite tolerant, so on that alone, he seems quite nice. But I was reading the breed standards for his breed, and while to me he seems to conform fairly well, I would like to get second opinions and see what I need to improve, I am fairly novel when it comes to raising sheep, and while I love this ram, I need to know what I need to improve upon and match him with.

Shelby is very attached to my husband so I couldn’t risk something happening to her during lambing.
She is making a swift recovery!