Running A Small Flock Of Sheep

Provides all the information anyone needs to make the right choices in successfully managing a small flock of sheep, whether you're running a single pet or several hundred sheep for lamb or wool.

Running a Small Flock of Sheep uses a step-by-step approach and has been written for small-scale sheep farmers and inexperienced people considering a rural life-style change. It will prepare the reader for each procedure and event on a sheep farm. The book begins with an introduction to the basic principles and procedures of sheep farming and the economics and required farm infrastructure for different sheep enterprises. There are chapters on handling techniques, the obligations of owners, and laws and regulations covering the welfare of sheep. The remainder of the text deals with sheep husbandry including health and nutrition, condition scoring, breeding, lamb care and weaner management. There are separate chapters on wool production and prime lamb production. The final chapter covers the diagnosis, control and prevention of sheep diseases. This reliable and understandable guide provides all the information anyone needs to make the right choices in successfully managing a small flock of sheep, whether you're running a single pet or several hundred sheep for prime lamb, wool or dual purpose.

Small-scale sheep keeping is one of the major growth areas of livestock breeding. The success of rare breeds and their proven commercial qualities has encouraged intense interest in minority sheep but whether you keep ten or a hundred ewes the same strict principles of management must be followed if success is to be achieved. This book aims to inform, encourage, advise and even entertain its readers. Sheep keeping can be a most enjoyable hobby but small flock owners all too often find it difficult to related to books aimed at the commercial producer. Sound, practical advice which is easily understood and efficiently put into practice is what this book offers.

A guide to raising sheep that covers production systems, breeds, housing, facilities, fences, enclosures, feeding, pasture management, predators, marketing meat and wool, environmental stewardship, and other related topics.

The renowned knitter shares her year-long adventure through America’s colorful, fascinating—and slowly disappearing—wool industry. Join Clara Parkes as she ventures across the country to meet the shepherds, dyers, and countless workers without whom our knitting needles would be empty, our mills idle, and our feet woefully cold. Along the way, she encounters a flock of Saxon Merino sheep in upstate New York, tours a scouring plant in Texas, visits a steamy Maine dyehouse, helps sort freshly shorn wool on a working farm, and learns how wool fleece is measured, baled, shipped, and turned into skeins. In pursuit of the perfect yarn, Parkes describes a brush with the dangers of opening a bale (they can explode), and her adventures from Maine to Wisconsin (“the most knitterly state”) and back again. By the end of the book, you’ll be ready to set aside the backyard chickens and add a flock of sheep instead.

With this compact portable reference in hand, crafters can quickly and easily look up any of 100 different sheep breeds, the characteristics of their fleece, and the kinds of projects for which their fleece is best suited. Each breed profile includes a photograph of the animal and information about its origin and conservation status, as well as the weight, staple length, fiber diameter, and natural colors of its fleece. This is a great primer for beginners, and a handy guide for anyone who loves working with fleece.

This one-of-a-kind encyclopedia shines a spotlight on more than 200 animals and their wondrous fleece. Profiling a worldwide array of fiber-producers that includes northern Africa’s dromedary camel, the Navajo churro, and the Tasmanian merino, Carol Ekarius and Deborah Robson include photographs of each animal’s fleece at every stage of the handcrafting process, from raw to cleaned, spun, and woven. The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook is an artist’s handbook, travel guide, and spinning enthusiast’s ultimate reference source all in one.