Storey’s Guide to Raising Sheep is the best-selling, most trusted reference for farmers and backyard homesteaders with any size flock. The fifth edition is now updated with full-color illustrations and photographs throughout, including a gallery of the best breed choices for both meat and fiber. With their small size and gentle dispositions, sheep are one of the easier livestock species to raise and offer varied marketing opportunities, including meat, wool, and milk. Detailed instructions and graphics lead readers through every essential procedure, including shearing, building a lambing shed, breeding and lambing, butchering, and marketing.
Product Details
ISBN-13: 9781612129808
Media Type: Paperback(Reprint)
Publisher: Storey Publishing LLC
Publication Date: 06-25-2019
Pages: 368
Product Dimensions: 7.00(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.80(d)
Series: Storey's Guide to Raising
About the Author
A respected authority on sheep raising for over three decades, author Paula Simmons has written many books and magazines articles on spinning wool, and is the coauthor of Storey’s Guide to Raising Sheep. Simmons lecturers and conducts workshops in the United States and Canada on the subject of raising sheep and spinning wool for a living. Together with her husband, she has been raising and sheering sheep, and spinning and weaving wool for over 20 years on their farm in Washington. Carol Ekarius is the coauthor of The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook, The Field Guide to Fleece, and Storey’s Guide to Raising Sheep, and the author of several books including Small-Scale Livestock Farming, Storey’s Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds, and Storey’s Illustrated Breed Guide to Sheep, Goats, Cattle, and Pigs. She lives in the mountains of Colorado.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Preface 1: Starting with Sheep Some Background on Sheep - Sheep Farming Today - Behavior - Breeds - Buying Sheep - Home at Last 2: Breeding and Breeds Breeding and Genetics - Genetic Diversity and Sheep Breeds - Individual Breeds 3: Pasture, Fences, and Facilities Pasture - Fencing - Facilities 4: Herding Dogs Traits of Herding Dogs - Breeds - Selecting a Dog - Training - Dog Trials 5: Protecting against Predators Managing for Predators - Guardian Animals 6: Feeds and Feeding Digestion - Nutrients - Feeding Practices - Types of Feed 7: General Health Considerations Healthy Strategies - Recognizing Sick Sheep - Alternative Health Practices - Natural Defenses - Causes of Illness in Sheep - Parasites - Other Disorders of Sheep - Drugs for Sheep 8: Problems of Rams, Ewes, and Lambs Problems with Rams - Disorders in Ewes - Lamb Problems 9: Flock Management Successful Breeding - The Ram - Ewes 10: Lambing Preparation for Lambing - The Lambing Process - After Lambing - Problems with Newborn Lambs - Orphan Lambs - Care of Baby Lambs 11: Products and Marketing Merchandising to Reach Your Market - Wool - Meat and Milk - Pelts - The Live-Animal Business - Odds and Ends - Recipes 12: Showing Sheep Kinds of Shows - Show Classes - Training Sheep - Fitting - Show Ring Strategies 13: Records and Animal Identification National Sheep Improvement Program - Computer Software and Spreadsheets - Sample Record Charts Appendixes Lambing Calendar Feed Requirements Composition of Common Feedstuffs Resources Glossary Metric Conversion Charts Index