I've got myself some sheep. I started out with a little blackbelly ram lamb, and then a year later I got a couple yoes. Now I've got twenty head,some blackbellys,dorpers,a couple wool sheep, and a few crosses. I checked on them yesterday around 5:30 p.m. It was hot as blazes, but those woolly sheep were not fazed by the heat a bit. Some of the hair sheep were breathing a little heavy, but they were all grazing away. Sheep , so far I wish I'd of got some years ago. They are the first thing I've ever seen that would eat a dog fennel,just cause they wanted to! The thing I wonder is does the wool help them stay cool. I've heard the old folks say that whatever would keep out the cold, would keep out heat.
How do sheep withstand this heat?
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I was always told to shear late spring before it gets to hot and while it's not to cold. Because you want a little wool growth to help keep them cool. G&S
Wool regulates temperature, moisture and keeps you dry. At a microscopic level, wool consists of a series of overlapping scales which have a tendency to repel water droplets. This structure, in combination with a thin coating of lanolin, causes water to run off the fibers. It also creates air spaces between the fibers that trap heat and circulate air, acting as a natural insulator to keep you warm and has the ability to wick moisture away from you and keep you (or the sheep) cool.
The spring lambs of course had not been sheared but I worried that with these high heats that 2-3" of wool was too much. Sheared one the other morning...very early. During the day I compared her to her sister, and then again yesterday; she pants just as much as her sister and just as much as pre-clipping. So I am putting away the shears, keeping cool water & mineral out, and leaving them alone!
They have plenty of shade and access to plenty of water. I suppose what baffles me the most is that when the cows and goats are hitting the shade, the sheep go out to eat when it's the hottest. They've been wormed. What is the best wormer for sheep. I've read up on them some,but most of the information I can find is sorta outdated. No one in my family has had any sheep since around 1912, and we are sorta behind the times.
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BAAAAAA - what time will you pick me up?????
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Keep in mind the Dorpers are a breed from South Africa and the Barbados are a tropical breed. They are genetically adapted to stand the heat.
When it gets REALLY hot here mine lay around in the shade and feed more at night or early mornings
When it gets REALLY hot here mine lay around in the shade and feed more at night or early mornings
My black Welsh mountain sheep really feel the heat. They go inside the barn and try to wallow out a cool spot under the trailer where it stays damp. And pant. I don't think the black wool works as an insulater in the heat. We shove them out at dusk to graze.
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Yeah, we enlarged our sheep shelter yesterday, so they'd have a lot more shade, and the silly things still lay down in their pen... in the hot sun. We have black Merino/Suffolk crosses, so you'd think with black, it would be absorbing all the heat, but apparently it's not problem.
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