📘 Guides › 🐐 Animals · 🆘 Emergency · 📇 Index A–Z

🐑 Sheep: Meat, Wool and Milk

How to keep a small flock of sheep with no feed store, no vet and no fridge: choosing meat, wool, milk and hair sheep for our wet winters, fences and night pens against coyotes and cougars, pasture and hay, the plants that poison sheep here, selenium, breeding and lambing, orphan lambs, docking and castration, shearing by hand, washing wool at home, hooves, worms, sickness, humane slaughter, sheepskins, sheep milk, and how many sheep a family needs. Spinning, weaving and tanning are in the Clothing, Leather & Shoes guide; cheese and butter are in the Milk, Butter & Cheese guide. The sheep and wool books are in Animals\Goats-Sheep, no-vet medicine and humane killing in Animals\Veterinary, slaughter in Animals\Cattle-Horses-Pigs, predators, guardian dogs and fire in Animals\Planning-Predators-Toxic-Plants, poisonous plants in Wild-Plants, and hide tanning in Trapping. Sheep and goats share many problems; the Goats guide says more on some of them.

The short version

• Pick sheep for wet winters. Fine-wool breeds "do not, however, do well under wet conditions"; hair sheep and medium-wool sheep do (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 16). Keep them outdoors with an open shed: shut indoors they get pneumonia (p. 130).
• Shut the flock in a pen near the house every night. Coyotes, dogs, bears and cougars all kill adult sheep (pp. 132–133). No barbed wire (OSU EC1646, p. 1).
• Copper kills sheep. Never feed them goat mineral, cattle mineral or pig feed (No Animal Doctor, p. 74). But Oregon forage is short of selenium: keep a covered selenium sheep mineral out all year (OSU EM 9094, pp. 1–5).
• Hungry sheep eat poison. Death camas is one of the first green plants in spring, and sheep are the animal most likely to eat lupine (WSU, p. 3; p. 15).
• Lambing: if feet show and no lamb comes in about 10 minutes, help her. Every lamb needs colostrum (first milk) in its first hour or two (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 65; pp. 110–111).
• Deworm only the sheep that need it (pale eyelids, thin, scouring). Dewormers will run out, and worms already resist them (p. 124; UF VM271, p. 2).
• Some sheep diseases infect people: sore-mouth scabs, abscess pus, aborted lambs. Wear gloves; pregnant women stay away from a flock that is aborting (Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 106, 109, 114).
• For a family: 1 acre of good pasture carries 5–6 ewes (2–3 if unimproved); each ewe needs about 500 lb of hay for winter; a 100-lb lamb gives about 35 lb of meat (USDA FB 2222, pp. 8–13).

---

🐑 Choosing sheep: meat, wool, milk or hair

"Sheep produce two crops a year—lambs and wool—as well as meat for the family," with little labor and cheap housing (USDA FB 2222, p. 4); they do well on poor forage (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 34).

Type	Good for	Fit for the valley
Hair sheep (Katahdin, St. Croix, Dorper)	Meat; "very poor quality fiber"	Best for wet ground: they "do well in areas with high rainfall, humidity and heat" (p. 16; Katahdin, p. 19). No shearing: they shed (rule of thumb)
Fine wool (Rambouillet, Merino)	Fine garment wool and meat	Poor: they thrive dry and "do not … do well under wet conditions" (p. 16)
Medium and long wool, dual purpose (Texel, Romney, Corriedale, Suffolk)	Meat lambs, milk, wool for outer garments, blankets and carpets	Good family sheep (p. 16; Texel, p. 20). Long wools stand wet pasture (rule of thumb)
Milk sheep (Awassi, East Friesian)	Milk for cheese and yogurt; lambs weaned at 30–45 days	Little wool (pp. 16–17; Awassi, p. 21)
Year-round breeders (Dorset)	Lambs in any season	Breed "even in temperate zones" (p. 52)

Very prolific and big breeds need more and better feed (p. 17); ask local keepers which breeds have done well here (p. 18).

Buying (FB 2222, pp. 4–5; Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 28–29): fall is cheapest, and yearling or 2-year-old ewes have the most years ahead. Don't buy bred ewes (you won't know when they lamb), lame ewes (foot rot), ewes with lumpy udders or past mastitis, or worn or missing teeth. Look for a bright, alert sheep with a clean rear, free walk, clear eyes, teeth that meet the pad, normal hooves, joints not swollen, a soft udder with two good teats, and in a ram large, even, firm testicles. Feel under the wool: a fleece hides a thin sheep (p. 36). Age by the teeth: one pair of big front teeth at 1 year, two at 2, three at 3, all four at 4; then "spreaders," "broken mouths" or "gummers" (pp. 29–30; photos). Keep new sheep apart for 30 days (p. 103) and deworm them before they join the flock (p. 123).

🏠 Fences, shelter and pens

Shelter (Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 130–131; FB 2222, pp. 5–7; OSU EC1646, p. 2):

• A shed open to the south ("Sheep like lots of sun, light, and air"), dirt floor, fresh air but no drafts (damp and ammonia cause pneumonia), and a windbreak against freezing rain. Nothing sharp: nails, broken boards, loose wire.
• One lambing pen for every five ewes: a hinged panel across an inside corner, each half 3–4 ft high and 4–5 ft long, gaps no wider than 3–4 inches (FB 2222, p. 7).
• A lamb creep (a corner only lambs can enter): openings about 8 inches wide and 18 inches high, near where the ewes eat (p. 6; p. 8).
• Hay racks with openings 9–12 inches wide: a five-sided rack with 2-ft sides feeds 10 sheep, an 8–12-ft rack feeds 20 (p. 6). A catch pen or chute to hold one sheep.

A lambing pen from one hinged panel across a corner: each half 3–4 ft high and 4–5 ft long, gaps no more than 3–4 inches (USDA FB 2222, p. 7).

Fences (EC1646, p. 1): high-tensile, welded or woven wire, stock panels, electric. No barbed wire. Netting tangles sheep; use it only where you watch. Wool insulates sheep from an electric fence: shear, or use a stronger charge. Electric works if sheep are "carefully trained with it" (FB 2222, p. 7) and "can be run off of solar charged batteries" (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 131). Walk the fence often: fallen limbs, grass on the wire and a dead charger let predators in. Posts last longest cut from heartwood (FB 2222, p. 8).

Handling: lead a sheep with one hand under the jaw and one behind the tail, never by the wool or legs (Slaughter and Preservation of Meat, p. 69). To set a sheep on its rump: hand under the chin, other hand on the rump, sheep against your legs; turn its head away from you and press the rump down until it sits (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 78).

🌿 Feeding with no feed store: pasture, hay and water

Pasture is the cheapest feed. Sheep like short, fine grass; bluegrass with clover, fescue and orchardgrass is excellent. Start grazing when spring growth is 3–6 inches. 1 acre of good pasture carries 5–6 ewes; unimproved, 2–3 (FB 2222, pp. 8–9); rape and kale give summer grazing (p. 9). Here, valley soils are "used mainly for irrigated hay and pasture" (NRCS soil survey, pp. 7–9), so unwatered pasture browns from about June to the October rains: plan hay for summer as well as winter (rule of thumb). Serpentine ground grows thin forage, "very high in … magnesium and very low in calcium" (p. 49): feed sheep there hay grown elsewhere (rule of thumb). Stubble, crop tops and root crops are good sheep feed (Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 41–42).

Hay and grain (FB 2222, pp. 9–10): 3–4 lb of hay a day per ewe, from when they leave fall pasture until they are back on grass after lambing, about 5 months: about 500 lb per ewe. Legume hay is best; with grass hay add protein (oil meal, peas or beans: Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 37). Grain only about 100 days a year: ½–¾ lb a day from 30 days before lambing until spring grass, about 75 lb per ewe. Keep grain under half the diet (p. 40) and change any feed over 7–10 days (p. 95).

Feed by the season (Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 45–47):

• Breeding: "flushing" (about ½ lb extra grain, or better pasture) 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after the ram goes in gives more twins. Mid-pregnancy: check condition every 2–3 weeks.
• Last 6 weeks: 75% of the lamb's growth. A 130-lb ewe needs about 3⅓ lb of good hay and 1 lb of grain a day (our conversion of 1.5 kg and 0.5 kg); twins almost twice the energy. Straw alone is not enough.
• Milking: the hungriest time: about 4½ lb of hay and 2 lb of grain (our conversion), or lush spring grass. Milk peaks 3–4 weeks after lambing. Lambs nibble grain and leafy hay from 10–14 days in a creep.

Body condition: put your hands on the backbone, ribs and hips. Too thin: sharp bones, wasted muscle; too fat: rolls over rump and brisket. Both breed badly, lamb badly and get pregnancy disease (pp. 47–49; p. 49). Water (p. 35): about 1 gallon a day for a ewe on dry feed, 1½ nursing lambs, ½ for a growing lamb; they drink more if it is warmed in winter (FB 2222, p. 9).

☠️ Plants that poison sheep here

📷 Not sure what's growing in the pasture? Photograph it with the plant identifier (🔧 Tools tab): it suggests a name and flags poisonous groups. Then check that name against this list.

Most poisonings come from hungry sheep: moved to new ground, trailed through bad range, or out in early spring when poisonous plants are the only green ones. Keep them fed, and move them off ground where the feed is gone (Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 96–97). The "where" column is local knowledge (rule of thumb).

Plant	Where	What the books say about sheep
Death camas	Spring meadows, rocky foothills	One of the first green plants; "Sheep are most likely to be affected." Froth, staggering, death in hours to days (AIB 415, pp. 34–35)
Lupine	Dry hillsides	"Sheep are the most likely species to ingest lupines"; seeds and young plants worst; the poison passes into milk (WSU, p. 15). Heavy losses when hungry sheep are trailed through in late summer (AIB 415, p. 64)
Poison hemlock, water hemlock	Ditches, creek banks	4–8 oz of green poison-hemlock leaves can kill a sheep (AIB 415, p. 82); water hemlock roots are deadliest (WSU, p. 13)
Chokecherry, wild cherry	Fencerows	Cyanide; losses "when sheep graze chokecherry in the spring"; wilting and frost make it worse (AIB 415, p. 26)
Yew, rhododendron, azalea, laurel	Shady creeks; hedges	Yew can kill before signs show (AIB 415, p. 113); never feed hedge trimmings (WSU, p. 2). Azaleas: vomiting, bloat, tremors (p. 15)
Oak	Oak woods	Young leaves, buds and green acorns; poisonings in spring and fall "in sheep and cattle" (WSU, p. 27)
Milkweed, dogbane	Ditches, field edges	Heart poisons; most cases are in sheep (WSU, p. 31; p. 6)
St. Johnswort	Pastures, roadsides	Sunburn-like sores on white skin; "recently sheared sheep are especially susceptible"; dry plants in hay too (AIB 415, p. 100)
Bracken fern	Woods edges, burns	Sheep are "more resistant" than cattle (AIB 415, p. 23), but it causes bladder tumors and fatal bleeding (WSU, p. 11)
Tansy ragwort	Pastures, roadsides	Liver poison, "less so in sheep and goats" than cattle and horses (WSU tansy, p. 2); keep it out of hay (AIB 415, p. 106)
Nightshade, green potatoes, tomato vines	Gardens, compost	Solanine (WSU, p. 21)

Death camas: grass-like leaves from a buried bulb, then yellowish-white flowers in April–May. Sheep eat it first in spring (AIB 415, p. 35).

Most have no cure: walk a new paddock first, and feed hay before moving hungry sheep onto spring ground (rule of thumb).

📚 Go deeper: WSU Selected Poisonous Plants of the PNW — photos and signs; USDA AIB 415 — western poisonous plants in color.

🧂 Minerals: selenium, copper and salt

Selenium (OSU EM 9094): white muscle disease ("stiff lamb disease") was first found in Oregon in 1958 (p. 1), and blood selenium in most Oregon livestock is below normal (p. 3).

• Signs, mostly in lambs 3–8 weeks old: stiff muscles, trembling, weak hind legs, can't suckle, heart failure (p. 2). In ewes: fewer twins, weak lambs, poor gains, more sickness; selenium also helps sheep resist foot rot (p. 3). Selenium works with vitamin E, which green feed supplies (Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 38–39).
• Use a sheep mineral salt with selenium, free choice, in a covered box: rain leaches it out (EM 9094, pp. 5–6). Too much selenium kills: the law caps it in sheep mineral and injections need a vet (pp. 3–5). Never mix your own; stock a year or two of sheep mineral now (rule of thumb). Alfalfa takes up selenium better than red clover (p. 2).

Copper: sheep "do not tolerate excess copper"; it bursts the red blood cells and kills (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 39). Pig feed can hold enough to poison sheep (No Animal Doctor, p. 74), and copper wormer boluses made for goats are risky in sheep (UF VM271, p. 2). Keeping goats too? Feed each its own mineral where the other can't reach it (rule of thumb).

Salt and the rest (FB 2222, p. 9): iodized or trace-mineral salt all year, in a box out of the rain, near water, in shade; ground limestone or bonemeal can be mixed in equal parts. Lambs born with a "big neck" (goiter) mean iodine shortage (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 39). Keep calcium 2–3 times phosphorus (legume hay is high in calcium, grain in phosphorus) against urinary stones (p. 94). Give hay with lush spring grass, against grass tetany (p. 92).

🐏 Breeding season and the ram

	What to know
Season	Shortening days start breeding (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 52); ewes come in heat from late August or early September and should be gaining weight when bred (FB 2222, p. 10)
Heat	Every 17 days (14–20); lasts 24–36 hours (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 31)
First breeding	Ewe lambs can breed at 6–8 months if well grown (p. 55); the old practice was 18 months, lambing at 2 years (FB 2222, p. 10). With little feed, wait (rule of thumb)
Gestation	About 148 days (145–155) (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 31); FB 2222 says 140–150. Watch from day 135 (Langston, p. 4)
The ram	Sound, fertile, 18 months to 3 years; about 50 ewes in 40–50 days (FB 2222, p. 5), or 50–75 in one 17-day cycle for a strong ram with big testicles (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 57). Check feet, legs, teeth, eyes, testicles and sheath first (p. 56)

Timing for the valley: lambing should fall when feed is best (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 17). Ram in about October 15 → lambs about March 12; November 15 → about April 12 (arithmetic, 148 days): lambs on spring grass after the worst cold rain (rule of thumb). FB 2222 breeds in September for February lambs sold before summer worms (pp. 10–11), but that needs a dry barn.

Know who is bred: smear color mixed with castor or linseed oil on the ram's brisket every day or so; marked ewes are bred. Change the color after 2 weeks; if most first-color ewes come back into heat, the ram isn't working (FB 2222, p. 11). Write down each date. Clip heavy wool from around the vulva before breeding (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 56).

🍼 Lambing and helping a ewe

Get ready (Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 62–64; FB 2222, p. 11): with shelter, shear ewes 4–6 weeks before lambing; without it, clip the wool from udder and hindquarters ("crutching") 2–4 weeks before. A clean, dry, familiar place, away from dogs; iodine, bottle, feeding tube, soap, gloves. 70–80% of lamb deaths happen in the first two weeks: check due ewes every 2–3 hours. Lambing is near when she leaves the flock, paws a nest, gets up and down, and the udder fills (Langston, p. 4). Normal birth: labor usually starts within an hour of the water bag breaking; front feet come first, head lying on them; once feet show, a lamb takes a few minutes (longer for a first-timer). A twin usually follows within 30 minutes; to feel for one, push your fist into the right flank. "Do not interfere unless there is some deviation" (Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 64–65).

Wait, check or help: the times from Raising Healthy Sheep pp. 64–65 and Langston pp. 5, 9 (a diagram drawn for this guide).

The books differ: FB 2222 gets help after 30 minutes' hard straining (p. 11); Langston allows 45–60 minutes after the water bag breaks and says "never rush to pull" (p. 9). Our reading: give her time before anything shows, but act once a lamb is stuck in the canal.

Helping (Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 66–67; Langston, pp. 7–9):

1. Someone holds the ewe. Short nails; wash her rear and your hands and arms with soap and warm water; glove and lubricate (soap will do); enter with fingers together.
2. Is the cervix open? If not, wait and gently stretch it; never pull a lamb through a half-open cervix. If it won't open ("ring womb"), she needs a surgeon (Langston, p. 8).
3. Find out what you have. Front feet: soles down, nose above. Back feet: soles up, and you can feel the hock. Follow each leg back to its body: twins get mixed.
4. Fix the position, then pull only while she strains, gently, out and down. A lamb can live 8–10 hours after hard labor starts, so take the time to get it right (Langston, p. 6).

Soles down means front feet; soles up and a hock mean a backward lamb (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 66; a diagram drawn for this guide).

Position	What to do (Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 66–67; drawings, p. 68)
Backward (hind feet first)	Pull gently, working the vulva over the hips; once the hips are out, deliver at once: the cord is pinched
Breech (tail only)	Push the lamb forward, cup each hind foot in your palm and bring it into the canal; then as backward
Head back (feet, no nose)	Push the lamb back, bring the head round into the canal; pull the legs while working the vulva over the head
Shoulder lock (head, no feet)	Push back until you can bring both front feet up
Elbow lock / one leg back	Push back; cup the bent leg and straighten it forward; both legs out, then pull
Too big	Firm pull as she strains; roll her on her back; if still stuck, get the most skilled person you can (Langston, pp. 6–7)

After each lamb (Langston, p. 9; Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 70–71):

1. Wipe the nose and mouth; a straw tickled in the nostril makes it sneeze and breathe. Dry it promptly so it doesn't chill (FB 2222, p. 11). Put it at the ewe's head to lick, and leave the birth fluids on it: she knows her lamb by the smell.
2. Clip, dip, strip: cut the cord to a ½-inch stump with clean scissors; dip it in strong iodine (or bleach 1 to 40); strip a squirt from each teat to clear the wax plug.
3. Colostrum: up and sucking within 30–60 minutes. A weak lamb: lay the ewe on her side and put it on the bottom teat. It needs about 5% of its weight in colostrum in the first 10–12 hours: 25 mL per kg (about ⅓ oz per lb) at once, then every 2–4 hours (pp. 70–71). A 9-lb lamb gets about 3½ oz a feed (arithmetic).
4. Pen ewe and lambs together 12–24 hours to "mother up"; add grain to her feed slowly, full ration by 10–14 days (FB 2222, p. 11). The afterbirth comes in 5–8 hours: never pull it; burn or bury it (Langston, p. 5). A hard, full udder half the lambs aren't sucking: milk it out (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 113).

📚 Go deeper: Langston bulletin — signs, stages, wrong positions with drawings; Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 62–72 — lambing and tube feeding with photos.

🍼 Orphan, weak and chilled lambs

Tube feeding a lamb that can't suck (Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 71–72; photos): lay the tube along the lamb from mouth to last rib and mark it. With the lamb on your lap, pass the tube down the throat and watch it go down the left side of the neck. If you can't see it and the lamb coughs, it is in the windpipe: start again. Pinch the tube as you pull it out. A chilled lamb below 99 °F can't use colostrum: warm it first (as for goat kids, KSU, p. 11), in warm water to the neck, then dry it hard (rule of thumb).

Colostrum, best first (KSU, p. 10): another ewe in your flock; your own frozen colostrum from last year; a ewe from another flock; a cow. Milk replacer and "homemade colostrum" are no substitute. Outside colostrum can carry OPP, a slow lung disease (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 104). Milk out and freeze spare colostrum every lambing (rule of thumb).

Fostering (rule of thumb; the library has no source): a ewe that lost her lamb will often take an orphan if you skin her dead lamb and tie the skin over the orphan for a day or two, or rub the orphan in her birth fluids at once. Pen them tight together and hold her for the first sucks.

Bottle lambs: ewe milk is far richer than cow or goat milk (about 6% fat and 5% protein, Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 31), so feed whole milk, warm, little and often, 4–6 feeds a day the first week, then 3, with clean bottles every time (rule of thumb). Offer creep feed and leafy hay from 10–14 days; lambs eating well can be weaned at 8–12 weeks (p. 47), and milk-sheep lambs at 30–45 days (pp. 16–17). Orphans make ideal pen-mates for a guardian puppy (USDA AIB 588, p. 13).

✂️ Docking and castration

Dock long-tailed lambs and castrate ram lambs you won't keep, by 14 days old (FB 2222, p. 12; Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 72–74): young lambs suffer least. Docking keeps the rear clean and prevents fly strike (maggots); fat-tailed and short-tailed sheep are not docked. Hold the lamb by both hind legs above the hocks, with the front legs in the same hand, back against your chest, or lay it in a lamb trough (p. 73).

Docking: tail on a board, cut with a sharp knife or a beveled hot iron (the iron sears the artery under the tail), or put on a rubber ring: the tail falls off in 10–14 days (p. 74). Never cut shorter than where the skin fold meets the tail (2–3 cm, about 1 inch) (p. 74).

Cut or ring where the skin fold meets the tail, never shorter (Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 73–74; a diagram drawn for this guide).

Castration (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 73; No Animal Doctor, pp. 187–189):

1. Knife: wash the scrotum; cut off its bottom half; squeeze each testicle out and pull it away while pressing on the base of the scrotum with your other hand, which prevents a rupture. Anti-fly ointment on the wound.
2. Burdizzo (crushing clamp): no wound. Crush each cord separately at a different height, never across the middle, or the whole scrotum dies.
3. Rubber ring at about one week: easiest, but "less preferable" where tetanus is a risk.

Very early castration means more urinary stones later (No Animal Doctor, p. 187). Uncastrated ram lambs leave the ewes by 4 months; if the ewes had no tetanus shot before lambing, give lambs one at docking (Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 73–74).

🧶 Shearing by hand

When: once a year as spring warms, after the cold rains (Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 80–81); here, late April–May (rule of thumb); all fleeces off before summer (FB 2222, p. 12). If cold, wet weather follows, keep shorn sheep in for 10–14 days, or leave some wool on (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 81). A sheep gives 2–15 kg (4–33 lb) of wool a year by breed (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 80); the US average fleece was about 8 lb (FB 2222, p. 12).

Before (FB 2222, p. 12; USDA Preparing Wool for Market, pp. 5–7): no feed for 10 hours; shear only dry sheep, on a swept floor or canvas; clip off dung locks and burrs first and bag them apart. Order (Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 81–82, 110): white sheep first, colored after; youngest to oldest; sick sheep and any with lumps last. Disinfect the shears between sheep: CL abscesses spread on blades.

With hand shears (blades that work like big scissors, p. 80):

1. Set the sheep on its rump. Shear belly and brisket first and keep that wool apart, with the short leg and face wool (Preparing Wool, p. 8).
2. Then (rule of thumb): crutch and inner legs, neck and one shoulder, down that side in long strokes, then roll the sheep and do the other side. Blades flat to the skin, points away from it; stretch wrinkles flat with your free hand.
3. Cut close, once. "Second cuts" leave short bits that spoil the yarn; a good shearer takes the fleece off in one piece (Preparing Wool, pp. 8–9).
4. Treat every cut with antiseptic (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 81). Learn from a neighbor if you can, and keep the blades sharp on a fine stone (rule of thumb).

Lice, keds and mites: right after shearing, a pyrethrin-type pour-on down the back, all sheep at once; again in 2 weeks if heavy (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 128).

Skirt, roll and store each fleece as in the picture (FB 2222, p. 12; Preparing Wool, pp. 10–14); keep black wool apart. Store dry, off the ground, and don't close plastic bags: they trap moisture (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 83). Good wool "is, above all, clean wool": never throw hay over sheep's backs (p. 82).

Skirt, fold, roll tail to neck, tie with paper twine (USDA Preparing Wool for Market, pp. 10–11; a diagram drawn for this guide).

🧼 Washing and preparing wool at home

Raw wool is greasy (lanolin) and dirty; you can spin it in the grease, or wash a few ounces at a time in warm, mild suds without stirring (CSU 4-H Spinning, p. 17). Scouring (washing) works if you have plenty of soft water (rain water) and time; work small lots. Washed and carded wool weighs about 65% of the raw fleece (USDA, How to Prepare Raw Wool at Home, p. 3).

Scouring (pp. 3–4):

1. Pick the fleece apart and shake out dirt; remove tags and dung locks. Stained wool won't wash white.
2. Stock soap: heat 1 lb of washing soda (sal soda) slowly with a mild, neutral soap (not strong laundry soap) in 2 gallons of soft water; fill up to 5 gallons.
3. Three suds tubs. First: 1–2 quarts of stock in 13 gallons of water at about 120 °F ("uncomfortable but bearable to the hand"); second and third a little cooler, 110–120 °F, with less soap. About 6 gallons of suds per pound of raw wool; never crowd the tub.
4. Push the wool under with a paddle and let it stand 10 minutes. Don't stir or squeeze: that mats (felts) it; no washing machine. Lift, drain, run it through a clothes wringer, and into the next tub.
5. Rinse at least 3 times in soft water the same temperature as the last suds, with 1–2 pints of vinegar in the last. Soda cuts grease but harms wool once the grease is gone: for clean wool, use it in the first tub only.
6. Dry spread thin on boards set 2–3 inches apart on sawhorses, under a clean white sheet, in the sun.

Carding and batts (How to Prepare Raw Wool, pp. 3–4): hand cards straighten the wool and pull out chaff. For a comforter (about 3 lb of clean wool), lay carded wool 1–2 inches thick on paper 18 inches wide, four layers with paper between, under a board weighted with 200 lb or more for 2–3 days. A mattress takes 20–50 lb. Protect wool from moths. Spinning, dyeing, knitting and weaving: "Wool: from sheep to yarn" and the sections after it in the Clothing, Leather & Shoes guide.

🦶 Hooves and foot rot

Sheep on rough ground rarely need trimming; on wet pasture or in pens, once or twice a year (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 77). Look at feet every 4–6 weeks in a wet winter (MSU M2487, p. 1). Set the sheep on its rump (p. 78), pick each hoof clean, and with hoof shears, pruning shears, tin snips or a sharp knife cut away wall that curls under and loose horn. Trim the foot flat, at the angle of the hairline (MSU, p. 1); stop when the sole turns pink (Peace Corps Vol 4, p. 410). Disinfect the trimmers between sheep.

Foot rot — two germs together, one in soil and one carried in sheep's feet; spread on wet, muddy ground and at shared waterholes (Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 115–117; photo): very lame, may lie down to eat, a moist, rotten-smelling sore between the toes near the heel, the sole coming loose. (Foot scald is a milder, non-contagious redness between the toes: MSU, p. 1.)

1. Separate lame sheep. Trim away all rotten horn (p. 116); burn the trimmings (rule of thumb).
2. Stand them in 10% zinc sulfate for one hour: 1 kg in 10 liters of hot water (about 2¼ lb in 2⅔ gallons, our conversion) with a little detergent, weekly for 3 weeks. Water them first so they don't drink it (rule of thumb). MSU uses 15–18%.
3. Then onto ground no sheep have used for 2 weeks. Cull any sheep that doesn't heal: it carries the germ (p. 116). Antibiotic shots help bad cases (No Animal Doctor, p. 249).

Prevent it: don't buy lame sheep (FB 2222, p. 5), keep pens dry and bedded (MSU, p. 1), and keep selenium up (EM 9094, p. 3).

🪱 Worms with few or no dewormers

Stomach worms, worst the barber pole worm, suck blood: pale gums and eyelids, weakness, bottle jaw (a soft swelling under the jaw) and death, lambs worst (Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 118–119; pale eyelid, bottle jaw). Worms already resist many dewormers, and after a collapse there will be no more (UF VM271, pp. 1–2).

Treat only the sheep that need it (UF VM271, pp. 2–3; Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 124):

1. Every 2–4 weeks check each sheep: eye (the FAMACHA eyelid card: 1 red, 5 white), back (condition), rear (scours), jaw (bottle jaw), nose (discharge, nose bots).
2. Deworm only the pale, thin or scouring ones. 20% of the sheep carry 80% of the worms; FAMACHA usually leaves half the flock untreated, which keeps the drug working. Some leave the best 10% untreated every time.
3. Dose for the heaviest sheep in a group of like size (underdosing breeds resistance) and drench slowly so it doesn't choke (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 76).
4. Cull sheep that always need treatment; keep the ones that stay red-eyed and fat (UF VM271, p. 3).

Grazing against worms: larvae live up to a year on warm, moist pasture, but hot, dry weather kills them; a dewormed sheep put back on dirty pasture is reinfected in 3 weeks (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 118). Our dry summers help; wet springs and irrigated pasture are the danger (rule of thumb). 80% of larvae live in the bottom 2 inches of grass: don't graze short; rest pastures at least 30 days (barber pole larvae live 90–180 days); tannin-rich clovers and birdsfoot trefoil help (UF VM271, p. 3). Safe pasture is a new crop on tilled ground, regrowth after a hay cut, or ground with no sheep or goats for a year; cattle grazing behind sheep "vacuum" up their worm larvae; wean lambs onto clean ground (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 123). Feed hay in racks and grain in troughs, off the ground (UF VM271, p. 2).

Other worms (Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 120–122):

• Liver flukes need snails: ditch banks, slow creeks, ponds, swamps. Fence sheep off wet ground (rule of thumb); most dewormers don't kill flukes.
• Hydatid tapeworm passes from dogs to sheep and back, and infects people: never let dogs eat raw sheep offal or dead sheep; deworm dogs for tapeworm; burn or bury dead sheep.
• Coccidia: scours, sometimes bloody, in lambs in damp, shady pens fed on the ground: sunlight, and feeders manure can't reach.

📚 Go deeper: UF VM271 — FAMACHA and the Five Point Check; Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 125–127 — a salt-float worm egg test (needs a microscope).

🩺 Sheep health with no vet

Know normal: temperature about 103 °F (39.2–39.6 °C); pulse 70–90, felt on the artery inside the lower jaw; 10–30 breaths a minute (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 31; No Animal Doctor, pp. 66–67). A sheep that stops eating or stands apart is sick (rule of thumb). A whole flock panting on a hot day is normal; one sheep panting is not (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 88). Rabies can look like bloat or choke: think before you put a hand in a sick sheep's mouth (p. 96). Medicines in general: Medical — READ ME FIRST.

Problem	Signs	What to do (Raising Healthy Sheep unless noted)
Pregnancy disease (twin-lamb)	Late pregnancy, often twins: stands apart, dull, wobbly, goes down	Force-feed high-energy feed; B vitamins (p. 90); propylene glycol or glycerol twice a day (No Animal Doctor, p. 273). Often fatal. Prevent: no thin or fat ewes, more energy in the last 6 weeks, exercise (p. 91)
Milk fever (low calcium)	Near lambing: dull, down, can't rise; not excitable	50–100 mL calcium borogluconate under the skin (or slowly in a vein) (p. 93). Don't move or shear near lambing
Grass tetany (low magnesium)	Lush spring grass near lambing: excitable, twitching, staggering, convulsions	50–100 mL saturated Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) solution under the skin, early (p. 92). Hay with spring grass
Bloat	Left side swollen behind the ribs, hard breathing	Pass a tube to the stomach; several ounces of vegetable oil for foamy bloat; last resort, stab the left side between last rib and hip (p. 95)
Grain overload	Got into grain: dull, weak, scours, stops eating	About 4 heaping spoonfuls of baking soda in water, plus water and mineral oil, by mouth (p. 96). Lock grain up
Overeating disease (enterotoxemia)	The best lamb found dead after milk, grain or lush grass	Vaccinate (CD&T): ewes in the last month of pregnancy, lambs at 8 and 12 weeks (p. 117); lambs 2–10 months on new grass are at risk (No Animal Doctor, p. 213). No vaccine: slow feed changes
Tetanus	Stiff, can't swallow, after docking, castration or a wound	Nearly always fatal. Same vaccine; clean wounds (pp. 117–118)
Pneumonia	Fever, fast breathing, cough; lambs in damp, ammonia-smelling sheds	Antibiotics early; fresh air, outdoors (p. 110)
Watery mouth (E. coli)	Newborn weak, drooling, stops sucking, dies in a day	Antibiotics in the first hours. Prevent: clean pen, iodine on the navel, colostrum in 1–2 hours (pp. 110–111)
Mastitis	Hind-leg limp; hot, hard, painful half udder; watery or clotted milk; hungry lambs	Milk out the bad side every 2 hours; penicillin if you have it; aspirin 10 mg/kg for fever. Often ruins that half (pp. 112–113)
Sore mouth (orf)	Crusty sores on lambs' lips and nose	Heals in weeks; glycerin with 7% iodine. Catches on people's hands: gloves (p. 106)
CL (abscesses)	Lumps that swell and burst with thick pus	Isolate. Best: butcher and trim out the lumps; the rest is safe to eat. Or lance, flush with iodine or bleach 1:40, burn the pus and bedding. Antibiotics don't work (pp. 108–110)
Urinary stones	Ram or wether strains, hunched, dribbles; "water belly"	Snip the thin tip of the penis if the stone is there; otherwise butcher before the bladder bursts. Calcium 2–3 × phosphorus; salt to make them drink (pp. 94–95)
Polio (thiamine lack)	Blind, wobbly, head back "gazing at the stars," after a feed change	Thiamine 10 mg/kg twice a day, 2–3 days (pp. 93–94)
OPP (ovine progressive pneumonia)	Older sheep slowly thin and short of breath, no fever; "hard bag" udder; swollen knees	No cure; spread in milk. Don't keep lambs from infected ewes (p. 104)
Wool rot, pinkeye	Wet weather: red sores, wool falls out. Eyes: tears, squinting, cloudy	Wool rot: clip and antiseptic. Pinkeye: shade, tetracycline eye ointment; most recover (pp. 111–112)
Abortion	Lambs lost early	Gloves; pregnant women stay away. Burn or bury fetus and afterbirth; isolate the ewe 10–14 days; keep cats out of the feed (toxoplasma) (pp. 100, 114)

Injections go under the skin of the neck or behind the elbow, never in the hind leg or loin (they scar meat and pelt); clean, sharp needles; never into a wet sheep; wait out the label's meat withdrawal time (pp. 75–76). When to cull: butcher a sheep that can walk, isn't in great pain and carries no drug residue; kill and dispose of one that can't, or is feverish, very thin or has nervous signs (UF VM114, p. 4).

Stock now (FB 2222, p. 8; Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 63–64): hand shears and a stone, foot shears, a sharp knife, a burdizzo or rubber rings, a drenching syringe, a lamb feeding tube and bottles, strong iodine, a thermometer, gloves and sleeves, zinc sulfate, a FAMACHA card, dewormers, CD&T vaccine, calcium borogluconate, Epsom salt, propylene glycol, selenium sheep mineral, pyrethrin pour-on, paper twine.

🐕 Predators, guardian dogs and fire season

Predators killed 45% of the lambs that died in California in 2014; nationally, dogs caused 21% of predator losses of adult sheep (UC ANR 8598, pp. 2–3). Use several tools together, before the first kill (p. 3). Every night, bring the flock into a predator-proof pen near the house (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 133): night pens rate "highly effective" against coyotes, cougars and bears (UC ANR, p. 5), and lamb in a shed (AIB 588, p. 29).

Coyotes and dogs (UC ANR, p. 8): a coyote squeezes through a 4 × 6 inch hole and climbs or jumps fences under 66 inches, so woven wire needs electric top and trip wires. Electric netting, run on batteries and solar, cut coyote entries from 47% to 6%. Coyotes are an unprotected mammal in Oregon (ODFW, p. 74), and a landowner needs no license to take predatory animals on their own land (p. 26).

Woven wire with hot wires on top and a hot trip wire outside (UC ANR 8598, p. 8; a diagram drawn for this guide).

Cougars: "Fence and shelter livestock. Move them to sheds or barns at night." "Oregon law allows landowners to kill a cougar that is damaging livestock or property"; call your local ODFW office (ODFW, p. 2). Fences are untested against cougars (UC ANR, p. 8), so the night shed needs a roof and a door (rule of thumb). Black bears: electric fence to the BearWise spec, at least 3 hot wires (5–6 better), lowest 7–9 in, highest 36–42 in, 8–10 in apart, an energizer of at least 6,000 volts and 0.5 joules, weeds kept off the wires (ODFW bear bulletin, p. 2). Store feed in a secure place (ODFW Living with Black Bears, p. 2).

Guardian dogs are the best all-round protection against the predators here (UC ANR, pp. 5–6). Great Pyrenees, Anatolian, Akbash and Maremma are the usual breeds; with bears and cougars, plan 1–2 dogs per 50 ewes; two dogs beat one (Texas A&M, pp. 5–6). A pup raised in a pen with lambs bonds to sheep (AIB 588, p. 13). Black bears usually retreat from a barking dog, but "cougars are known predators of dogs" (pp. 28–29). Choosing, raising and keeping a guardian dog are in the Dogs guide. Llamas and donkeys deter dogs and coyotes but not cougars or bears, and a donkey should be taken out at lambing (UC ANR, pp. 5–7).

Remove dead sheep, afterbirths and gut piles at once: they draw predators (UC ANR, p. 9).

Fire season: grazing 40–50% of the grass in the growing season breaks up fuel; ungrazed bunchgrass was 200% more likely to burn (PNW783, p. 3). Decide ahead which sheep leave and where; move them early, in daylight (p. 7). Sheep that stay go in a heavily grazed pasture, gates open, with water and feed for 7–10 days; store hay apart from the shed (p. 8). In smoke: less activity, clean water always, shade, damp down dust, and put off weaning, vaccinating and moving (p. 10). See the Wildfire guide.

🔪 Slaughter and butchering

When: any time after a lamb reaches 100 lb, at 110–140 days: about a 50-lb carcass and 35 lb of meat. "A lamb more than 1 year old does not put on enough weight to pay for its feed" (FB 2222, p. 13). With no fridge, kill in cool weather, early in the day (rule of thumb). Only healthy sheep, past any drug withdrawal time (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 76). Water but no feed for 24 hours before: skinning is easier (FB 2222, p. 13; Slaughter and Preservation of Meat, p. 69).

Killing (UF VM114, pp. 5–12):

1. A .22 long rifle is enough for a lamb (hollow points may not get through an adult skull), held a few inches from the head, never against it; watch for ricochet (p. 5).
2. Hornless sheep: top of the head, or just behind the poll. Horned sheep and rams: behind the poll, aimed toward the muzzle (the skull on top is too thick). Not between the eyes (pp. 7–8; drawing).
3. Bleed at once (after a captive-bolt stun, within 10 seconds, or the sheep may wake: p. 7): a rigid, pointed knife at least 6 inches long goes in behind the jaw, edge outward, and is drawn out through the big neck vessels (p. 11; Slaughter, p. 70). Stand clear of kicking. Dead: no heartbeat, no breathing, no blink when you touch the eye (p. 12).

Pelting and gutting (Slaughter and Preservation of Meat, pp. 70–74; photos):

1. Clean hands and knives; keep wool off the meat. Leave the fell (the thin skin over the meat) on: it keeps the carcass from drying.
2. Lamb on its back on a rack: open the pelt down the front of each foreleg to the breast and skin out the forelegs; take off the feet at the joint; open the hind legs from hoof to tail.
3. "Fist" the pelt off: push a fist between pelt and carcass from flank and breast, pulling the pelt up with the other hand. Tie off the food pipe. Hang by the hind tendons and fist the pelt down the back and off.
4. Tie off the bung (rear gut). Open the belly with two fingers inside guarding the knife point; let the guts roll out unbroken; cut the gall bladder off the liver; take heart and lungs; wash the carcass.
5. Check liver and lungs. Offal with worms or cysts is not food: boil it and bury it; never feed raw offal to dogs (pp. 74–75; Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 121). Trim out any CL abscesses (p. 109).

Cutting up (Slaughter, pp. 151–154; cuts): take off breast, flank and foreshank first; cut the shoulder off between the 4th and 5th ribs; split the back down the spine (or leave a small one whole); separate rib from loin at the last (12th) rib, cutting the ribs 3 inches from the backbone; split the legs. Chops 1 inch thick, or bone out roasts.

Keeping it without a fridge: hung whole in a cool, airy place, no more than 3 days; then dry it in thin strips, or salt it 1 part salt to 3 parts meat for at least 28 days under brine (Slaughter, pp. 89–92). Canning, jerky and smoking are in the Preserving Food guide.

♻️ Sheepskins, tallow and manure

Sheepskins make "light and fancy leathers"; skin without cutting the hide and scrape off all fat and flesh (USDA FB 1334, p. 7). Let it cool overnight, then tan it, or salt it with about 1 lb of salt per lb of skin: it keeps 3–5 months. Never let it freeze or heat (p. 8). Store skins dry, away from the meat (Slaughter, p. 75). A wool-on sheepskin is tanned like a fur (rule of thumb): salt-alum paste on the flesh side only, 2–3 coats a day apart, then rinse, oil, and work it over a stake as it dries (FB 1334, p. 27); wash the wool first as above (rule of thumb). Tanning step by step: Clothing, Leather & Shoes guide.

Tallow: mutton fat makes candles and soap; render it within a week (Food From Scratch; Light Without the Grid). Manure: an adult drops 2.5–8.5 kg (6–19 lb) a day (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 31); compost it with the bedding before it goes on food crops ("Composting food, yard waste and manure" in the Sanitation guide). Dead sheep: burn or bury deep so dogs and coyotes can't eat them (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 123; "Dead animals and gut piles" in the same guide).

🥛 Sheep milk

Ewe milk is rich: about 6.2% fat and 5.4% protein (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 31; the Milk guide's source gives about 7.9% fat), so it makes more cheese and yogurt per gallon than cow or goat milk (rule of thumb). Milk breeds give "large quantities of milk from which cheese and yogurt are made," and their lambs are weaned at 30–45 days (pp. 16–17). The library has no yield figures; a dairy ewe gives perhaps a third to half what a good dairy goat does, over a shorter season (rule of thumb).

1. Milk peaks 3–4 weeks after lambing (p. 46). Share with the lambs (shut them apart at night, milk in the morning), or wean early and milk twice a day (rule of thumb).
2. A stand with a head catch; ewes have small teats, so strip between finger and thumb (rule of thumb). Wash and dry wet or muddy teats and your hands first (p. 113); strip the first squirts and look for clots every time ("Clean milking" in the Milk guide).
3. Drying off: reduce feed and water for 48–72 hours at weaning, and watch the udder (p. 113).
4. Pasteurize (brucellosis; Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 115). Don't milk ewes grazing lupine: its poison passes into milk and can cause birth defects in people (WSU, p. 15). Lamb or kid rennet suits sheep-milk cheese (see the Milk guide).

📅 A sheep year in the Illinois Valley

When	The flock	Work
Aug–Sep	Ewes start coming in heat; dry pasture, smoke, fire season	Wean lambs; buy ewes (cheapest in fall); trim feet; flush ewes 2 weeks before the ram goes in; graze down fire breaks; no open burning
Oct–Nov	Ram in (Oct 15 → lambs about mid-March); first rains	Mark the ram; write down dates; kill lambs and culls once nights are cold; salt skins; hay in
Dec–Feb	Mid-pregnancy; mud	Open shed, dry bedding; check condition every 2–3 weeks; watch feet; FAMACHA every 3–4 weeks; shear or crutch 4–6 weeks before lambing; CD&T to ewes in the last month
Mar–Apr	Lambing; grass starts	Lambing pens ready; colostrum; dock and castrate by 2 weeks; watch lambs 3–8 weeks old for white muscle disease; hay with lush grass; guard lambs from coyotes
May–Jun	Peak milk; worms rise; lush grass	Shear when the rains end, pour-on for lice after; lamb vaccines at 8 and 12 weeks; FAMACHA every 2 weeks; make hay; wash wool on warm days
Jul	Heat; grass browns	Shade, water; wean at about 4 months; lambs reach 100 lb; move to hay or summer crops

Breeding, gestation and lambing times are from the books cited above (FB 2222, pp. 10–12; Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 31, 45, 117); the fit to this valley is a rule of thumb.

👪 How many sheep for a family

Goal	What it takes	Source
Meat	6 ewes raise about 7–8 lambs a year ("four ewes will produce five lambs"); keep 1–2 ewe lambs, eat 5–6: about 175–210 lb of meat	FB 2222, pp. 5, 13 (arithmetic)
Wool	6 ewes × about 8 lb = 48 lb raw, about 31 lb clean: ten comforters, or one mattress plus yarn	FB 2222, p. 12; USDA 1933, p. 3 (arithmetic)
Pasture	6 ewes and a ram: 1¼ acres of good pasture, 2⅓–3½ acres unimproved; more where it dries out in summer	FB 2222, p. 8 (arithmetic)
Hay	About 500 lb per sheep for winter: 1¾ tons for 7; nearly double if you also feed through a dry summer	FB 2222, p. 9 (arithmetic; summer: rule of thumb)
Grain	About 75 lb per ewe per winter, plus creep feed for lambs	FB 2222, p. 10
Water	6 nursing ewes and 8 lambs: about 13 gallons a day	Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 35 (arithmetic)
Ram	One serves about 50 ewes: share one among several households	FB 2222, p. 5

🧬 Keeping the flock going for years

• Records: breeding, lambing and weaning dates, twins, weights, fleece weights, every medicine, FAMACHA scores, culls. "Do not depend on your memory!" (No Animal Doctor, p. 184; Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 52).
• Keep the best ewe lambs, from ewes that twin, mother and milk well, stay sound and stay red-eyed without dewormer, and you can double the flock in a few years (FB 2222, p. 4). Cull ewes with ruined udders, foot rot that won't heal, worm-prone ones and broken mouths, and castrate poor ram lambs before they can breed (No Animal Doctor, p. 186). Don't keep lambs from OPP ewes (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 104).
• The ram makes most of the change in a flock: choose him hardest (p. 55). Range ewes given good care can lamb well to 8–10 years old (FB 2222, p. 5).
• Inbreeding gives weaker, less productive lambs: swap rams with other neighborhoods every few years, keep two males in case one is infertile, and don't let sheep run loose (No Animal Doctor, pp. 184, 186).

🧯 If this goes wrong

Problem	Likely cause and fix
Lamb 3–8 weeks old stiff, trembling, can't stand	White muscle disease: selenium shortage (OSU EM 9094, p. 2)
Several sheep sick in early spring after a move	Death camas or another poison plant: take them off, feed hay (AIB 415, p. 35)
Sheep weak and pale, or dying, after eating goat, cattle or pig feed or mineral	Copper poisoning: it bursts the red blood cells (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 39)
Ewes keep coming back into heat	Ram infertile: change the brisket color and watch; keep a second ram (FB 2222, p. 11)
Best lamb found dead	Overeating disease after rich feed; vaccinate and change feed slowly (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 117)
Ewe walks off from her lamb	Pen them together 12–24 hours (FB 2222, p. 11); a strange place causes mis-mothering (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 62)
Washed wool came out matted	It was stirred or squeezed, or rinsed at another temperature (USDA 1933, p. 4)
Several lame sheep in a wet winter	Foot rot: trim, zinc sulfate, clean ground, cull carriers (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 116)

⚠️ Old advice in the library to ignore

Book says	Do this instead
Phenothiazine mixed into the salt, "medicated salt available at all times," and drench every sheep at least once a year — FB 2222, pp. 9, 13	Breeds resistant worms. Deworm only the sheep that need it (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 124; UF VM271, p. 2)
Mix the ram's marking color with "old crankcase oil" — FB 2222, p. 11	Castor or linseed oil (same page)
Woven wire with barbed wire above and below — FB 2222, p. 7	No barbed wire (OSU EC1646, p. 1); electric top and trip wires (UC ANR, p. 8)
Dip sheep in a vat of insecticide — FB 2222, pp. 8, 13	Dips "can be very poisonous." Pyrethrin pour-on after shearing (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 128)
10% copper sulfate foot bath — Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 116; 10% formalin — No Animal Doctor, p. 249	Copper poisons sheep that drink it; formaldehyde "should not be used" (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 117). Zinc sulfate
Stun a hornless sheep with "a sharp blow on top of the head" — Slaughter and Preservation of Meat, p. 70	A hammer blow is "unacceptable" (UF VM114, p. 12). Shoot, then bleed at once
Swing a newborn by its back feet to start breathing — Langston, p. 9	Clear the nose, tickle it with a straw, rub it dry (rule of thumb: no book on the drive says not to swing)
"Women should not assist with birth" — Langston, p. 8	Pregnant women stay away from aborting flocks; everyone wears gloves (Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 114)
A gasoline bath for tanned skins; salt with sulfuric acid as a tan — FB 1334, pp. 26–28	Tumble in dry sawdust or bran (p. 26); salt-alum (p. 27)

---

🖼️ Pictures & diagrams

Look before you try it. 🖼️ = drawings and photos in the books on this drive; the other links open the offline Wikipedia.

• Sheep types; age by the teeth; thin and fat ewes — Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 19–21; p. 30; p. 49; Katahdin sheep; East Friesian sheep
• Hay racks, lambing pen, lamb creep — FB 2222, p. 6; p. 7; p. 8
• Shelter, electric fence, guard dog, llama, donkey, electric netting — Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 130–134; UC ANR, pp. 6–9; Livestock guardian dog
• Poisonous plants — lupine, AIB 415, pp. 65–66; St. Johnswort, p. 101; WSU, p. 15; selenium map (OSU EM 9094, p. 2)
• Lambing, wrong positions, helping a lamb suck, tube feeding — Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 63–72; Langston, pp. 5–8
• Holding a lamb, docking ring, castration, sheep on its rump, foot trimming — Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 73–78; No Animal Doctor, pp. 187–189; MSU M2487, p. 1
• Shearing, skirting, rolling and tying fleeces — USDA Preparing Wool for Market, pp. 5–13; Raising Healthy Sheep, p. 82; Sheep shearing
• Sick sheep: foot rot, worms, pregnancy disease, sore mouth, CL, mastitis, tetanus — Raising Healthy Sheep, pp. 91–93; pp. 106–119; FAMACHA
• Where to aim; bleeding; pelting, gutting, lamb cuts — UF VM114, pp. 7–11; Slaughter and Preservation of Meat, pp. 70–74; pp. 151–154; tanning tools (FB 1334, p. 7)

🔗 Related guides

• Goats guide — the same diseases, worms and hooves; keeping goat mineral from sheep
• Milk, Butter & Cheese guide — pasteurizing, yogurt and cheese from sheep milk
• Clothing, Leather & Shoes — carding, spinning, dyeing, weaving, knitting, tanning
• The Dogs guide (guardian dogs, tapeworms in dogs); the Cattle guide (grazing cattle behind sheep against worms)
• Horses, Mules and Draft Animals — hay, toxic-plant photos, wildfire plans
• Wildfire guide and Home Defense — fire breaks; guarding stock and theft
• Preserving Food, Food From Scratch, Light Without the Grid — curing meat, tallow, candles
• Sanitation guide — composting manure; dead animals and gut piles
• Food Security — how much food a family needs in a year
• Medical — READ ME FIRST — medicines; Field Care — infected cuts and orf in people