It doesn’t matter how tough you are, how strong you are, how fast you can run, or how manly you are. If you get in a fight with an angry cow or bull, either you will have to escape or you will lose. A ram or buck can cause some damage if he butts you, but it is rare for one to cause any serious injury, and it is possible to manhandle sheep and goats if needed. You can’t pick up a recalcitrant cow and throw her in the trailer like you can a ewe.
A sheep or goat enterprise has many advantages. For example:
Small ruminants have numerous disadvantages as well. For example:
There has been a long-standing legendary prejudice among cattle producers against sheep and goats. In the 1880s in this country, sheepherders were actually rounded up and killed by cattle ranchers, who thought sheep would ruin rangelands. I am not joking; it actually happened. It is a fascinating but particularly ugly part of the history of livestock in this country. But this prejudice is diminishing as cattle producers discover the advantages of adding small ruminants to their operation.
Many sheep and goat producers begin as cattlemen and get into the business because of the obvious synergy these little ruminants have with their primary enterprise. Sheep and goats eat many plants that cattle refuse to eat, such as ironweed, dogwood, sumac, blackberries, and buckbrush. Thus, a higher percentage of the plants are considered forage instead of weeds. Why pay to spray these “weeds” when you can get paid to graze them? I have neighbors tell me their goats relish wild marijuana plants. Cattle do not touch them. Perhaps there is a niche for a value-added meat product there? Stoned-goat burgers, anyone?
There is also a synergy when it comes to internal parasite control. As we will discuss later in this chapter, parasite control is a major problem with small ruminants but is also an issue at times with cattle. Small ruminants are not affected by the parasites of cattle, nor are cattle affected by the parasites of small ruminants. If the larva of a sheep parasite is consumed by a cow, the larva will die, and if the larva of a cattle parasite is consumed by a sheep or goat, that larva will also die. The mismatched larvae just become a protein source. Again, why pay to kill them when you can get paid to graze them?
Finally, there is a synergy in predator control. Most predators of small ruminants, such as coyotes, tend to avoid cattle because an angry cow is quite capable of sending a careless coyote to the happy sheep buffet in the sky. Having the lambs or kids being born at the same time, in the same area as the calves, takes advantage of the protective nature of a cow with a newborn calf to repel predators.
Once cattlemen swallow their pride and add small ruminants to their portfolio, they discover what dedicated producers of them have long known: the profit potential from a well-managed sheep or goat operation is usually far superior to that of a well-managed cow herd. Sheep and goats are more than a means of just weed and brush control; they are a profitable enterprise in their own right.
Weeds eaten by sheep
Despite the belief that sheep and particularly goats will eat about anything (they do not eat tin cans, in case you wondered) they are actually very selective about their diet, and their small mouthparts enable them to select a high-quality diet composed primarily of plant leaves. They do eat many plants we consider weeds because cattle do not eat them, but often these “weeds” are nutritionally more dense than the plants preferred by cattle. Cattle often refuse them because of some unpalatable secondary compound such as terpenes, alkaloids, or tannins. Goats in particular are able to consume high quantities of these without harm because of their extraordinarily large liver, which detoxifies such compounds; this thus enables them to consume otherwise nutritious plants neglected by other livestock.
Small ruminants are not “little cattle” and require a higher-quality diet than cattle do. I discovered this the hard way when I first started my own flock years ago. I basically fed them a diet designed for cattle, only in much smaller proportions, and my ewes almost starved before I was finally informed by a long-time sheep operator of my error in judgment. They also do not perform well on a diet composed primarily of grass, as they are often forced to do by all too many small landowners.
Sheep and goats prefer — and to some extent, require — a diet rich in forbs and the leaves of woody species, which are higher in protein and minerals than grasses. Grasses may be a portion of the pasture composition, but it is important that forbs, legumes, and woody species compose a large portion. Because sheep and goats are capable of very close grazing they can easily eliminate many legumes and forbs from a pasture with uncontrolled grazing. Use of rotational grazing with frequent animal moves makes the maintenance of legumes and forbs much easier and enables maintenance of a tall plant residual.
Internal parasites are a particular problem in many small ruminant operations. The barber pole worm is particularly destructive, especially to goats. Goats evolved as eaters of trees in arid areas. Dry conditions limit the survivability of parasite larvae, and few larvae are able to climb trees to where goats feed. Thus, goats have never required resistance to parasites — until recent times, that is, when we started to raise goats in humid areas on grass pastures that are cropped close to the ground.
To make the parasite problem worse, overreliance on chemical deworming agents has selected for parasite populations resistant to these chemicals. It is now often recommended to deworm only the most heavily parasitized animals in a flock or herd, and then cull and sell them once they recover. Over time this eventually selects for the most parasite-resistant genetics to remain in the herd. Some breeds, such as Katahdin sheep, are more parasite resistant than other breeds, but any breed can be selected for parasite resistance over time.
One simple way to diagnose parasite load is to examine the inside of the animal’s eyelid. On a healthy animal with a low parasite burden the inside of the eyelid will be red; on a parasitized animal it will be pale in color, and an animal with a white eyelid will often be near death from parasites.
Several methods can help control internal parasites. The first is to simply avoid grazing too closely. The larvae of parasites can crawl only so far from the ground onto vegetation; almost all infective larvae will be found within 4 inches of the soil surface.
Another method is rotational grazing, with long rest periods. Barber pole worm larvae are able to enter into a dormant stage and survive outside a host for some period, but in general, the longer the rest period, the higher percentage of the parasites that will die before finding a new host. Rotation must be balanced by the nutritional needs of the animal for immature, vegetative forage.
Another method of parasite control is the use of anthelmintic (toxic to intestinal parasites) plants. Plants that contain condensed tannins, such as lespedezas, sainfoin, bird’s-foot trefoil, and chicory, as well as many woody species, are able to expel worms.
There are two ways to utilize these plants:
Of course, it is also possible to combine the two approaches.
There are other plants that have anthelminthic properties, such as pumpkin seeds, wormwood, and a whole host of others. As we investigate more plants for anthelminthic properties, we will discover more that are effective dewormers. Most likely, we will also find that if we rely on only one plant or one class of plant-derived chemical for parasite control, the parasites will also likely develop resistance to that, just as they have to synthetic dewormers. As they said in Jurassic Park, nature finds a way.
Predators can decimate small ruminant herds. My mother lost her entire small flock to coyotes over the course of one winter. Predator protection is essential in most areas for successful production. Guard dogs, llamas, and donkeys have been used with some success. Llamas and donkeys have the advantage of being able to eat the same forage as the sheep or goats, instead of needing their own special food as do dogs. Llamas and donkeys also do not present the problem of occasionally eating lambs and kids as dogs sometimes do. Llamas are particularly aggressive toward canines.
Penning at night and electric fencing or netting are reasonably successful. Electrified netting makes creation of a temporary predator-proof pen much easier than in years past, when the animals had to be led back to a central permanent location each night for predator protection.
An electrified netting can provide a temporary enclosure that is difficult for ground-based predators to enter.
Birthing in synchrony with nature is probably far more important with small ruminants than with any other livestock enterprise. The short gestation period of small ruminants makes it possible to give birth three times in 2 years. This looks great on paper, but in reality, it ends up putting a high percentage of the births in a time of year in which it is hard to provide good green pasture, and hard to provide a warm, dry environment. Lambs tend to be much more able to tolerate cold temperatures at birth than goats, which are very vulnerable to cold, but that does not make lambing in the worst weather of the year a good idea.
Winter birthing makes it essential to have on hand expensive high-quality stored-feed sources, such as alfalfa hay of excellent quality. It is seldom profitable to base a livestock operation on a need to have a large supply of a very expensive class of feed, or on building expensive shelter and facilities, but that is what lambing or kidding in winter requires.
A cattle operation that calves in winter is bad enough, but at least calves need minimal shelter and cows can use relatively cheap forms of hay (I am of the opinion that few sources of hay are actually very cheap, but the quality of hay needed for lactating ewes and does is particularly expensive). It usually costs no more to create high-quality pasture than low-quality pasture, and spring lambing or kidding can utilize pasture as the primary feedstuff instead of high-quality hay.
Lambing or kidding in winter also puts a vulnerable food source out there for predators, when those predators have few other food sources available and are hungry and desperate. Shifting birthing season to the same time when rabbits and rodents are also giving birth means those predators have something else to eat, and smart coyotes would rather deal with a momma rabbit than with a guard dog, electric fence, and shotgun-toting rancher.
Flushing is a term for placing ewes or does on a very high plane of nutrition just prior to the breeding season. This tends to increase the number of eggs ovulated, and thus the number of multiple births. It is preferred that this nutrition come from a grass-dominated pasture with few legumes, since legumes’ estrogen content is occasionally implicated in difficulties getting ewes to become pregnant.
A flushing pasture should be a vigorously growing, vegetative grass forage. If breeding in late fall for spring lambing or kidding, a flushing pasture might be fall-planted winter cereals and brassicas, or stockpiled novel endophyte tall fescue. In areas where cover crops are planted in wheat stubble, these acres are ideal for flushing. A mixture of brown midrib corn, oats, peas, turnips, collards, and radishes planted in August makes an excellent flushing pasture come November or December, which would make for a lamb crop due April or May, respectively. Wheat pasture or rye planted in cornstalks can be similarly used, though those options have a much lower carrying capacity than the aforementioned blend in wheat stubble.
Sheep have a strong aversion to entering vegetation that is taller than they are. They like to be able to see around them, perhaps out of fear of predators. Goats, being natural tree eaters, do not seem to have this problem of being afraid to enter tall vegetation. Some forages, particularly summer annual forages such as sudangrass and sunn hemp, make excellent sheep pasture but are not well utilized by sheep due to their height. If forages get too tall for sheep to enter, it may be useful to either push or pull a heavy pipe or log through the forage to push it over, making it both less intimidating and easier to eat.
Newborn lambs are particularly vulnerable to predators.
A ewe (or doe) year has several nutritional stages (see table above). A ewe or doe has a gestation period of about 5 months. A typical lactation period averages 4 months but can be extended for as long as 6 months if forage quality can be maintained that long after birth. There is a period after weaning in which the female is neither lactating nor pregnant, during which her nutritional needs are low.
At breeding, her needs are not very high, but a high plane of nutrition (see table above) can increase the odds of multiple births (flushing). The first part of gestation has a relatively low nutrient requirement, but the last 2 months of gestation have a high nutrient demand, similar to that during lactation. We have already mentioned the importance of lambing or kidding when there is good weather and green pasture available. Ideally, the birthing season would occur after the females already have had 1 or 2 months of green pasture in them. Weaning would occur at the time when green pasture begins to run out in fall. There would also be a period of time in the 5th month prior to birthing when there is access to high-quality grass-dominated pasture.