American RBST Foundation Flock USA0001
British Registered Soay sheep
Housing Soay Sheep

Fences, Shelters, Catchpens, Portable Pens and Feeders

Fencing

Soay seem to "bond" with their living quarters and once bonded are content within the confines of their pasture, whether it is large or small. In the UK we have seen Soay kept behind 33” (80cm) tall  wire fencing, but in the States we have both used with 47” field fence. However, when frightened they can easily jump a four foot barrier.

  Some fencing ideas. Fences do not have to be tall to contain Soay Sheep
 a. 47" tall field fence with wooden poles and metal "T-posts" in Oregon   b. 33" (80 cm) tall wire fence with
wire strand on the top, wooden posts, in front of a hedgerow in Wales   c. wooden fence with 33' (80cm) wire netting keeps
the dogs from chasing the sheep.   d.  between pastures catchpen in Wales        

During the fall rut, when multiple rams are kept in adjoining paddocks, they will also need to be separated by some type of visual barrier. There are fewer if any skirmishes when they cannot see one another. In the past we have had great success with tarps or old sheets of plywood temporarily hung on the fence,  which while they looked a bit "tacky" served the purpose very well. Recently a friend and fellow breeder accidentally stumbled across the idea of using commercial weed barrier hung on his fence as a curtain. It held up to the weather, was lightweight and easy to hang, the sheep could not see through it and it was readily available on line and in farm stores and garden centers. Whatever material you use make certain there are no "peep holes" Soay sheep are very curious and they love peep holes.

                                                             
                             3 ' width De Witt Pro 5 Weed Barrier made a perfect curtain and was a tremendous improvement
                              over our old sheets of plywood. It can be purchased in a variety of widths and at our feed store
                              either by the running foot or in a 250' roll. Here it is used to keep the rams and weaned ram lambs
                              from pestering the ewes and their mothers on the other side of the fence.

Sheep Housing Systems: Sheds and Barns Soay

The Soay is a very adaptable animal, one of its strengths. We are often asked if it can tolerate the cold climates of the northern US or the hot climates of the south, in our experience it manages to adapt to both. But in spite of this hardiness it does need some protection from heat of summer and the wet of winter and a place where its hay can be kept dry. Rain and wind are the biggest concerns. Soay sheep have short wool with very little lanolin to protect them from the rain, if they get soaked in cold weather they are in trouble. On St. Kilda the sheep seek refuge in cleits or under rock outcroppings.

In the early days we made very good use of the ubiquitous blue tarp, it served us well for a number of years as both shelter for the animals and for our hay. If you are on a shoestring budget it is a great way to start out. Eventually we were able to retire our blue tarps, we had actually graduated to brown, and found that a simple 8' x 8' pole shed  with a slanting tin roof and plywood sides provided a very comfortable space for up to six or seven Soay. This can be a three-sided shelter (provided the rain and snow don't blow in), but a four sided building with a plywood door can make a convenient catch pen as well.

                                     A simple shelter constructed of four sheets of 4’ x 8’ plywood, five  8’ 4 x 4 posts
                         set in concrete, five  2” x 4”s , a few sheets of tin roofing, some screws,  two hinges
                                     and your sheep have a comfortable home and you have a catch pen

Ventilation is extremely important in a sheep barn and so the top portion of the shed has been left open to provide good air circulation, it also makes the buildings very convenient at feeding time. Our sheds have all been built along a fence line and the feeders all placed along the wall along that fence, this allows the hay to be dropped over the wall into the feeder without having to go through a gate into the paddock.

Hay is dropped over the shed wall into the feeder from outside the pen.

Some Ideas for Pasture Shelter from the UK


Plastic field shelter which can be moved from pasture to pasture. This poly-group
calf hutch is available in the UK but is manufactured in the USA by Roth,Mfg
www.loyal-roth.com/Calf_Hutch3.html  
photo Gaerllwyd Flocks, Wales

Prefab large (wooden) shed delivered to and assembled on site (L) and plastic
pig arks (R) which can be moved from field to field. Pig arks come in a variety of
styles and are widely available the UK. Gaerllwyd Flocks, Wales

A few more ideas on portable farm buildings:
For a few more ideas on portable shelter for all kinds of livestock and poultry
see the January/February 2007 issue of Hobby Farms magazine,
Tools of the Trade, Portable Farm Buildings, pg 82.

Sheep Barns

One idea for a wooden sheep barn in Oregon

Because we have had so many questions about shelter we have included a few photographs of the ideas we came up with for protecting our own sheep from the wind and rain in winter.  After forty-five years of service my old pole barn, which had been lovingly built with scraps salvaged from the dump, finally gave out. It was a monument to recycling. The roof was sagging and the entire building kept listing a little further south with each storm. I also noticed that the roof was getting closer and closer to the ground and it would not be long before I was crawling in on my hands and knees to feed the sheep. I needed a barn to house the ewes and lambs, provide me with a catchpen, a work area and stalls that I could segregate animals with special needs- and it needed to be economical. Flexibility was also a primary objective.

With the horseshoe-shaped stable interior animals can pass around the end of the cement isle from one side of the barn to the other. They can also be unsuspectingly trapped because as they enter they cannot see that the to the opposite exit gate has been closed. With the entry gate then shut behind them they are now locked inside the stable. Once inside they can then be squeezed into smaller enclosures by closing interior gates which are normally latched open against the inside wall when not in use. This serves to make up to six 8' square stalls.

When the sheep need to be caught for shots or worming, they are gradually moved through a series of gates inside the barn into increasingly tighter quarters. Here they can be handled without the stress of chasing them. They have been lured into the first pen with ewe and lamb pellets placed in the feeding trough on the ground.Once inside the green pens they have nowhere to go and remain calm and quiet.

In our travels throughout Great Britain, studying how others house their sheep and goats, we have seen some very clever barn ideas some of which we have included here.

A Steel barn with (Cinder) Block Walls in Wales

A Steel Barn in the Highlands of Scotland

                                         

                                               Catch Pens
                                                                             "Kathie's happy accident"

A catch pen is all but a necessity for general maintenance with any livestock animal. In its close confines the sheep can be caught and restrained for such chores as trimming hooves and administering shots. We happened to stumble onto a happy accident on our farm that has worked extremely well for handling a small flock of sheep in larger situation.

This system is based on the premise that one can never have too many gates.
Two back- to- back 4 sided pens, about 10' x 20' each, were set up in front of the barn with 2 outside gates, a middle gate and a 4th gate into the barn.  The two outside gates are staggered so that one cannot be viewed from the other. We used 5'H X 10'L pipe corral with 48' tall cattle panel wired to the pipe (to adapt it from llamas to sheep), but a more permanent fencing material would work just as well

When we are ready to catch the sheep, one outside gate is closed and the animals are herded into the double catch pens through the other gate. Once all the Soay are inside the compound, the second outside gate is closed behind them. With the animals now contained we can push them from the first pen through the middle gate into the second (inner) pen which has a gate into the barn. Once confined in the second pen, they have no place to go but inside the barn through the 4th gate. Because the pens are located in front of their barn and thus, their feed, the sheep must regularly pass through them to get to their hay and so are accustomed to this routine. Further they are comfortable they have an avenue of escape because they can see the middle gate is open but cannot see that the far gate is closed..

With this system of gates, two outside and one in the center (near the tan ewe)
the sheep are easy to handle with little stress to either the farmer or the animals.

Portable containment pens


Shaul's Light weight panels in the US                                           Hurdles in the UK

   Lightweight panels (US) and hurdles (UK) are easily transported and lock together with pins to make temporary containment pens. They can often be found at livestock shows.                                         

Hay Feeders
Commercial and homemade

Of all the feeders we have tried, Shaul's  Mfg. four foot feeder with hay saver has been the best by far. The Soay can not  get their heads caught or climb into the feeder which has often been a problem.The hay saver feature has cut down tremendously on wasted hay.           They are available in a variety of sizes with or without the hay saver or Shauls will custom build them to suit your needs. www.shaulsmfg.com

                                   Our earliest homemade feeders are still in service.

Guess who came to dinner?

Even the wild turkeys have made the most of this feeder. We have always used  PVC for rungs on our 
  feeders. Because it is flexible animals can get their heads out unhurt if they poke them through trying to reach the hay. 
In an effort to cut down on wasted hay with the small feeders "horse panel" (4" x 4") has been
added.  Cattle pane with its larger holes had been used in the past but we had a
continuing problem with the sheep were getting their horns caught in it.

Supplement feeders
some simple ideas

We have found an evening supplement of mixed grains or a mixture of oats and a ewe/ lamb ration has kept our flock healthy, happy and especially tame. Dinner time comes and we are nearly trampled on both of our farms. In an attempt to keep one animal from hogging the entire evening’s ration we have used small rubber feed bowls, one for each sheep, screwed to the wall of the barn or inexpensive plastic rain gutter with two board "feet" screwed to the bottom (so the sheep cannot tip it over) as a grain trough.  This can easily be cut to any size.

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