Pasture Design
 

Before you start putting up fences, barns, troughs or even digging ponds you should spend a little time walking around and planning things out on paper.

Word of Caution:

Since there are many many many different ways to feed and graze your sheep we'll assume for the purpose of this page that you'll solely graze your sheep to feed them except for supplements such as salt and minerals. Even so, with the many different climates and land qualities these assumptions may not exactly apply. It's up to your better judgment to make corrections and plan accordingly.

Lay of the Land

On graph paper or computer page (See Below) apply the measurements of your land that you intend to enclose. You'll want to do this in the same proportions as your land because this will be the piece of paper you'll use to decide where to put your fences, gates, barns, shelters, and minerals.

As you survey the land and put it to paper include such things as large trees (15 ft and taller) that might act as shade, natural water sources such as streams or ponds, and barren and swamp areas that might simply be rocks or areas too wet for normal traffic.

Save this sketch and make several copies so that you'll be able to draw on the copies and make changes as you go.

Dividing up the Land

Assuming you have enough land to divide, you'll need to think about what you want the land to do for you. For example, many people leave their ram in with the flock all year long. However, such practice tends to develop a significant amount of inbreeding in a rather short time.

Others will hire a ram for 'stud' service, hence inbreeding isn't an issue for the small flock using this service. If you intend to control your breeding and lambing seasons as well as use your own land then a small pasture for several rams might be the thing to consider -- just remember that rams get very aggressive on inanimate objects such as fencing and buildings when they're left alone.

Another reason for considering dividing the pasture is parasite control. Most people recommend rotating sheep out of a pasture and allowing it to rest. Not only does this allow the plants time to grow and recuperate, but they say it also kills the life cycle of a significant number of parasites. Here's the catch, most people will claim that 30 days is sufficient, the time required to rest for the reasons of parasite control is on the order of 60 - 70 days before letting the flock return to the pasture. By reintroducing the flock every 30 days you are re-introducing the sheep into a fresh parasite life cycle at 'just' the right time to HELP the parasites and are making the problem WORSE than if you didn't do anything at all. But remember -- YOU OWN A BLACKBELLY BREED which are highly parasite resistant. It's up to you whether or not you want to rotate pastures.
 

You also might want a small pasture for quarantining new animals. If you purchase sheep from time to time you might want to have a special area to de-worm, treat, or simply wait and watch an animal before introducing it into your flock to ensure you're not adding a disease to your flock. THIS WOULD BE A SMART PRACTICE ! It would be an even better practice if there were a solid barrier or strip of land between these new animals and your flock. They will sometimes rub noses through the fence.

The last reason you might want to divide your land is for the weaning of lambs. Removing the lambs from the mother is a better use of feed since a significant amount of energy is lost by the ewe converting feed to milk for its lamb. In conjunction with the proper timing and introduction of the ram into the flock, in the warmer climates of the US you can accomplish up to three(3) breeding seasons every two years with Blackbellys. Pulling the lambs out for weaning will give the mother time to rest and not be disturbed by a sucking lamb while she's trying to mate. See this websites page on Weaning Lambs for more details.

Size of Subdivisions -

The two most common questions asked by people are:

How many sheep can I put on my land?

How much land do I need for my sheep?

I can't claim that I'm so smart as to have figured this one on my own but I did "plug and chug" my estimates on my land into the equation below and got a result that fit to what I've already observed. By rearranging the equation you can get answers to either one of these questions if you have enough information.

Here is a key you'll need to cipher the equation:

S = Total # Sheep you intend to graze together.(This might be an unknown)

Wt = Average animal weight (in Lbs).

U = (Utilization Rate) This is the rate the sheep chew up the land every day. Based on my own and another breeder's estimates we assume this figure is about 4% based on the average dry lot feeding of hay to American Blackbelly we own and have had individual experience with.

D = Days you want the sheep to forage in the paddock/pasture before moving them to another pasture.

P = Pounds of Dry Forage per Acre. This is a number you'll need to determine for yourself. Basically, if you were to harvest your land only for hay, meaning, that at the appropriate time intervals you mowed, dried, and bailed the hay from your land, how many pounds would you get per acre from it if you subtracted all of the trampled paths your sheep will make and the barns/shelters/ponds/etc will cut from this production.

For very rich grassland you probably will use a figure of 1700 lbs per acre (Like I did); sheep are better on the land than cattle would be (untouched land might be as high as 2000). This equates to roughly 30 bails (60 lbs per bail) of hay a year per acre. You can look at the pictures of my land on this website and perhaps compare these with your own land and gage what you think you might yield from your property; at least an estimate is better than guessing blindly.

Also remember that I'm in a semi-tropical and warm climate which can grow grass fairly well 9 of the 12 months of the year. I mow my home lawn weekly up until late October and spring starts here in late February.

Ac = # Acres required to feed the number of sheep you're wanting to graze on this land for 'D' days.

Putting all of these together you get the following equation:

                                                 Ac =    (S x Wt x U x D) 

                                                                        P

Example:

For a flock of five(5), keeping them in the same paddock for 30 days, with and overall average weight of 70 lbs each, and assuming the figures given in the above descriptions, the equation looks like:

            Ac    =    (S x Wt x U x D)  /   P      =      (5 x 70 x 4.0% x 30)  /  1700

                                                                             __

                                                                 =      0.233 Acres

This example guides me to subdivide this single acre into four equally sized paddocks (assuming there is equal grazing in each) which will allow me to rotate 5 ewes between three pastures for 30 days each and thereby allowing each paddock to rest for 60 days AND dividing the land in such a way will also give me a single pasture for a few lead rams to reside in on a permanent basis. This all assumes that your sheep are 100% grass fed. If you supplementally feed your sheep then the land can obviously support more sheep right up to the point where it becomes a dry lot and you are feeding the sheep 100% from other sources.

To further validate this example, the basic rule of thumb in my area is that each acre of land can sustain about 6 -7 sheep -- and that's approximately what this equation tells me for my land; assuming I only grass feed my sheep.

More information can be obtained from :

Drawing Out a Plan/Design

I realize there is probably a lot to consider and you've got a list of issues you're not completely sure about. But remember, nothing is permanent, just sometimes bad plans are a little more expensive to move (like barns).

There are really only two ways to lay out a pattern on your property, either you'll spoke your property around a central source or hub (Such as water -- seen at the right) or you'll grid the property up into blocks wherein each paddock will be self-sufficient with its own water and shelters.

Using your copies of the map you drew earlier, try to divide up the land taking into consideration the quality of feed that each division has; you'll want equal nutrition for each property if you intend to rotate your flock. If you plan on building a barn, perhaps a good location is near your water source. In this way the same path will be used for both the barn & drinking water and a spoke type of layout might work best for you.

This above diagram is a rough example of my layout which also includes a proposed new area I want to add onto what I know use (Area D -- at the bottom). This area has no 'big' trees on it but it does get watered very well due to a swampy area that could one day turn into a pond if I choose to dig it out. It also borders and existing chain link fence already in existence.This will extend the total pasture about 25% and help me to better manage what I already use.

I hope this gives you something to think about and a direction to help you start planning your projects.