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Your Sheep: A Kid's Guide to Raising and Showing
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Évaluation : 5 sur 5 étoiles5/5 (1 évaluation)
Longueur: 222 pages1 heure
- Éditeur:
- Storey Publishing
- Sortie:
- Dec 26, 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781612123288
- Format:
- Livre
Description
Whether you're getting your first sheep or would like to learn more about caring for and showing the sheep you have, Your Sheep has the information you need to be successful. Paula Simmons and Darrell Salsbury cover everything you need to know, from choosing and buying the right sheep to feeding, heath care, shearing, showing, breeding, and lambing.
Informations sur le livre
Your Sheep: A Kid's Guide to Raising and Showing
Notes:
Évaluation : 5 sur 5 étoiles5/5 (1 évaluation)
Longueur: 222 pages1 heure
Description
Whether you're getting your first sheep or would like to learn more about caring for and showing the sheep you have, Your Sheep has the information you need to be successful. Paula Simmons and Darrell Salsbury cover everything you need to know, from choosing and buying the right sheep to feeding, heath care, shearing, showing, breeding, and lambing.
- Éditeur:
- Storey Publishing
- Sortie:
- Dec 26, 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781612123288
- Format:
- Livre
À propos de l'auteur
A respected authority on sheep raising for over three decades, author Paula Simmons has written many books and magazines articles on spinning wool, and is the coauthor of Storey’s Guide to Raising Sheep. Simmons lecturers and conducts workshops in the United States and Canada on the subject of raising sheep and spinning wool for a living. Together with her husband, she has been raising and sheering sheep, and spinning and weaving wool for over 20 years on their farm in Washington.
En rapport avec Your Sheep
Aperçu du livre
Your Sheep - Paula Simmons
Your Sheep
A Kid’s Guide to Raising and Showing
PAULA SIMMONS
AND
DARREL L. SALSBURY, DVM
The mission of Storey Publishing is to serve our customers by publishing practical information that encourages personal independence in harmony with the environment.
Cover and text design by Carol Jessop
Cover photograph courtesy of sheep! magazine, Helenville, WI 53137
Production by Carol Jessop
Edited by Gwen W. Steege and Lorin A. Driggs
Illustrated by Carol Jessop, except sheep shearing drawings, which are by Elayne Sears
Technical review by William K. Kruesi
Indexed by Kathleen D. Bagioni
Copyright © 1992 by Storey Publishing, LLC
Ebook version 2.0
October 3, 2016
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages or reproduce illustrations in a review with appropriate credits; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other—without written permission from the publisher.
The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recommendations are made without guarantee on the part of the author or Storey Publishing. The author and publisher disclaim any liability in connection with the use of this information. Storey books are available for special premium and promotional uses and for customized editions. For further information, please call 1-800-793-9396.
Storey Publishing
210 MASS MoCA Way
North Adams, MA 01247.
www.storey.com
Front cover: Abbie Ferris with her Suffolk-Rambouillet.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Simmons, Paula.
Your sheep: a kid’s guide to raising and showing / by Paula Simmons and Darrell L. Salsbury.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN-13: 978-0-88266-769-0 (pbk.)
ISBN-10: 0-88266-769-6 (pbk.)
1. Sheep—Juvenile literature. 2. Sheep—Showing—Juvenile literature. [1. Sheep.] I. Salsbury, Darrell L., 1936- . II. Title.
SF375.2.S56 1992
636.3—dc20
91-57947
CIP
AC
Contents
A Few Words to Parents
Introduction
1. Getting to Know Sheep
2. The Best Breed for You
3. Buying Your Sheep and Bringing It Home
4. Getting Along with Your Sheep
5. Feeding Your Sheep
6. Normal Health Care, Treatment, and Medication
7. Wool and Shearing
8. Fitting and Showing
9. Breeding and Lambing
1O. Sheep Projects
Appendixes
Sheep Calendar: A Record of What to Do Each Month
Helpful Sources
Glossary
Index
Other Storey Books You Will Enjoy
Share Your Experience!
A Few Words to Parents
Any animal project that your child takes on is likely to entail a certain amount of your own time, effort, and expense. A livestock project can do much, however, to teach your child to take responsibility, to make decisions, and to be dependable and observant. These are the very skills and attitudes needed for a smooth transition from childhood to adolescence to young adulthood. The work of properly caring for sheep builds character. Perhaps for the first time, a young shepherd must accept the responsibility for the welfare of another living creature that cannot fend for itself. This responsibility develops self-confidence borne of pride in the knowledge of a job well done. Children who undertake the care of an animal attain qualities of patience and maturity beyond their peer group.
Your son or daughter will at times need adult advice and supervision, and in some instances, help with the actual work. Many jobs require two pairs of hands, and even adult shepherds need assistance from time to time.
Such groups as local 4-H clubs, Future Farmers of America (FFA), Boy Scouts, and Girl Scouts can provide much guidance. Kids can learn a great deal as they become actively involved in the many activities of these organizations. A physical disability need not prevent participation. In Georgia, for instance, a specific 4-H lamb project has been established for physically or mentally disabled youths. Each special youth has a fellow club member as a partner to assist with the care, handling, and shearing of lambs.
If you are not an experienced shepherd, your role will be made easier if a 4-H leader is supervising the choice, purchase, and care of the sheep. Other sources of advice are Agricultural Cooperative Extension agents, local sheep producers, or your local veterinarian. Where this is not possible, your child’s sheep-raising project could be a learning process for the whole family. Whatever the case, enter into it in the spirit of fun and adventure. It helps to keep your sense of humor.
Introduction
One of the great things about sheep is that they are much easier to handle than a lot of other farm animals, such as cows, horses, and pigs. They don’t take much room, they’re fairly easy to care for, and they can be trained to follow, come when called, and stand quietly at a show. All of these features make sheep excellent animals for young people to own and raise.
Sheep are clean, gentle, fun, easy to care for, and, above all, affectionate.
sheep! Magazine, photo by Martha H. Frischkorn
Sheep-ish History
Did you know that sheep have been the most important domestic animal in the world for over 10,000 years?
Almost as far back as the cave dwellers, people considered sheep to be one of the most important animals in the world because they could produce three things people needed for survival: milk, meat, and clothing.
For many centuries, all over the world, the traditional shepherds have been young people. The biblical King David was a shepherd as a child. Storybook characters like the boy who cried wolf,
Little Bo Peep, and Mary, who had a little lamb,
are well known to us all. Grade-school-age kids often have full responsibility for a flock of sheep. Whether it’s herding them from pasture to pasture, helping with the lambing, bringing them in for the shearing, or guarding them from predators, children in many different countries have long been the shepherds of the earth.
Sheep Are Earth-Friendly
In many special ways, sheep do good things for people and for the place in which they live. And they need surprisingly little in return. Land that is too dry or too poor for growing vegetables, fruits, or grains is fine for sheep. They can eat weeds, grasses, brush, and other plants that grow on poor land.
Some people argue that it is wrong to feed grain to sheep when so many human beings don’t have enough to eat. But parts of food plants like corn, rice, and wheat are too tough to be eaten by people. Sheep are able to eat those tough parts because their digestive systems are designed to handle just that sort of thing.
Sheep provide many things that we can eat or wear. Many of the world’s most popular cheeses are made from sheep milk. Sheep wool, which can be used for rugs and blankets, as well as for clothing, is a renewable resource. This means that each year, right after the sheep is sheared, it begins right away to grow new fleece.
Sheep also help the soil. If you spread their manure over your garden, it will fertilize the soil, and your plants will grow strong and healthy.
If you decide to grow sheep for meat, you can also use the pelt (skin) to make clothing, and you can make candles and soap from the fat.
CHAPTER 1
Getting to Know Sheep
Sheep depend on their owners for food, protection from predators, and regular shearing, but they require less special equipment and housing than any other livestock. One or two lambs or ewes (female sheep) can be raised in a backyard with simple fencing and a small shelter. Because sheep have thick wool coats, snow and cold temperatures don’t bother them.
If you have never owned a sheep before, you probably have a lot of questions about them and about how to get your own sheep. Here are some things you might be wondering about.
Is it safe for children to be around sheep?
Sheep are one of the safest four-legged farm animals for children to handle. Most sheep are small and docile. Rams or bucks (male sheep) can be aggressive at times, but sheep, especially those that are around people every day, are usually very gentle and even-tempered. A sheep can become your pet very easily, especially if you raise an orphan lamb on a bottle.
Are sheep hard to feed?
No. Sheep don’t need a lot of fancy food. They can live on grass in the summer, and hay, plus small amounts of grain, in the winter. Fresh water, salt, and a mineral/vitamin supplement complete their diet.
Ewe: A mature female sheep
Ram: A mature male sheep
Lamb: A sheep less than one year old
Are sheep dumb?
Sheep are anything but stupid! They learn very quickly and are among the smartest of all farm animals. It’s common for sheep to be able to recognize and respond to their individual names. Sheep have been mistakenly called dumb
because of the way they naturally act to avoid danger. Sheep have no way to defend themselves. If an enemy threatens them, they cannot kick like horses, butt like cattle, or bite like pigs. Sheep can only bunch together and attempt to run away, like a school of fish, when they sense danger. Sometimes, when they are very frightened, they may be in such a hurry to escape that they run headlong into obstacles, which makes them
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