How to Raise Sheep for Meat- Beginner Level

This post will guide beginner shepherds to understand the basics of raising sheep for meat. I only offer advice for small backyard homesteads that can hold about 3- 4 sheep. I am working on 2 acres of land myself.

*Sheep Density For Small Acreage/Homesteads*

How Raising Sheep Started for Me, a Beginner Shepherdess:

You can read more about how I got into homesteading in general here.

Raising sheep for meat started almost two years ago when I let my neighbor place two lambs on our pasture. I received one in return, and he kept the other one.

These two sheep were already beyond the “let’s build trust” stage and were untamably wild. They wouldn’t come near me and saw me as a danger. Needless to say, I couldn’t rotate them as I wanted. I had to give them grain (per my neighbor’s request)and hay for extra food because we were in a drought. My neighbor came and harvested them on our land but it was a bit messy and they were so afraid. In the end, they were skinny and not as healthy as Pink and Pepper were. This was due to the lack of social bonding early on. The meat still turned out delicious and we ate it with thanksgiving.

To redeem this experience, I was kindly given a mother lamb, and her two ewes (female) lamb babies last March.

These sheep were such a special gift that brought me a new level of understanding and skillset. I am tremendously grateful for this experience and love being a SHEPHERDESS ❤️ 🐑

Furthermore, I can tap into the Father’s Heart of being our Good Shepherd. Psalm 23 has been a recurring theme around shepherding. We are lost without Him. He loves and cares for us so much. He sees us.

El Roi “The God who sees me.”

Adonai ro-i, lo echsar. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

Psalm 23
A psalm of David.
¹ The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
²     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
³     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,^[a]
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.”

A Bit About Sheep:

Firstly, to become a shepherd, one must understand and acknowledge the:

• psyche and temperament of sheep,
• how to gain their trust
• and the physical needs of sheep.

In my experience, my ewes (female sheep) have shown me they are sensitive, fun, playful, and very intuitive. They are smart, yet vulnerable and perceive a lot of things as dangerous.

They are safety-centric, meaning they value safety above all else. Being in a herd or at least with one other lamb helps soothe this need. In general, sheep need other sheep to thrive. A lamb (singular for sheep) by itself is considered very vulnerable (more than they already are together) and unsafe. A single lamb will eventually wither away due to high levels of stress and anxiety. This is due to not having another lamb around.

Sheep are said to be the only animal that needs a shepherd. Not only are they very vulnerable prey animals, they have no direction, and no ability to achieve prosperity. Therefore, their survival and safety are dependent on a human who will care for them and their needs. Insert, a shepherd.

Taking care of these precious animals came with a lot of research over the past couple of years. I will condense it all into 5 essentials for you to get started:

5 ESSENTIALS TO GET STARTED RAISING MEAT SHEEP

Breed and Breeding

The Dorper Breed is hands down the best for large amounts of meat and excellent carcass quality. Dorpers produce a lot of meat because they are fast-growing. They can gain a lot of healthy weight from a wide variety of grass without needing any grain.

These hair sheep produce a self-shedding coat that is made up of a bit of wool, but mostly shedding hair. Therefore, they do not need to be sheared, which is a plus. They are hardier and more parasite-resistant. You will get the most bang for your buck by choosing the Dorper breed for meat.

For breeding, you want to choose a suitable ram that will allow for reproduction with your ewe. A proper ewe that is ready to be bred weighs at least 100 lbs and is about a year old.

To have a healthy flock, make sure to choose healthy sheep that are in prime conditions to carry lamb full term.

My ewe, Aries, just gave birth to three healthy lamb babies. She is around 3 years of age. I believe this was her third lambing season. Aries is a pro at giving birth! You can watch the full video of her lambing here!

Safety

I make sure over and over that my flock is protected. Considering my 2-acre pasture and its setup, I don’t have many predator problems. I use Premier 1 electric netting & the Solar Energizer.

Plus, a loyal Livestock Guardian Dog, Nimbus.

A bonus feature of using electric netting is that they are portable for daily moves if you are utilizing the benefits of rotational grazing during the spring and summer months like I am.

Feed

I choose to feed my Dorper sheep hay during the off-season when there is not enough grass. Other than this, they graze on our pasture grass exclusively.

I do not supplement with grain, except for the occasional barley cookie used as treats, (to earn their trust) which makes up around 1-2% of their diet. ¹Grain-fed sheep are fattier and their meat will expire sooner than grass-fed. They also tend to grow longer hooves that will need trimming to prevent foot rot or any sort of condition that comes with long, unmanageable hooves.

Sheep are ruminant grazers that are meant to eat grass and forage including weeds, non-poisonous flowers, tree bark, and leaves due to their anatomy.

Ruminants such as beef, goat, and lamb have a four-chambered stomach. Their rumen (which is a chamber in the digestive tract) does a lot of digesting the fiber and cellulose in plants which for creatures with one stomach, is hard to digest.

Shelter

I built this mobile shade shelter for my flock because where I live, it gets scorching during the summer. They will be fine if they have access to shade and water.

Dorpers are actually from South Africa and have a tolerance to heat. In the winter ❄️, when I am not moving them daily and when it is cold, wet, and stormy, I give them the option to hang out in the barn overhang. They are snuggled in warm and safe in there and can graze on a sacrificial paddock.

If you don’t have a barn shelter, remember that sheep are very hardy and will survive in harsh conditions. They don’t mind the rain or wind much, but I do notice they choose to rest in the barn if the weather is gnarly.

If you do have a barn, make sure to add a thick layer of wood chips to absorb their manure. I talk more about this concept of utilizing wood chips in the winter here.

Humane Harvest of Meat Sheep

I am not a butcher so I cannot give the full “how-to” on processing a lamb. I will say that in nature, predators are not humane when going for a kill. It was much better for us to process this meat with care and intentionality for a quick, painless death.

Pink and Pepper’s Story

March 7th, 2024, marked the end of Pink and Pepper’s life as sheep, but they may now live on by feeding us and giving us nourishment. Their hair & wool hides will be cherished as cozy memories that will keep us warm.

I scheduled the butchers to come on Monday but times didn’t sync and we scheduled it for today. I am so very thankful to have done it today, (Thursday) because it was absolutely beautiful weather, sunny and cool. The past several days it was dreary, wet, and rainy. It would have been so depressing to have them slaughtered in that weather.

I fed them their last flake of hay in a new paddock that led into the small pen, where they were harvested. They ate hay and napped in the sunshine with their mother ewe and sibling lambs next to them in the paddock over. Pink and Pepper were not stressed at all this day and were happy to be alive.

When the butchers arrived, I led the two ewes into the pen with treats. My husband closed the gate and I sat in there feeding them their last bit of treats. They were nibbling away quite fast as the small enclosure of the pen made them nervous but I was there to calm them down and ease their nerves.

The Moment of Life to Death

The butcher climbed over the gate and handled Pink in a way that made him exclaim, “Wow, she is heavy! We never have sheep this big.” Even though they were a year old, they were very fat and healthy, ready to be eaten.

Finally, he was able to adjust to her size and weight and flipped her over as they do, to have complete control where the lamb surrenders and doesn’t move. He quickly and promptly cut her throat in the most humane way possible. It was all so quick I didn’t see much of it, and was trying to keep Pepper calm at this point who tried to escape the small pen but couldn’t, so just went back to looking for a treat in my hand.

I soothed her and let her know it was all okay, thanked them both for feeding my family, teared up😢, and moved out of the way, to let the butcher take over. The same thing happened with Pepper, who was a little bigger than Pink. He assessed her weight and size which he was not used to, “We’ve never done a sheep this big before” and did the same thing. It was quick and painless for them. They didn’t suffer, they weren’t stressed, they were munching on their favorite cookies, and lived a very good life.

• I loved Pink and Pepper the best I could without becoming attached forever.
• I knew it was time for their bodies to feed our growing family.
• I was with Pink and Pepper since they were days old, and was with them in their final moments, still loving them and thanking them.

Call to Action

This past year of raising these wonderful creatures has taught me so much about life and death. I have been preparing myself for a long while that they would be meat one day. This type of growth and connection to food is not for the faint of heart.

Thankfully, farmers and butchers do this for a living, so people don’t have to think about this part of life and death. However, the norm 100 years ago, before the supermarkets became readily available, people did this all the time in their backyards.

Everyone knew how to harvest, skin, and butcher their meat. It was so common back then that the idea of not knowing where and how your meat came from was absurd.

I am sure that some people might feel too sensitive to witness, or be a part of their food’s life for fear of becoming too attached. It is good to feel this way because you care for the life of the animal. However, I suggest visiting farmers and learning about where your food comes from…the right way.

I talk about factory-farmed animals in my newsletter, which you can subscribe to here. To learn more about the circle of life, and getting connected to the food you eat click here.

Post in the comments your thoughts, I would love to hear them

Sincerely,

“Shepherdess” Carlisle ❤️🐑

1. See Greg Judy on Rotational Grazing Abundance Plus-Justin Rhodes
   https://abundanceplus.com/programs/rotational-grazing-with-greg-judy-5881a8?gc_id=20713515538&gad_source=2&gclid=CjwKCAiAxaCvBhBaEiwAvsLmWHyxJXYl9t_EBauEzmDNszmYIF8KGPdXCheyC9CL9c2X8ir7HaiDZxoCN8kQAvD_BwE
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