I'm thinking of selling the few Kiko goats I have and replacing them with some Registered Painted desert sheep to keep the ram lams to be grown out and sold to ranches for stocking, or just get some painted desert or Dall ewes and put a TCU (urial) ram on them for some crosses to do the same with. several of the ranches I have been in talk with on brood stock boast of genetics being able to have rams with shooter horns in as little as 24 months, and the prices they are getting looks great compared to the income from the goats for roughly the same amount of time,land and care required. Hamilton auction barn just had a big Ram Sale and the prices from that weekend were really up from years past. Any thoughts or wisdom is appreciated. Only looking to break the ice with a group of less than 10 and see how it goes.

What do you really want the sheep for?

From my experience with exotics, they're a PITA to keep penned and I would expect sheep/goats to be an exponentially larger PITA. That would be enough to turn me off of the idea, but just something to consider.

Are the ranches going to want a pet that'll come eat out of your hand or something that's actually free ranging (inside high fence)? What you probably want to avoid is a situation where you're tranquilizing them to transport to the ranches. That involves a permit from the state for the sedatives and other hoops to jump through. It's a lot more of a full time job than you might think.

Sheep are no harder to keep than other exotics (like axis, blackbuck, fallow) if you have a quality constructed fence. The only "sheep" we have ever had is Auodads and Corsicans. We only have Auodads now. It will depend on your acreage and what you want to do with them. If you are going to let them be wild ( not raising them in a pen and on a good size acreage and are going to raise them for live animal sales to other ranches for hunting or propagation)... you are going to need a way to capture and move them. You can do the capture by drugs with a dart gun, helicopter net capture (If you have larger acreage) or capture/handling facilities you will have to build specifically for gathering and loading.
If you are going to be raising them in small paddocks or pens like livestock, then they will become somewhat use to handling and penning and can be loaded/handled like normal livestock......but you are still going to need some type of loading pens and chutes.
Sheep are prolific and can over graze a pasture in a short time without proper population control and proper range management. When a sheep grazes they pull the plants when eating them. This sometimes pulls roots and all or they nip the plant off so short it dies. So you must not overgraze and closely monitor your range.
( There is a reason cattleman did not like sheep herders in the 1800's......for the damage they thought they did to the range).
There is a niche market of hunters who pursue the various exotic sheep species as trophies and some ranches do well catering to that market.
Some ranches I know just have a few of the different types strictly for the enjoyment of having them to see and enjoy......kind of like having zebras etc.
Sheep (In my experience) are very difficult to dart and capture using Rompun(Xylazine) Telazol, Ketoset and even Sucostrin. Before you decide to do anything with drugs I suggest you take a course and become educated on the use of the aforementioned drugs before touching them.
Messin with exotic hoofstock can be really enjoyable and rewarding, but with that comes the responsibility of managing them.

TheEyeGuy said:

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What do you really want the sheep for?

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New Aggie dating app.

My grandpa used to say: "Sheep are an animal looking for a way to die."

Good luck OP.

Gunny456 said:

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Sheep are no harder to keep than other exotics (like axis, blackbuck, fallow) if you have a quality constructed fence. The only "sheep" we have ever had is Auodads and Corsicans. We only have Auodads now. It will depend on your acreage and what you want to do with them. If you are going to let them be wild ( not raising them in a pen and on a good size acreage and are going to raise them for live animal sales to other ranches for hunting or propagation)... you are going to need a way to capture and move them. You can do the capture by drugs with a dart gun, helicopter net capture (If you have larger acreage) or capture/handling facilities you will have to build specifically for gathering and loading.
If you are going to be raising them in small paddocks or pens like livestock, then they will become somewhat use to handling and penning and can be loaded/handled like normal livestock......but you are still going to need some type of loading pens and chutes.
Sheep are prolific and can over graze a pasture in a short time without proper population control and proper range management. When a sheep grazes they pull the plants when eating them. This sometimes pulls roots and all or they nip the plant off so short it dies. So you must not overgraze and closely monitor your range.
( There is a reason cattleman did not like sheep herders in the 1800's......for the damage they thought they did to the range).
There is a niche market of hunters who pursue the various exotic sheep species as trophies and some ranches do well catering to that market.
Some ranches I know just have a few of the different types strictly for the enjoyment of having them to see and enjoy......kind of like having zebras etc.
Sheep (In my experience) are very difficult to dart and capture using Rompun(Xylazine) Telazol, Ketoset and even Sucostrin. Before you decide to do anything with drugs I suggest you take a course and become educated on the use of the aforementioned drugs before touching them.
Messin with exotic hoofstock can be really enjoyable and rewarding, but with that comes the responsibility of managing them.

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nobody has roping horses anymore?

Could use Border Collies too.