There are about 20 sheep breeds in South Africa. The Merino, Dorper, Mutton Merino, Dohne Merino, Dormer and the Black-headed Persian are all found here.
Sheep farming is practiced in all provinces throughout South Africa, but is traditionally concentrated in the more arid regions of the country. Although the income derived from sheep farming is modest compared to other livestock produced here, e.g. poultry, the sheep industry is vital in the rural and arid regions of South Africa.
In South Africa, sheep breeds are a mix of the hairy indigenous breeds, fat-tailed and fat-rumped breeds, and South African developed composite ‘exotic’ breeds, such as the SA mutton Merino. Depending on the breed, sheep can be used for fibre, using wool and hair, as well as for meat production, or are sometimes used to produce dairy products.
Meat production is aimed at local consumption, although limited quantities are exported to neighbouring countries. The exact number of sheep farmed in SA is unknown, but according to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the number was around 28 million in 2011.
This series focuses on South African sheep breeds, farming systems and feeding of sheep, in particular on the production of sheep meat - lamb and mutton, as well as Karoo meat.
To run a successful sheep enterprise, you will want to efficiently produce high-quality lamb and wool that can be profitably marketed. The first step is to evaluate the resources you have available. Then you’ll need to design a sheep production system that will use those resources most efficiently. The resources that you need to evaluate are:
Land: How much land is available and what is its productivity. If all the forage dry matter produced on a hectare of land could be harvested as hay and measured in tons, you would have an estimate of your land’s productive capacity. Suppose you have 100 hectare veld pasture, of which 30 ha are low producing pasture and will produce 0.75 t per hectare, 30 ha are average and will produce 1.25 tons per ha and 30 ha are high producing and should produce 2.0 tons per hectare. The total yearly pasture production would be 30 x 0.75 = 22.5 t, plus 30 x 1.25 = 37.5 t, plus 30 x 2 = 60 t. This equals a total estimated hay equivalent of 120 tons of which 65% is utilisable by the sheep during grazing. An average ewe requires 0.75 ton of pasture/year. So in this example, you should have enough pasture for about 104 ewes (120t x 65% divided by 0.75). I have chosen 100 ha for ease of calculation. This is not necessarily an acceptable size for an economical sheep operation. Remember that in certain areas some of the pasture had to be harvested as forage in the winter. You must be prepared to provide hay for winter feed in the summer rainfall areas.
Markets: How will you market your products? Are you planning to sell feeder lambs, slaughter lambs, breeding stock, wool or all of the above? Are you planning to sell on a seasonal basis or have a more even cash flour with the lambs for sale throughout the year? Your market is a valuable resource that must be studied.
Capital: Do you have the capital or money available to get started, hold you until the sheep are in full production and may be see you through some dips or drought? You need to carefully evaluate your financial resources before starting a farming enterprise. Compare sheep farming with other alternatives.
Attitude: What is your attitude towards sheep farming? Do you like them? Would you be willing to brave cold rains to feed and care for them? Would you be willing to miss a social event to be sure the sheep were protected from marauding dogs? If you do not have a positive attitude, do not read any further.
Establishing Production Goals and Management Systems
Once you evaluate your resources, you can set-up an overall management system that will use them efficiently and be profitable. Sheep are amazingly adaptable. Using different breeds and systems, you can set and meet your production goals. The goals you set will depend on your resources, abilities, the ability of the sheep and the products you hope to produce.
Product choices:
1. Lamb for meat; Sell feeder lambs at 25-30 kg or keep and feed to 40-45 kg live weight. Market your lambs at Easter or other celebration times.
2. Breeding stock; both registered and/or commercial.
Wool; probably sold during a wool marketing agent or develop a speciality market for spinning or felting.3. Milk; Sheep’s milk for cheese is popular in some areas of the world, but milk breeds aren’t readily available in South Africa. However, interest is increasing.
The level of production, especially of lamb, can vary from less than one lamb per ewe per year to more than two lambs per ewe per year. Choosing the product to be produced and a production goal depends on the breed of sheep and your management system. Each breed represents a given genotype that is best in some situations and not in others. For example, if you want to produce only fine wool, Merino might be the breed of choice. A production system may use a combination of breeds to meet specific goals. Of course, your success will ultimately depend on good management, nutrition, technology, disease control and marketing. The management system you choose have to make maximum use of the natural pasture growth. For example in the summer rainfall area, lamb in May if you have maize crop residues available and market lambs in November / December. In this example without any crop residues it is better to lamb in the spring when green veld pasture is available.
If you decide to start a sheep enterprise, where you get your starter flock is critical. It can be difficult to get exactly the breed you want and number you want at a reasonable cost. Some beginning producers simply started with whatever sheep are available and set up a breeding program to create the preferred genotypes by proper ram selection and careful culling. Obtaining the proper sheep is sometimes difficult, but exceedingly important. The desirable sheep characteristics are:
A long breeding season or a year round breeding season
multiple births
early sexual maturity
high average daily gains
desirable meat-type carcasses
Sheep are efficient users of roughage. In fact, they can get a larger portion of their nutrients from pasture and hay than beef cattle. They eat most of the weeds and, with proper pasture management, can significantly boost production of many native pastures over the long term.
The roughage must, at certain times, be supplemented with minerals, proteins and/or grains, or other concentrated feeds to meet nutritional requirements, especially for ewes during late pregnancy or lactation and for rapidly growing lambs. Salt/mineral combinations with the needed trace elements are available. Copper is toxic to sheep at lower concentration than it is for most other livestock. So read labels to be sure copper levels will not harm sheep.
Smaller farms usually use small square bales, although big round bales are common. The big round bales are popular and require little labour if you have the right handling equipment.
A beginning sheep producer must also decide whether harvested forage should be purchased or produced. Farmers who are adding on a sheep enterprise probably already have the production capability needed, but others may be wise to purchase hay. If you start with 50 or fewer ewes, purchasing extra feed if needed seems reasonable. Remember that any investment in equipment must be paid for by the sheep. A small flock cannot cover the costs of large tractors, forage harvesters and other major equipment.
