Should You Buy Babydoll Sheep?
Adding different animals to your ranch is a big decision. It’s not as simple as growing something you may regret in your garden. Each life you bring on the farm must be considered and if you are not adding value to their current life, you should pass.
Dolly and Doodle are the Porter Valley Ranch. Both RR Ewes. This is how they look when they are sheared.
Our Babydoll Sheep Beginning on YouTube
Care of Babydoll Southdown Sheep
Food: These sheep are very low maintenance animals. They need good grass to eat and water every day. When grass is dead, you can supplement with hay.
Minerals: You should have sheep formulated minerals in their pen. One of the amazing things about these animals and some others is, their bodies know when they need more minerals. They won’t overeat on the minerals, so you can trust it to stay in their pen and they will eat at their body's discretion.
Shots: When the lambs are born they should receive an overeating shot. In addition, sheep should get de-worming shots every year starting….
Hoof Treatment:
Expense of Babydoll Sheep
Registered sheep are more expensive, but the extra expense upfront ensures more profit showing or breeding. Buy NABSSAR Registered North American Babydoll Southdown Sheep. Buying a registered sheep guarantees they are a pure breed.
You will pay more for the genotype of a registered babydoll. The genotype of the sheep at codon 171 (RR, QR, QQ) is one factor in determining the sheep's susceptibility to contracting scrapie. RR sheep are resistant, QR sheep are rarely susceptible, and QQ sheep are susceptible to some scrapie strains which occur with low frequency in the United States. Genotype should be listed on the registration papers. Here is what you should expect to pay for each:
RR- Rams $450-$550, Ewes $550
QR- Rams $350, Ewes $450
QQ- Rams $300, Ewes $400
Shots: $10-$20 Annually
Shearing: $25 per sheep
Feed: $15/head/month for hay, grain & minerals
Sheep Housing
Green pastures are the best places to keep the sheep. It is best for them to eat grass. Their pen should remain dry as wet surfaces lead to hoof rot.
They will need a 3 sided shelter to escape the rain. It is not good for the sheep to remain wet for long periods of time.
Because sheep are so gentle they are easy to move around to different pens or areas. This is why electric netting is such a good idea for them. You can easily move the sheep and the fencing to keep the sheep fed on different areas of grass and allow the sheep to fertilize your grass in every area they travel. We use Starkline Netting and absolutely love the flexibility it allows the sheep to graze and fertilize the yard wherever we move.
We built a Lean-to on the side of a 12x24 Storage building.
We added two stalls and a catch pen on the end.
Our Barn Build on YouTube
Our Favorite Things About Babydolls
They look like God’s teddy bears.
They are gentle and not intimidating for kids. Their size and the fact they don’t have horns make them extremely approachable for kids.
They are trainable. If you want a pet that is easy to put on a leash and walk around, these animals are tame and with training will do that for you.
Safe to Eat Treats
Alfalfa Cubes (for females only!)
Corn (our sheeps’ favorite treat!)
Apples
Carrots
Celery
Grapes
Lettuce
Oats
Pears
Pumpkin
Squash
Sunflower Seeds
Watermelon
Toxic Foods for Sheep
Animal products of any kind
Avocado
Azaleas
Bracken Ferns
Buttercup
Cassava
Cherry, chokecherry, elderberry, and plum trees
Chocolate
Foxglove
Kale
Hemlock
Holly trees
Lilacs
Lily Of The Valley
Oleander
Ponderosa Pine trees
Poppy
Potato
Milkweed
Mountain Laurel
Nightshades
Red Maple trees
Rhododendrons
Rhubarb
St. John’s Wort
Yew trees
Many ornamental plants
