Methods for Building Sheep Housing for Confined Sheep Farming and Successful Experience

Sheep are one of the common domestic animals in our lives, and many people very much enjoy eating mutton, not only because mutton is very tender and delicious, but also because it has extremely high nutritional value. The annual demand for mutton is very high, and sometimes there is even a shortage where supply falls short of demand, so quite a few people have started businesses raising sheep. There are many methods for raising sheep, and confined sheep farming is one of them, so how should sheep housing for confined sheep farming be built?

Methods for Building Sheep Housing for Confined Sheep Farming

1. Floor

The floor is where sheep move, feed and excrete. Depending on the building material, there are earthen, brick, cement and wooden floors. Earthen floors are low in cost, but easily become muddy when exposed to water, and sheep are prone to foot rot, so they are only suitable for dry areas. Brick floors and cement floors are relatively hard, which is unfavorable for the development of sheep hooves, but they are easy to clean and disinfect, and are the most commonly used.

2. Sheep bed

The sheep bed is where sheep lie down and rest. It is required to be clean, cold, dry, free of residual manure and easy to clean. It can be made from wooden strips or bamboo pieces, with wooden strips 3.2 cm wide and 3.6 cm thick; the gap width should be slightly smaller than the width of a sheep hoof, so that the hoof does not slip through and break the sheep's leg. The size of the sheep bed can be determined according to the area of the pen and the number of sheep.

3. Walls

Walls play an important role in the insulation and heat resistance of livestock housing. Generally, materials such as earth, brick and stone are mostly used. Building livestock housing with these materials not only looks attractive and performs well, but the cost is also not much higher than brick-and-tile structures, and it is the development direction for large-scale intensive sheep farms in the future.

4. Roof and ceiling

The roof should have rainproof and thermal insulation functions. The rainproof layer can be made of clay tiles, asbestos tiles, metal sheets, felt, etc. Below the rainproof layer, thermal insulation materials should be laid; commonly used ones include glass fiber, foam board and polyurethane insulation materials.

5. Exercise yard

Single-row sheep housing should be arranged facing south with the back to the north, so the exercise yard should be set on the south side of the sheep housing. Double-row sheep housing should be arranged in a north-south direction, with the exercise yard set on the east and west sides of the sheep housing to facilitate sunlight. The ground of the exercise yard should be lower than the ground of the sheep housing and slope outward, to facilitate drainage and keep it dry.

6. Fences

Fences are set inside the sheep housing and around the exercise yard. Their function is to separate sheep of different sizes, sexes and types from one another and restrict them to a certain range of activity, so as to improve production efficiency and facilitate scientific management. A fence height of 1.5 m is more suitable, and the material can be wooden fencing, wire mesh, steel pipes, etc.

7. Feed troughs and water troughs

They should be designed inside the sheep housing as much as possible to prevent rain and ice. Feed troughs can be built from materials such as cement and sheet iron, with a depth generally of 15 cm; they should not be too deep, the bottom should be arc-shaped, and the four corners should also be rounded, to make cleaning and sweeping easier.

Successful Experience in Confined Sheep Farming

1. For confined sheep farming, first choose a breed of sheep suitable for confinement, because some sheep breeds are not suitable for confinement, since some sheep are naturally suited to running wild outdoors.

2. Sheep not suitable for confinement will show various symptoms after being confined for a period, and will also be unwilling to eat the forage you feed them, wasting forage and so on.

3. After choosing a suitable breed of sheep for confinement, prepare the confinement facilities completely, including some drinking water facilities, forage facilities, and some manure removal facilities, etc.

4. After the equipment and facilities are fully prepared, you can prepare the forage. Preparing forage requires some skill, because if some medicines and feed are added to the forage, the sheep will grow faster and are less likely to get sick.

5. As for the techniques for making forage and the methods for adding auxiliary materials, you can buy a book to study. After all, learning is endless, and there is no harm in learning.

6. After confinement, be sure to clean up the sheep manure regularly, because the sheep pen is relatively small and the sheep are prone to heat, so it is best to clean the sheep manure once a day.

7. When confined, it is best to separate lambs from adult sheep when feeding forage, because lambs are in their growth period and the types of feed they need are also different.

Three Key Elements of Sheep Housing Construction

1. Site selection for sheep housing. The sheep pen should have heatstroke prevention and cold prevention functions, and should be built in a place with relatively high terrain, facing the sun, dry, and easy to drain. When the scale is small, it can be built in or near the residential courtyard for easy management and guarding; when the scale is large, it is best to be far from villages, schools, etc. (in accordance with the provisions of the Measures for the Examination of Animal Epidemic Prevention Conditions) and build a sheep-raising community, to facilitate unified epidemic prevention.

2. Determination of sheep housing specifications. The area of sheep housing is determined by the number of sheep raised. Usually the area occupied per sheep is: breeding rams 1.5~2.0 sq m per animal; ewes 0.8~1.0 sq m per animal; pregnant or lactating ewes lambing in winter 1.5~2.0 sq m per animal; lambing in spring 1.0~1.2 sq m per animal; young sheep 0.5~0.6 sq m per animal. Generally, the height of sheep housing is about 2.5 m. When building single-slope sheep housing, the height of the back wall is about 1.8 m, the width of the door is not less than 1.5 m, the height of the windows from the ground is not less than 1.5 m, and the window area is generally 1/15 of the ground area. The floor of the sheep housing should be 20~30 cm higher than the ground outside the housing, laid as a gentle slope to facilitate drainage.

3. Construction of the exercise yard. An exercise yard should be set up in front of the pen. The area of the exercise yard is 2~4 times the area of the sheep housing. Fixed water troughs or water basins should be placed in the middle of the exercise yard for sheep to drink. Fixed feed troughs and movable feed troughs should be placed around or in the middle. Fixed feed troughs are built with cement or bricks, and the trough should be wider at the top and narrower at the bottom, with a rounded bottom; movable feed troughs are made of wood.

Profits from Raising Sheep

1. Ewes: The profits from ewe breeding are very large. If one large ewe produces six lambs a year, the net profit can reach around 1400~1600 yuan.

2. Meat sheep: Meat sheep are also called fattening sheep, and the profits are relatively low. For confined raising, the forage cost for one sheep per day is around 1.5 yuan. If raised for about four months before being marketed, the profit per sheep is more than 200 yuan.

Through the above content, I believe everyone has gained a certain understanding of the construction and management methods of sheep housing for confined sheep farming. Confined sheep farming is one of the most common sheep-raising techniques, but it also has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that the flock can be managed better and more conveniently; the disadvantage is that the investment cost of the sheep housing is relatively high, and the later feed is also a considerable expense.