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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I live on a working farm -- I run a horse boarding operation, have 30ish chickens, and an orchard/garden.

Sheep are tough to raise.  They love to die.  They wake up every morning thinking of inventive ways to die.  Your entire life will be an effort to prevent them dying, and still they will manage to die sometimes.  Luckily they are also really stupid, so it takes a while for some of them to manage to off themselves.  They are the worst livestock in that respect (horses are bad enough!). Try goats -- those little bastards are sturdy and smart.  Hard to fence in, though.

That said, I do find it fairly easy to get away, and travel internationally 3-4 times per year, as well as quite a few weeks away at horse competitions (I only take some of the horses to those).  I have reliable farmsitters and pay them VERY well.  Most farmers do not find it easy or affordable to get away.  I have a "real job" or I couldn't afford it either.

It's a great life, but not for the faint of heart.  You need to be mentally tough yourself.  Things you don't think you are going to have to do, you will have to do (like trapping and shooting vermin).  If not willing to do this, they will kill all your chickens.[/quote]

I grew up around cows, but from what I’ve seen of sheep, this is all true. I follow a “homesteader” on YouTube who has decades of experience with cows and has recently bought sheep, and she’s struggling. Of her four sheep that had lambs, only one immediately bonded with the lamb. She had to bottle feed and/or hold the sheep so the rest of the lambs could nurse around the clock for weeks until the lambs got big enough to insist on nursing. She commented that it was a bit of a shock for her since cows tend to be naturally maternal.

Go for the mini Highland cows. Someone in my town raises them, and they are quite in demand. 
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