Cinnstar Painted Desert Sheep is one of the livestock species we have at Cinnstar Ranch. We started out with Registered Longhorn Cattle, LOVE the Horns! All of the colors! And of course the gentle nature of the Longhorn breed. So naturally when we decided to get sheep for our smaller pastures, Registered Painted Desert Sheep were a perfect choice. We had mix breed hair sheep previously when we lived in South Carolina many years ago, one of our Tollers (Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever) even had a herding title!

Painted Desert Sheep, like most Hair Sheep breeds are very tolerant of wide climatic variations, and thrive almost anywhere. However, unlike the Longhorn that is a rugged and naturally healthy species, sheep, when it comes to diseases and worms are not as robust. Thankfully, Painted Desert Sheep are considered to be naturally far healthier than other breeds of sheep. We found out, and cannot stress the importance enough if you are new to sheep the need for working with a conscientious breeder that can educate and work with you on how to keep your sheep healthy. If we do not have any sheep available, we be happy to refer you to one of the Great Painted Desert Sheep Breeders that we have Personally worked with, know, and can recommend.

   

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A Terrific Resource for the Painted Desert Sheep is the Painted Desert Sheep Society Facebook Page. This page is a Wealth of Knowledge, Far more then we could begin to put on a website. The members are Very helpful and have So Much Knowledge to share!

We are Lifetime Members of The Painted Desert Sheep Society and our Painted Desert Sheep are registered with them.

We believe in Genetic Diversity in our livestock, Aquiring our Painted Desert Sheep, both ewes and rams from neumerous reputable breeders, even breeding to Rocky Mt Bighorn Hybrids to avoid inbreeding common in this breed.

   

We further believe that one needs to make a comitment to the animals that you have and not trade, sell or otherwise dispose of willy-nelly, constantly rotating your stock. Thus once we decide to keep a ram or ewe, more than likely they will be with us for life. When a breeder has animals coming and going all the time this allows a potential for disease's to come into the flock. Our gole is to eventually have a "Closed Herd" with no new sheep coming into the herd.

   

   

Our main pasture for our ewes is 7 acres and is a natural mixed grass pasture in the addition of rye, bermuda and clover. We also have a 1 acre Ram pasture. Both pastures have a Loafing shed area that is fenced and gated to securely lock our sheep up at night. Because of the size and lushness of our pastures, we require fewer round or small square bales of hay a year to feed our ewes and rams in the winter. View more photos of our 7 acre ewe pasture on our ewe page and the ram pasture on our ram page!

 Our 100x100 Enclosure

  

   

  

Along with our Ram and Ewe Pastures, we have a 6 foot chain link 100x100 pen close to our house where our lambs are born. By doing this we can remove the afterbirths right away, keeping enticing smells and thus predators away. It also allows us to take photos of the lambs soon after they are born. LOL at a few days old the lambs are so active it is almost impossible to tell who their mothers are!

We use this 6 foot chain link enclosure mainly for breeding and lambing. There is barbed wire at the bottom on both sides of the pen. The sheep push on the chain link to get the grass, Even when there is grass in the pen for them to eat! Thus I had to barb wire the inside! This pen is large enough for all the ewes we have bred to lamb in a safe area close to our house. There are several trees to provide shade, and if I use the pen when it gets warm, I have a shade cloth to provide more shade. It also has adequate shelters, a creep feeder with a small shelter, wind breaks, and a catch pen. I plan to make this catch pen more versatile and get a roof over it and panel the North and South sides.

Cinnstar PDS has three small areas: The Barn Pen, and Two Chain Link Pens. One chain link pen is 30x40 the other is 20x30.These smaller areas are particularly great for breeding just a few ewes, and also isolating new sheep that come to our flock. Our Chain Link Pens are located Right Behind the Covered Back Porch and Office Windows.

Our Chain Link Pens

  

  

Our Barn Pen

  

More photos of our pastures are on our Our Ewes Page, and Our Rams Page.

We supplement our sheep year round with a specialized sheep feed especially for breeding and lambs. We increase this amount about a month before the ewes lamb. Our Small Livestock Vet recomended that we rotate this Non Medicated feed with a feed that has a Coccidiostat to prevent Coccidiosis. Yes, an Adult sheep as well as lambs Can get Coccidiosis and possibly Die! We mix two scoops of the sheep feed with one scoop of small sized alfalfa pellets. We also give Sheep Mineral supplement free choice to keep our sheep in the best condition possible. By having a large acreage for the sheep we have, the pasture is always in good condition and the parasites kept to the minimum aided by careful worming.

We believe in “Limited, but Sensible” vaccinations for our breeding flock. Male lambs kept for food production are not vaccinated except one Tetanus vax if they neutered.

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