You
will need to register with DEFRA (Dept of Food and Rural Affairs) as a
keeper of sheep and they will issue you with an Agricultural Holding
Number. Without this holding number, nobody can get a licence to move
sheep onto your property.
Sheep
have a complex annual veterinary care routine and this could be very
expensive if you have to get most of it done by your Vet.
Over
time there will probably be a build up of parasitic worms on your
grazing unless you have the ability to leave it ungrazed by sheep for a
year. Hence a strategy for minimising any worm problem has to be
adopted and implemented.
They need regular worming. They need an annual vaccination against
clostridial diseases. They fall sick very easily with a host of
illnesses. Their feet need regular trimming. They need to be
sprayed every six weeks in the summer months to prevent blow fly maggot
infestation and without it, the maggots will eat the sheep alive and
kill it.
All the veterinary medicines, sprays, injections etc that will be
needed come in time limited packs, sually sized to treat at least
20 sheep. The alternative is to get your Vet to do all these
regular treatments for you but this could be very expensive.
They
have to be shorn once a year and this is best done by an experienced
shearer.
In the winter they will need shelter and straw for bedding and when
your grass becomes inadequate, which it will except in the
spring, they will need feeding with hay and a ration of
commercial concentrates. Hence you will need the ability to store
these items.
You will not be allowed to move your sheep off your holding without a
movement licence issued by your local Trading Standards office.
If you need to move your sheep, the current regulations are that it can
only be done using a livestock trailer or lorry and it must be pressure
washed and disinfected each time it is used. In the very near
future you will need a certificate of competence in animal handling
before you can move your sheep. Big Brother is alive, well and
infiltrating all aspects of agriculture.