Ready to make the smart choice?
THE IDEAL SOLUTION FOR SHEEP SHEDS & SHELTERS
Make the smart choice for your farm. Choose a SmartShelters dairy sheep shed.
Whether you rear East Friesian dairy sheep or any other breed, At SmartShelters we have designed our dairy sheep shelters to maximise both the quality of your flock and the ease of managing it. We are able to customise the length and width to suit any configuration, while the cleverly designed height clearance of our shelters makes cleaning and servicing simple.
Providing your sheep with protection, particularly in often harsh and hostile New Zealand conditions, is a must. This is particularly the case for sheep bred for optimum dairy genetics, as the very DNA that allows them to produce such high yields tends to leave them susceptible to weather extremes, by focusing their energy more on milk production than on hardiness.
What’s more, providing your property with a hub from which to maintain your flock will allow you to maximise your investment.
Shelters offer property owners greater control over their livestock; they facilitate simpler management, and enable you to maintain the healthiest and most productive flock possible. By utilising dairy sheep shelters, whether sheep sheds, small portable shelters or larger temporary housing, you are able to:
With the genetics of high-yield sheep in mind, exposing your flock to the elements can see a deterioration in both its quality and its size. Many diseases, injuries and deaths are associated with pasture grazing, particularly in dairy sheep, leading you to lose head and to be forced to pay for veterinary assistance.
Spreading your flock over a large area also makes it more difficult to manage. Herding the animals in order to milk, shear, dip or spray can be incredibly time consuming, as is feeding a sparse flock. Indeed, a pasture grazing flock will have greater nutrition requirements when compared to a housed flock, as it must expend more energy to find its food.
By housing your dairy sheep you’ll keep the flock healthy and happy, and ensure that they are productive as possible.
With all of the above in mind, the investment in a dairy sheep shed, shelter or any other form of housing can quickly be paid back with improvements to the quality of your flock and its productivity, the reduction of upkeep costs, and an increase in operational efficiency.
There are two avenues to converting a farm to house dairy sheep – you can opt for a pasture based system with lower-yielding sheep, or you can choose purpose-bred dairy sheep with a much higher milk yield that need to be housed. The right choice for your farm will depend on a number of factors, so it’s important that you do the research before committing to one option or the other.
The housing needs of dairy sheep can vary greatly depending on the climate, the possibility of lambing, and the farmer’s management preferences.
Dairy sheep shelters can vary from the most basic domed construction to a fully fitted structure with feeding, milking, quarantining and lamb rearing facilities. The level of return is generally tied to the level of investment that a farmer is willing to make – the better the facilities, the greater the potential upside.
No matter what type of dairy sheep shelter you decide to construct, it is vital that it is placed on an elevated site with good drainage. If you choose a shelter with one or more open sides, these sides should always face away from the prevailing wind. The structure should be designed to easily manage the movement of sheep, the delivery of feed and the handling of manure, and it will ideally be plumbed and powered (or at the very least have the option for plumbing and power to be added in the future).
It is recommended that you allow 2m² of space per dairy sheep if you house them in an enclosed space. We can help you to work out your space requirements and ensure that your sheep are kept as comfortable, healthy and productive as possible.
Boasting a team backed by 100 years of experience, and working with the finest materials available, at SmartShelters we’re able to rapidly design and construct dairy sheep shelters of the highest quality, enabling you to work smarter, sooner.
Contact a member of our experienced team today to discuss a truly smart shelter solution for your property.
Protect what matters with New Zealand-made shelters built on 100 years of trusted expertise. Contact us today!
You must enable JavaScript to submit this form
