The benefits of having sheep

I recently got two new black baby lambs, just 2 months old. Last year we have a friends flock of 30 sheep here for several months and that has inspired me to have a few myself since then. They were quite scared to start with but are now getting us to me and the dogs. I wanted to share a blog about why sheep are an amazing addition to any farm, so here it is…

They are super cute!
They are amazing lawnmowers (and will even eat clippings from things like olive trees too)
They don’t need special and/or expensive food
They are probably the least hassle of all the farm animals, they just eat, poo, pee and rest and repeat
They are mobile fertilizers, basically wandering around fertilizing the soil for future food for themselves (isn’t nature amazing)
If you were growing crops on your farm they would be great at clearing and fertilizing the land between planting cycles
They support soil organisms, increasing top soil (which we are losing at an alarming rate) and basically making our soil healthier
They help manage invasive plant species, by either eating them or trampling on them and are the best ‘weed’ killers around
They help restore animal and plant habitats
They help keep land clear, so reduce the likelihood of wildfires (which is a massive concern here in Portugal)
They will provide raw, full fat milk and cream (in my opinion much nicer and creamer than cow)
They provide wool (which even if it ends up not being good enough to knit with will be great insulation or mulch for the garden)
They are not as naughty/clever as goats so they are less likely to break into your garden and eat it all (it has happened but only when we had 30 of our friends sheep here and they ran out of food elsewhere)
They are a bit stupid though… it’s funny as long as they are not trying to kill themselves off in some way (which does seem to happen fairly frequently)
And they are just fun to watch!