If you are used to a quiet environment at your home, then you might have a hard time when you first introduce sheep to your farm. Sheep can be noisy, and it’s important to learn how to keep sheep quiet to live peacefully and avoid annoying your neighbors.
You can considerably lower your sheep’s noise by providing enough water, pasture, and sufficient grazing and outdoor time. In addition, you can train your sheep to be quiet.
While minimizing sheep noise is great, you shouldn’t disregard the reasons for sheep sounds because these animals Baa for a reason.
Why Do Sheep Make Sounds?
While some sheep breeds are noisier, all sheep baa from time to time, and the intention is never to annoy humans. Below are the reasons your sheep make noise:
Communication
Sheep baa to communicate with each other. These animals are wired to stay in groups, so they will be noisy when they get separated from the herd. This noise is usually to help them locate their herd members.
For instance, a lamb will cry out when separated from its mother, who will often call back until they are reunited. Additionally, use a low tone when communicating with your sheep because big sounds terrify them.
Besides bleating, sheep communicate in other ways. These include:
- Relaxed eyes and face to show contentment.
- Raising their heads and flattening their eyes when threatened.
- Keeping their ears forward shows they are attentive.
- Establishing dominance by lowering their heads and charging.
- Face tightness indicates pain.
- Wagging the tail shows happiness or pleasure.
- Telling others to move by kicking.
Learning to read your sheep’s body language will help you understand them better and react to different situations better.
READ ALSO: Do Sheep Recognize Their Owners?
They are hungry
Sheep will seek your attention by producing noise when hungry and wanting to be fed. They will also baa when near the feeding area or food source.
Penned sheep will be noisier in winter because they cannot go out to feed. However, since pastured sheep don’t depend on their owner to access the feed, they rarely baa.
Underfed or hungry lambs will also bleat repeatedly to get their mothers’ attention. While adult sheep can fill their bellies with pasture or hay, the young ones rely on their mother’s milk, nursing every 4 hours at the very least, with the newborns feeding even more frequently.
Excessive and consistent bleating may indicate that the lamb is underfed and that the mother may have an underlying health condition. This can be a bacterial infection in the ewe’s udder, mastitis, or she’s producing less milk or not nursing the lamb.
Bottle-feed your lamb if the mother is not producing sufficient milk, and depending on your lamb’s age, you may need to feed them 2 to 4 times every night and day.
They are sick or injured
Your sheep will seek attention by crying out when injured or sick, so don’t develop the habit of ignoring them. A ewe in labor will also produce a grunting noise due to the distress and pain of childbirth.
They are new to the environment
Sheep will likely be noisy for a few days or weeks when you first introduce them to your farm as they acclimate to their new home. Therefore, you should be patient and allow them to adjust well during this period.
Moreover, the leader of your herd will baa when you introduce something new to their surroundings, and the rest of the flock will follow suit. Fortunately, they will return to normal behavior after assessing the condition and confirming there’s no threat.
They feel anxious
Sheep are vulnerable to predators, especially when left in unsafe places or separated from their herd. This will cause them to feel anxious and afraid, and that could make them cry out continuously.
Unusual commotion in your sheep’s pasture fields or the presence of foreign objects and new animals in their environment can also stress out your sheep, causing them to act out.
Anxiety and stress set in when your sheep feel threatened, and the adrenaline sets in as they prepare to flee.
Note:
Your sheep may also get noisy when looking for a mate and, in such cases, will stop once they find one. Furthermore, taking lambs away from their mothers and vice versa will also make them noisy.
Why Do Sheep Baa At Night?
Can you imagine trying to get some well-earned sleep at night only for your sleep to be interrupted by your sheep bleating non-stop?
This isn’t very pleasant, and before correcting it, you must understand why your sheep baa at night. So here are a few reasons that could make your sheep noisy at night.
The presence of predators
Your sheep may be trying to alert you or the other sheep about the presence of predators when they baa at night. Therefore, if you hear your sheep bleating, it’s better to check if there’s a problem.
It might not be a dangerous predator; sometimes, it’s a stray dog. While dogs are mostly harmless to humans, sheep see them as predators and are wary of their presence.
Your sheep will rely on you for protection, so create a safe enclosure to keep them safe from predators.
READ ALSO: Do Wolves Kill and Eat Sheep?
Unfamiliar environment
While your sheep will feel uneasy in a new environment during the day, they will even become noisier at night.
This is because it will be easier for them to get lost in a new place at night when natural light is gone, resulting in them bleating to find the others.
Chances are your new sheep may be trying to find each other when they make noise at night, with the noise stopping after a short period.
Moreover, they will stop bleating at night once they get familiar with their new surroundings.
How To Keep Sheep Quiet
Employ the strategies below to keep your sheep quiet or at least minimize their noises.
Maintain a consistent feeding schedule
Feeding your sheep the minute they start crying out will stop the noise. However, this temporary fix will condition them that making noise gets them food.
Instead, train your sheep by feeding them at specific times, and in no time, your herd will learn their feeding schedule and stop crying unnecessarily.
Alternatively, you can give your sheep bigger pasture space, ensuring they always have sufficient pasture.
Treat injured or sick sheep
Alleviate your sheep’s pain and suffering by treating them when they are sick or injured. Your sheep are likely hurt and need help if there’s no logical reason for the racket they are making.
In that case, call an experienced veterinarian to assess the situation and find a solution. Ignoring the problem will make your sheep continue suffering and baa unnecessarily.
Train your sheep to interact with you quietly
As your sheep’s caretaker, some will get attached to you and want to spend time with you. Most sheep enjoy the affection, and you may hear them cry because they want to be around you.
While giving the sheep your attention, it would be best for them not to call for your attention in the middle of the night. Luckily, you can avoid this by training your sheep to spend time with you quietly.
The sheep will likely be louder when young but learn to stay quiet as they grow older and you continue training them. Show your sheep that staying quiet gets them what they need by giving attention to the quiet sheep and ignoring the noisy ones.
It also helps if the leader of your herd is a quiet sheep because the rest of the flock will follow suit.
Give your sheep more space
Sheep require sufficient space to feed, relax, and sleep and a peaceful vicinity with silent and smooth graze.
However, your sheep will likely make noise when they have limited space, so change the herd makeup when you find out space is an issue.
Remember, sheep need to stay in a herd, so ensure your sheep are in a group of a minimum of 2 to 3 sheep.
How To Calm A Noisy Sheep
You can help your sheep stop crying by employing different techniques. Here’s what you will need to do:
- Develop a quiet, calm environment for your sheep to stay in and retreat when scared. Ensure the environment is warm, has proper cover from predators, and shelter. A sheep shelter doesn’t have to be expensive or fancy but must be safe and keep out inclement weather.
- Offer reassuring words calmly. While your sheep won’t understand what you are saying, they will feel your tone.
- Pat the sheep on its head.
- Take your sheep away from a scary or dangerous situation into a safe place.
- Introduce sheep that got lost or were separated from their lambs or mothers to an accepting, supportive herd with a strong leader.
- Ensure your sheep are in a herd with a competent leader to help them develop proper behavior, which includes not making too much noise.
- Remove or re-home anxious, nervous sheep from the herd. Doing so will help keep the rest of the sheep calm.
How To Handle Noisy Sheep
If some of the sheep in your herd won’t respond to training and calming techniques and continue making noise, you’ll have to make some decisions to handle the situation.
However, before addressing the problem, you must find out if you can live with the noise and whether your neighbors have an issue with your noisy sheep.
In addition, you must ask yourself if you are okay with culling or re-homing your noisy sheep or taking them to a local shelter.
If living with a noisy sheep is a deal breaker for you and your neighbors, you must decide whether to cull or re-home. If you decide to cull the noisy sheep, you’ll need to find a place to do it.
Moreover, if re-homing is the best solution for you, make sure you find them in the right environment.
Re-homing may seem cruel, making you feel like you are abandoning your sheep. However, finding a new home for the sheep is the best solution if the noise is too much for you.
How To Find The Best Place To Re-home Your Noisy Sheep
Before re-homing your sheep, you must find them a good home, not just one willing to take them, despite the noise. For that reason, here’s what to look for:
Presence of an indoor living space
Sheep shelter needs indoor spaces for safety and comfort, so ensure where your sheep is going has a four-sided, solid structure like a pole barn.
The room should be enough for social dynamics and regular activity, have proper ventilation, keep a safe temperature, and offer appropriate traction.
Structure walls
Living structures should be steady enough to withstand weather elements and sheep activities like headbutting and rubbing. In addition, the walls must help keep the proper temperatures in the structure, safeguard against precipitation, and prevent drafts.
Walls are typically made of different materials, including concrete blocks, wood, and metal. However, wood walls are better than concrete or metal.
Gates and doors
A farm needs gates and doors to prevent sheep from wandering out and predators from getting into the farm.
Wood sliders are better suited for large entrances, while wooden doors are more suitable for small entryways.
They should also have latches to prevent the sheep from opening them. In addition, the gates should be made of heavy-duty materials, so avoid gates made of lightweight aluminum because they can easily be damaged.
Bedding and flooring
Concrete is a common type of flooring in the farming community since it’s easy to clean. However, wood is also great for sheep housing, and dirt is the best.
Final Remarks
Sheep aren’t necessarily noisy animals, so there must be a reason when your sheep become unusually noisy. In most cases, you can keep them quiet by calming them down and training them, but extreme circumstances call for culling or re-homing.
The types of bleats produced by sheep vary based on their situation and age, with some noises meant for communication while others indicate intolerance, danger, or annoyance.
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