BELIZE SHEEP AND GOATS DO WELL IN BELIZE

Funny thing.  Sheep and goats tend to develop and look the same in Belize. They apparently do well.  Sheep can live on marginal land.  Ordinarily it takes a hectare, or 2.2 acres one cow or calf.  Pastures and type of grass have changed and been improved, but that is a good rule of thumb.  After 25 years, we now have some statistics on sheep here.  The live price of beef is 1/2 that of lamb.  Feeding sheep modern foods gets to be marginal in the profit line.  But grass fed, wild sheep do well.  A good ram weighs about 150 lbs.  Adult ewes weigh about 100 to 110 pounds.  The consensus after 25 years of experimentation, shows DORPERS would be the best commercial choice.  Problems have been parasites, foot rot, msastitis and abscess.  There are local vaccines for enerotoxaemia and tetanus.  Ordering vaccines from the USA takes years to arrive is one complaint.  The writer produced sheep in Montana, where it is cold.  The sheep here are like deer, more than anything.  Up in Texas, they charge hunters on private lands, $600 to shoot one.
   So far the demand for sheep meat has exceeded the supply.