Hello from Nevcheko

Hi Everybody, Looking for a bit of advice.

We have just bought a 2 hectare block in Coatesville, It is fully fenced with 7 wire fencing. We are building a house on the site but want to have some sheep on the land to keep the grass short. There is a small stream on the site as well, and the land is definitely not flat.

Couple of questions-

Is it safe to have sheep on site while a house is being built and there is no one to check on them till the weekend...?
How many sheep will i need and how much water will they go through until i have the tanks up and running..?
Where do you go to get sheep..? Just find some farmers on trade me..?
Am i better finding someone to graze the land until i'm on site permanently...?

Sorry, very new to all this but really keen to learn about everything. Any good books out there about owning sheep..?

Thanks in advance for reading this.

Much appreciated.

Hi and welcome
I`m no professional but, i wouldn`t recommend leaving stock on your property when your not there -unless you have a neighbour or friend that can look in on them as there is a lot the could happen ; you have a stream if its raining they can drown if they have no where else to go ,they can develop fly strike worst this time of year and if the have lambs you need to keep and eye out for them too so that you have enough feed, etc ...
I wouldn`t recommend Trade me as the prices can be steep how ever at times you can pick up the odd good buy.
Ring your local PPG wrightsons they have a stock agent on hand that will get what you require or if you know a bout sheep go to your local stock sales.
Wellsford have one on mondays and their is one on shw16 heading through massey into kumeu too but you have to know what to be looking out for .
Also Join kumeu small holders block and do some sheep courses they just had one 3weeks back.
or as you say may be better getting extra $$ for grazing til you move on . Good luck

Hi Nevcheko
Our neighbour runs sheep and cattle on 100 acres and only checks on the weekend. So you can get stock before you move out. If you get someone else to graze the land instead, they won't check every day.
But first, before you do anything else, you must build a stockyard. If you only want sheep, then a few gates tied up in a corner might work. But you probably need a bigger pen (to catch them) and a smaller pen or race (to drench etc etc).
"The sheep farming guide for small and not-so-small flocks" by Clive Dalton and Marjorie Orr (2004) 168 pages is a reasonable start for running sheep.
Are you planning on lambs? Or do you just want grass mowers? A couple of steers might be much much easier.