Not trying to put a damper on things but i was always told that sheep should not have shelters. Aparently it encourages them to sleep in one place thus encouraging pests. i presume you take the shelter away in the summer as flystrike would be a problem.
sheep have warm coats so they don't need protection. I'm not that experienced so am only going by my local sheep farmers advice.
I can't agree with that. This spring we saw many lambs die (other people's) because they were without shelter in their fields, when the weather was lashing sleet and snow. Round here most fields have simple stob and wire/mesh fences, so they provide no shelter either, and there are few trees. On a large scale it would be difficult to provide artificial shelters, but on a small scale it works well. We have seen no increase in pests or flystrike - if flies concentrated in the shelters then the sheep would not use them. . The shelters are used against rain, blizzards, wind and hot sun (on the odd occasion we get any) but when it is deeply cold but dry they are outside enjoying some of their favourite conditions. The only drawback is that the entrances can become muddy, which is not good for feet. But sheep will all sleep in the same place anyway, whether they have shelters or not. With built shelters, they can be strawed and mucked out like any other housing and the muck composted to use in the veg garden.
The wildest sheep of all - Soays - on their native island, take shelter in the old stone seabird-drying huts, which are dotted all around the island.
Although many breeds of sheep do have thick woolly coats, they are shorn off each spring, often before the weather has realised it's spring, so they can be very cold. On the other hand, it can be very hot before shearing so then sheep in full fleece need shelter from the heat.
Sheep are perfectly intelligent enough to decide for themsleves if they need to use their shelters or not, so no, we don't remove them in the summer.
