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Simple, practical guidance for lifestyle farmers. No conflicting advice. No guesswork.
- Monthly updates and alerts
- Real insights from 1000+ lifestyle farms
- Decision guides for common questions
- Seasonal plans and how to guides
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Most lifestyle farmers run into the same problems.
They want to do the right thing by their sheep, but end up with conflicting advice, uncertainty, and expensive mistakes.
Conflicting Advice
Everyone says something different. It’s hard to know who to trust.
Expensive Simple Fixes
Many beginners end up paying huge bills for problems they could have managed confidently themselves.
Not Knowing When To Act
Should you drench, monitor, call for help, sell, shear, or just leave it alone?
Missing Problems Early
Small issues can become big and expensive when they’re not caught early enough.
Inside the Membership
Simple guidance.
Healthy sheep.
Confident you.
The Sheep Made Simple Membership gives you clear direction, practical guides, and real-world insight so you can make better decisions with confidence.
This Month On Your Block...
Know exactly what needs your attention.
Worm burdens easing significantly
Flystrike has finally come to a stop
Pasture quality improving quickly
Final pre-lamb shearing underway
Keep an eye on dags with fresh grass growth
Sheep Made Simple
This Month On Your Block
May 2026
Hi everyone,
The last couple of weeks have finally started to feel more like proper autumn farming conditions
across Northland and Auckland.
This Week At A Glance
- ✅ Worm burdens easing significantly
- ✅ Flystrike has finally come to a stop
- 🌱 Pasture quality improving quickly
- ✂️ Final pre-lamb shearing underway
- ⚠️ Keep an eye on dags with fresh grass
- 🐑 Sheep looking in excellent condition
🌱 Seasonal Observations
One of the biggest changes lately has been pasture quality improving as temperatures cool down. A lot of the rank summer grasses have slowed right down, and cleaner pasture is starting to come through underneath.
🐑 What I’m Seeing On Lifestyle Farms
I’m currently finishing up the last of the second shears and pre-lamb shearing jobs. Across most lifestyle farms, sheep are looking genuinely healthy and settled.
Worm pressure has also eased. In many cases, if sheep are bright, holding condition, clean around the tail and eating well, I’ve been recommending people hold off drenching rather than drenching automatically.
🏡 What I’m Doing On My Own Farm
- Selling the last of my prime lambs
- Destocking before winter
- Preparing ewes for late July lambing
- Final drench decisions on freezer lambs
- Trimming hooves on ewes heading into winter
💰 Market Update
I sold the last of my prime lambs through the Wellsford saleyards this week.
7 prime lambs sold at an average of $226/head +gst.
👀 What Lifestylers Should Focus On This Month
The main thing I’d focus on right now is making sure you're not overstocked going into winter. At the start of May I ensure that the last of my lambs are sold or put in the freezer so I can make the most of the grass growth for the month of May to set me up for my winter grazing rotation. Other than that make sure sheep are tidy and maintaining good condition heading toward winter. Monitor dags and check hooves.
😌 What You Probably Don’t Need To Worry About
Flystrike risk has dropped dramatically, worm burdens are generally much lower, and most sheep are coping very well.
If your sheep are active, chewing cud, holding weight and clean around the tail, you probably don’t need to worry about too much right now.
🐑 Simple Reminder
Healthy sheep are usually pretty easy to spot: bright eyes, good condition, chewing cud, moving freely and clean tails are all good signs.
Don’t overcomplicate it.
Have a great month everyone,
Arlo Gibb
The Sheep Shearer
Founder • Sheep Made Simple
Make Better Sheep Decisions
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The 5 Step Process
Rule Out
Rule out obvious causes first.
Patterns
Look at the pattern across your mob.
Signs
Check if the signs actually fit worms.
Risk
Assess if worm pressure is increasing.
Decision
Make the right call with confidence.
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