[Jacob-list] Keeping Sheep from a Distance

[Steve and Trish Barrows]

I posted a message in September about starting out with Jacob sheep, since my husband and I were house/land hunting.  We got lots of great help and direction in focussing our search.  Unfortunately, our seven month search for even 5 acres of land has been pretty unsuccessful so far.  Any parcels of land that large around here (20 miles SE of Ithaca NY) get listed as "Horse-lover's Dream", or "Gorgeous Valley Views" with the prices jacked up way out of our price range.  My father-in-law's home 2 miles from us has land we would be able to clear and use as pasture, set up a sheep barn/house, etc.   It's a former dairy farm, that has been grown over with brush and small trees the past 40-50 years or so.   I'm looking for comments on anyone's experience on keeping a small (2-3 to start) (handspinner's) flock of sheep not immediately near where you live.  I know some obvious disadvantages are having to drive the 2 miles at least twice a day, but it is main roads, so the snow shouldn't be a problem.  Of course we'll lose the fun/pleasure of having the sheep near by.  The advantage is that this is a way we could get started with sheep, without waiting until we're too old to do a lot of the physical labor (and that time is a lot closer than we'd like to admit!).  Any thoughts, comments, suggestions, wise words of advice, and /or warnings against doing this are welcome.  Thanks  Trish Barrows 
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