# how to give baking soda?



## bonbean01 (Mar 15, 2012)

I've read how people have baking soda for sheep...so...now that we are giving them gradual time on the new green grass, do we just put the ordinary baking soda in a pan (out of rain) and that's it?  They help themselves when they want it?   This is regular baking soda...am I understanding this correctly?  Had no idea people had baking soda for sheep until I read it on this forum.


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## aggieterpkatie (Mar 15, 2012)

If you feed them hay before you turn them out on pasture, and slowly introduce them to pasture, you shouldn't need to give them any baking soda.  I don't leave it out free choice, and I only give it to them if I see an actual problem.  If you need to give it to one that's having a problem, it's easiest (IMO) to mix it w/ a little water so it forms a thick paste, then put it in their mouths.


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## bonbean01 (Mar 15, 2012)

Thanks for the reply  We are taking it slowly, but noticed some poops were clumping up...but no sign of bloat or discomfort.  Wondered if the baking soda dry would prevent a problem?  They have hay all the time in their "area" and we walk them over to the grass pasture playing follow the leader...also known as the person carrying the feed bucket...so it's possible to time them on the grass and bring them back after.


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## Cornish Heritage (Mar 15, 2012)

I have never heard of this? Is it given for bloat? Ours are out on pasture all the time even through the winter although we do feed hay so I'm guessing they are not going to get affected by bloat due to them eating the small shoots before the grass really comes in?

Liz


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## bonbean01 (Mar 15, 2012)

Liz, yours are probably fine since they are on pasture all the time and get those first little shoots before the grass comes in thick.  Ours are not during the winter, so we
start them off with short times.  Neighbours get a kick out of watching me with my feed bucket walking them out to the pasture slowly at first, then when they realize and remember where they are going, they take off running way ahead of me and start munching on grass...I have to hurry behind them to close up the pasture.


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## Cornish Heritage (Mar 15, 2012)

Is there a reason you do not leave them out all winter? I would think that your grass down there really doesn't die off that much as you are even further south than us. Just curious 

LOL! I don't have a barn big enough to hold all our sheep & they would drive us crazy if they were not outside.

Liz


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## bonbean01 (Mar 15, 2012)

You would think here in the South there would be grass enough in winter, but no...grass just started up recently and now growing like crazy.  Plus...I need them close to the house during lambing and with the dogs around here and coyotes, I would never sleep if they were out in the pasture during the night.  So, being the crazy sheep lady that I am, have them close and in a very secure area with lights and their shelter every night...even in summer.  I walk them out to the pasture for grazing on grass and they like to come home when they are full for that lounging cud chewing time.

Our herd is only 11 and things would be different if we had hundreds of sheep...as it is, they are spoiled and pampered and we like it that way


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## aggieterpkatie (Mar 16, 2012)

I have mine off pasture now because there's no pasture left, and if they continuously graze on the grass as it's trying to grow, it will severely hinder the health of the pasture.   I don't really have issues putting them back out to graze once there's sufficient pasture though, because they get hay before they go out so they don't pig out too much.  

If it's just clumpy poo, I really wouldn't worry.


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## nomad (Mar 16, 2012)

Cornish Heritage said:
			
		

> I have never heard of this? Is it given for bloat? Ours are out on pasture all the time even through the winter although we do feed hay so I'm guessing they are not going to get affected by bloat due to them eating the small shoots before the grass really comes in?
> 
> Liz


Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda) can be given free choice as a supplement to cattle, sheep, goats, etc.  It sooths the stomach when a "rich" diet is consumed as in early spring pastures.  The first grasses to green up and grow are your cool season grasses.  When grass begins to grow, it throws large amounts of starch (sugar) stored in the root system over winter up into the blade (leaf) causing it to grow rapidly.  When an animal ingests too much of starch laden grass without a proper balance of roughage (hay, dead grass from previous fall, etc), it will cause their stools to become loose even to the point of diarrhea.  This then can cause dehydration in extreme cases.  We are a grass-based operation only so our animals are kept on pasture year round and are gradually shifted from hay to pasture as it begins to green up.  Even if we do not provide the hay, the animals will usually seek out some roughage on their own to balance their diet - animals are pretty smart at figuring out what they need (except in the cases when they are raised in a feedlot setting - we have had to get rid of those types of animals when mixed into a shipment that we purchased due to their inability to know what to appropriately forage on).   Our animals (goats, sheep, and cattle) tend to ingest more sodium bicarbonate in the spring time than during other periods of the year.  We also provide free choice minerals throughout the year to make up for any deficiencies that may be present in the grass.  We have predominately warm season grasses on this farm which are less nutrient rich than cool season grasses.  We do graze our animals (via electric netting and tape) along our roadways since most of those grasses are cool season grasses.  It makes for a lot of conversations with the locals when they see our animals grazing right up to the edge of the road, but we are firm believers in gleaning everything we can from the land.

As a side note;  Nutrition is absolutely vital to the health of the animal.  It seems superfluous to make that statement, but I am still surprised how many neighbors (I have lived on several farms) I have seen neglect the health of their animals by giving them junk hay (while lambing, kidding, or calving in late winter) and all the while complaining about the poor vitality of the newborns and the poor conditioning of the mothers.  Pretty much all disease can absolutely be stopped if an animal is fed properly throughout its life (you have to consider the health going back as far back as the grandmother as well).

Hope this helps.


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## bonbean01 (Mar 16, 2012)

Yes that helps!  Thank you so much


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## nomad (Mar 16, 2012)

bonbean01 said:
			
		

> You would think here in the South there would be grass enough in winter, but no...grass just started up recently and now growing like crazy.


You most likely have only warm season grasses in your pasture.  A good cool season grass to add to the mix would be fescue since it stands up to drought well also.  It can continue to grow even into December depending on how cold or warm the winter ends up being.  When we need to overseed, we do so in early winter (called frost seeding).  The natural freeze and thaw cycles of winter will take care of burying the seed appropriately for you.  I have had very good success with this method planting legumes as well.


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## bonbean01 (Mar 16, 2012)

Thanks Nomad...I will look into that!


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## nomad (Mar 16, 2012)

De Nada


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## Cornish Heritage (Mar 16, 2012)

Thanks Nomad for all that info. We just overseeded 2 pastures yesterday with Fescue/orchard grass & red clover. Yes I know it would have been better done in the winter but we didn't know that then & with the spring rains here in MO we are hoping that it will work. 

As for our pastures, they do have old "roughage" on them so I think the animals will be OK. The grass is coming in slowly & we are still feeding some hay so they are getting a mixture of both. 

Liz


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## nomad (Mar 17, 2012)

Cornish Heritage said:
			
		

> Thanks Nomad for all that info. We just overseeded 2 pastures yesterday with Fescue/orchard grass & red clover. Yes I know it would have been better done in the winter but we didn't know that then & with the spring rains here in MO we are hoping that it will work.
> 
> As for our pastures, they do have old "roughage" on them so I think the animals will be OK. The grass is coming in slowly & we are still feeding some hay so they are getting a mixture of both.
> 
> Liz


Sounds like you are heading in the right direction.  The legumes will really help with the nitrogen fixation in your soil and fescue does well in this region which may cause you to have more grass eventually than you have animals for.  Most people are surprised how lush and thick a pasture can become under the right management scheme.  Depending on where you are in MO, you may be in one of the best zones in the country for growing grass.  In my research (I am a Biology graduate with an emphasis on Ecological Studies) it was determined that the easiest and most productive grass lands in the U.S. are contained in a swath generally described as 100 miles south to 100 miles north of the 38th parallel (runs through the middle of MO).


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## Cornish Heritage (Mar 17, 2012)

> it was determined that the easiest and most productive grass lands in the U.S. are contained in a swath generally described as 100 miles south to 100 miles north of the 38th parallel (runs through the middle of MO).


Oh interesting! We are in southern MO so not far off this. 



> The legumes will really help with the nitrogen fixation in your soil and fescue does well in this region which may cause you to have more grass eventually than you have animals for.


LOL! We had this problem last year before we got the Milking Devon cattle & the St. Croix sheep. The pigs could just not keep the pastures down & so we had to do a lot of brushhogging. Hoping this year with proper rotations that they will keep it down & also we will not need to feed so much hay. 

Liz


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