Do we really need to feed our sheep dried alfalfa or dried clover?

[soarwitheagles]

Ok, I am a little confused on this matter at the moment...

Our sheep now have access to marvelous forage that includes all the fresh clover, winter rye grass, chickory, birdfoot trefoil, that they could possibly want or need.

Also, in the back forest area, they have access to massive amounts of native grasses, forbs, vetch, miners leaf lettuce, eucalyptus leaves, bark, etc.

And now the question...under these present conditions, do we really need to feed our sheep dried alfalfa or dried clover? Does not the fresh clover and such supply enough protein for the sheep?

We stopped feeding the sheep hay, clover, alfalfa, and grain over two months ago. We simply have been letting them go wild on all the greens...

Is this ok, or must we still feed them dried clover, grain, etc.?

Thank you!

 

[CntryBoy777]

I would still keep free choice hay for them, but that should be all they would need, I believe. The mixture of hay with the greens should keep bloat down, and balance in the rumen. It is like compost....so much green to so much dry or brown.

 

[Bossroo]

One would be wise to include at least a small amount of hay daily to help prevent bloat and the RUNNING TROTS, which in turn to prevent fly strike on the messy bottoms. Also, when you feed the hay , you will have a good opportunity to observe the health / injury status of the sheep and lambs.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

How do their droppings look? Are they super mushy, or those nice pellets that form a nice shape but squish a bit when doing the toe-test? If you've stopped feeding over two months ago and they're doing just fine (no bloat problems so far), then I feel that there's no real need to supplement them with more of what they don't need. The grasses you have are enough to keep the bloat under control, and birdsfoot trefoil is an awesome bloat-control legume. So no, I wouldn't feed anything more to them; I think you're going to be spoiling them rotten by giving them more stuff to eat lol.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Thanks for the nice replies everyone!

The sheep droppings are looking healthy and robust. No scours or mushy droppings. I am trying to save money, but not skimp in a manner that would lower the health level of the sheep.

They have all the fresh clover they can eat, but they eat it sparingly. Their favorite munching habits still appears to be the back forest area with all the native grasses and forbs. So I am letting them have at it.

What little hay we had left was ruined when the 70 mph winds blew the tarps off and wet the remaining bales.

We still have 10+ bales of alfalfa that are covered, but I was hoping I would not need to dig into it until the forest area begins to dry out later in the year...

Last, I think hay prices right now are at a premium price. I would like to avoid purchasing any hay unless they sheep really need it bad...

 

[Baymule]

Sounds like your sheep are doing just fine. despite your good intentions........

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Agree with @Baymule lol. Sounds like they're doing just fine without the hay.

 

[Baymule]

I have some serious pasture envy!

 

[soarwitheagles]

Thank you everyone for sharing your ideas. I will continue to let them graze and browse the paddocks and the back forests unless I see something wrong with them. We received another nice break: my neighbor asked if we would send our sheep over to his 15 acres. He wants everything to be "mowed." I think he just gave us enough grazing land for a couple of more months...

Side note: we had three more lambs today. Funniest thing...one ewe had two lambs...one of her lambs appears just like a normal healthy American Blackbelly. The other lamb is the cutest thing we have seen in a long, long time. I think this second lamb is the result of our California Red lamb born last year and he got in on the action with the male AB ram when he was only 6 months old...anyway, the lamb that was born is light beige, super tall and super slender and really, really cute. Will do my best to post some pics tomorrow if I can catch it.

Update: caught the little girl this morning...

 

[Mike CHS]

That is sure a long legged cutey.