How much water are your sheep drinking right now?

[TeamChaos]

I had noticed my sheep weren't drinking much in the past few weeks- I was always emptying the frozen tub and refilling it but the sheep wouldn't drink. I splurged and got a heated cistern for them and while they were curious about it, they wouldn't drink. As I was cleaning the tub, I realized that our spring water + a heater made the water smell like a fish tank! I've been dealing with urinary calculi in the male, I'm sure the female has them too but she's able to pass them, so keeping them hydrated is very important. I've been bringing buckets of house water up to them, but they are not interested- they'd rather eat snow. As per the vet's suggestion, I'm not bringing *warm* buckets of house water up and the male will occasionally drink it but the ewe will not. I'm really stressed out worrying about their hydration. How much water are your sheep drinking in the snowy regions? Have any tips on how to get a sheep to drink? Thanks

 

[purplequeenvt]

Our group of ewes (30 animals total) drink around 40 gallons a day.

Do you have a lot of snow? Your sheep could be eating snow instead of drinking, we've had sheep in the past who wouldn't drink out of the trough but would eat snow instead.

 

[goodolboy]

It may depend on how much water they are picking up in thier feed. Ours, the days that it rains they don't drink as much, even when they are on hay.

 

[TeamChaos]

Thank you for the info, please keep it coming! Their hay is pretty "moist" compared to some of the bales I've seen that I can lift with one arm...they are off the sweet grain all together and get about 2 cups of show sheep pellets a day, plus apples, carrots and lettuce my biggest concern is that I'm watching the male's peeing to make sure we're out of the woods w/ urinary stones and he doesn't have a "stream" at all. He's got a dribble... and he definitely passed a steady stream when he came back from the vet clinic well hydrated. UGH!

 

[goodolboy]

Try buying a few gallons of water to see if that's it.

 

[BrownSheep]

Our flock of about 30 gos through about 50 gallons

 

[SheepGirl]

My sheep really don't drink much water in the winter. When there is snow on the ground, they happily munch on that. (And yes they know not to eat the yellow snow )

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

 

[pinoak_ridge]

neat--smart sheep.

 

[TeamChaos]

I'm glad your sheep were smart enough to figure that out! Well, I filled a heated cistern w/ water from the house and put it in the barn (as opposed to by the pond, where the geese assume it's theirs) and the sheep have been interested in it. The male is passing the closest thing to a stream that I've seen, so *whew*