Once or twice a day?

[Singing Shepherd]

It would be of interest to hear some opinions on whether you should split your feeding elements (Ie, grain, hay, other foodstuffs, treats etc.) into two daily delivery times to your flock or if you should give it all out at once. Assuming water is always fresh and minerals always available, what are your thoughts on when to feed and what to feed when you do make the rounds to your flocks.

 

[HeatherL]

We live in an area where pasturing isn't always available due to heat and drylands. When they can pasture I will feed a little in the evening but when they are penned I feed 2x a day. I think it's too hard to only be fed once daily. That's a long time to go in between feedings and they don't ration their feedings to last all day.

 

[SheepGirl]

When my sheep are pastured, I go out there once a day to feed if they are getting grain (or if they haven't been penned up yet for winter, hay). If they are on pasture only, I will go out once every other day or two and I will just check on them from my window. When I go out, I top of the water, fill their mineral, and then once a week I would scrub out their waterer.

When my sheep are penned up I feed them 1-2x a day. Sometimes 3, depending on how much hay I'm feeding and if I'm feeding of a round or square bale.

When you are feeding grain, though, any ration over 1 lb should be split into more than one feeding.

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

If you feed once a day, I have found that they waste more hay than if you feed twice!!! Because you have to give them enough for the full 24hours and alot of it gets trampled and dirty and then, picky as sheep are, they wont eat it!

 

[bloonskiller911]

During winter I only feed once a day, around mid-afternoon. I have a set up where they can eat through a gate to the hay. It is free choice and they can pick all day long with the amount I load up in there. Minimal waste. I also grain everything at the same time, and they have free choice minerals and water at all times. During summer, while on pasture, I keep a mineral block out for them and about once a week I feed them some shelled corn. Nothing much, just enough for a treat to keep them tame, and if they would get out that they are easy to put back in when they see my coffee can!!!

 

[Singing Shepherd]

Thanks for contributing to this question. I'd like to keep the topic open for awhile so we can continue to share methods. It's been helpful to see the differences in how we feed in winter compared to weather when grasses are green. I have wondered if I should be providing my sheep a less expensive hay free choice in addition to their daily portion of alfalfa. I give a specific number of flakes each day of alfalfa and don't serve it gree choice as a financial choice and as a way of keeping maintenance feeding consistent.

 

[vt_mountainman]

I feed my sheep in the morning, as soon as it gets light out, and then a second time in the late afternoon. Just before I go to bed I shut them in the barn, and I put some hay in their inside feeder then too, so they have something to munch on at night. I'll admit it, my sheep are spoiled girls !

 

[bonbean01]

Before pasture is ready, I have good hay for them at all times and feed pellets with their vitamins and minerals and selenium required for our area...I feed pellets first thing in the morning and again in the evening. They have access to fresh water and salt all the time. A month before lambing and a month after lambing I feed them more, then decrease after that. I have a hay shed for round bales and cattle panel to reduce waste.
Soon they will go out on pasture and I'll reduce the pellets gradually, but still give them one feeding a day then.

 

[norseofcourse]

In the winter I feed mine hay twice a day - the goal was to have hay in front of them pretty much all the time, as I was told that was better for ruminants. I feed a timothy/grass mix hay. They wasted too much hay with the first feeder I made, so I built one using Premier1's design a few weeks ago, and it's working very well! I still fill it morning and evening, but they are wasting much less and it's usually still half full when I refill it.

About a month before my ewes are due to lamb, I start feeding pellets, gradually increasing till they're getting about 4 ounces each twice a day, with a bit of corn mixed in. I'll continue this for a month or so after they lamb, unless the ewes start looking too fat, in which case I'd decrease it sooner.

As spring progresses and the pasture starts growing well, I won't feed hay at all. My plan is to keep my flock small enough to do well on just pasture in the summer and fall. Last year, I started feeding hay in early November.

I feel their spines and hipbones occasionally to see how they're doing. If anyone starts feeling too thin, it might be a sign of something and/or call for a change in my feeding routine. Last summer, I fed one lamb extra while she was recovering from bottle jaw, and over the winter I fed my ram extra for awhile because he was using up a lot of extra energy being a ram

 

[SillyChicken]

Mine have free access to pasture and hay inside the shed. At night I give them a bit of grain/pellets to get them to come in.... I've cut back on the grain though cause they are looking a bit spoiled!