We are in the same boat. For June, July & August our animals were all on hay 24/7. Thankfully we have had some rain but had to put the cows back on hay this week to let the grass recover again after them eating it down. We have to order another semi load of hay this week & can only hope that it will get us through the winter. Prices are high & good hay is hard to find but we would still rather have the sheep & cows on hay rather than grain.
Something to consider: the other side of the story (beginning next year) would be to extend the production of your pastures out as far as possible. This can be accomplished using pasture rotation management systems which allow for adequate recovery periods for your grass, lay down soil organic matter, increase microbial activity, shade your soils from excessive heat, and will increase dry matter production greatly. I use Holistic Management specifically (high density grazing) which is different than MIG in that you observe your specific conditions (time of year, growing conditions, type of grasses, forbes, etc., and the type of animals you are managing) and move the animals accordingly. This year we managed 55 sheep and goats on 7 acres on grass only in western Missouri (D4 drought for much of the summer). We are still not feeding any hay at this point. If you consider that 6 sheep and 5 goats are equal to the consumption of 1 (1000 lb) cow, that is the equivalent of 10 animal units (1000 lb cattle) on 7 acres or 1.4 animal units/acre. Around here, everyone claims you need 3-4 acres per cow/calf pair (approx. .4 animal units/acre), but that is under a continuous grazing scheme (which would be true).sallyonthefarm said:
Rotation is definitely the key & one we had planned to put into action this past year but the drought hit & that was the end of it. We had "screwed" up in 2011 by overstocking with cows - something we had to learn the hard way. With most of the cows gone now except for our milk cows we are hoping that next year will be much better. We will never be able to MIG or HDG due to the number of separate breeding herds we have here (our business is selling registered breeding stock consisting of many lines) BUT we are going to divide our main sheep pasture that is now only in half into four sections for next season. Cow pasture which is now into three will probably get divided into 6. Each pasture/strip has to be routed into to the pond for water - we do not or not going to carry water to the animals when we have three good ponds here for them to drink from.
I got interrupted writing my above post so did not see your post until I had written mine. 
Thanks all for sharing! 
